Forgotten Villains: Fright Night’s Jerry Dandridge

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Columbia Pictures

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

When people start turning up dead, young Charley Brewster sees his new neighbour carry a coffin into their new home. Initial comments that he must be a vampire are confirmed when Charley sees his neighbour having sex with a woman but Charley witneses him about to bite her and his talon like fingers pull down the blind. Now on his new neighbour’s radar, Charley tries desperately to convince others that their neighbour is a vampire and responsible for the killings. Not even the police believe him and Charley is looking more insane with every day passing to his friends, Evil and girlfriend Amy. But when Charley’s mother invites Jerry in to their home he now has an open invitation to come to Charley any time he wants.

Jerry is everything a vampire should be in a movie. He is tall, willowy and good looking. with a killer smile and sense of humour. He can charm anyone including Charley’s mother who hopes something romantic might happen between them. He is so affable when in public and fits the yuppy profile of the eighties. Jerry eats apples and dresses like he is going to a fashion show.

With his roommate, Billy Cole, Jerry goes under the guise of renovating houses. But given he can only be reached at night, no one believes Charley over this successful business man. Jerry oozes sexuality making women fall for him with no effort required. But his vampire side is as vicious and murderous as the movies and books say. He visits Charley telling him to stay out of his way or will kill him and his mother. Charley stabs him through the hand with a pencil causing him severe agony. In retaliation Jerry trashes Charley’s car as a further warning.

Like the vampires of lore, he is affected by sunlight and crosses. He can transform into a bat which is how Charley first meets him while spying on his house from the bushes. But once night falls the world and his victims are his to command.

But when Charley brings movie star and television host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to Jerry’s house so he can prove he is a vampire, the story takes a whole new turn which is very much in Dracula lore. Amy is in fact the double of the love of Jerry’s life. While we never get to learn of Jerry’s origins, it is clear he is obsessed with reuniting with his lost love.

In order to weaken Charley’s position, abandoned now by Peter because he saw Jerry had no reflection, he, Evil and Amy are pursued along the night time streets. Here Jerry is a Terminator. His elegance is evident by the atylish long coat he wears as he walks purposefully along the streets not even breaking a sweat confident in the knowledge that he can outrun his prey. All he has to do is let them exhaust themselves and he will swoop in and take Amy for himself. It isn’t a case of patience for him; it’s a matter of fact. He is the apex predator and has been presumably so for centuries. Charley is not the first and will not be the last to go up agianst Jerry.

When he turns Evil in a dingy back alley, Jerry is so calm and alluring that Evil gives himself to him. Using his long coat as a cape of sorts, Jerry holds Evil close so gently it is almost lovingly before he bites him. To level the playing field he then sends Evil to kill Peter Vincent. Charley and Amy will then be left with no allies and Charley can be killed in Jerry’s own time.

His magnetism that is classic Dracula is never more evident than when he follows Charley and Amy in to a nightclub where he manages to get Amy on her own. With simple subtle dance moves he lures her into his orbit leaving Charley high and dry. The scene is so underplayed that it revs the sex appeal way up. You know by his movements tht Amy is not prey, this is a reunification of souls that death cannot stop from happening.

In the final battle Jerry goes full out vamp ass Peter and Charley storm his home to save Amy. When they kill Billy, Jerry is genuinely upset which gives him a layer of humanity beneath that fanged out ward appearance. He cares for those close to him. Billy was never a servant or watchdog like Straker was to Barlow in Salem’s Lot. Billy and he got on like roommates sharing a genuine bond of friendship. He is enraged and savagely tries to kill them both before Amy is restored to normal. As dawn breaks he flees to his coffin in the darkened basement not fearful of crosses and holy water, effective now because of Peter’s new found faith in himself. They smash the windows allowing sunlight to flood the basement setting Jerry alight. he explodes into ash.

Fright Night was a success and quickly became a cult movie. It is in no small thanks to the performances from the cast. But the movie works only if you have the right actor to play your vampire. Jerry was almost like one of the vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; suave, confident and likeable. He is the perfect predator because you want to be in his company. He’s a human you are attracted to and want to spend time with. Chris Sarandon nails it on every level turning from friendly to lethal on the spin of a dime. He did cameo in the remake where Colin Farrell played Jerry and was killed by him.

But for fans everywhere there is only one Jerry Dandridge and that is Chris Sarandon. if you want to see how to play a vampire then Fright Night is the one to watch.