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Jerry Dandrige
JerryDandrige
Family: Regine Dandrige (sister)
Appeared In: Fright Night (1985)
Played by: Chris Sarandon

Jerry Dandridge was an ancient vampire from the Hungary/Bohemia/Romania region. He was born as Gellert cel Catura, a compatriot of Vlad II of Wallachia (aka the ruler that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula). He was born the first son of Janos Bashara, a second son of a noble line. However, since his father was not expected to inherit the family title, his children were expected to be courtiers or give their lives over to the church. Gellert had been preparing most of his life to give himself to the church in service to his family's name and to ensure his relations a seat in the afterlife.

However, his life was not to go as planned. Janos' older brother, Istvan, grew very ill. Not knowing if he would live to continue the line, Janos took up the mantle as head of the family and recalled his eldest son Gellert to come take his place as future leader of their line, taking him out of the monastery where he was planning to take final orders to become a priest, and immediately putting him on the marriage market.

In the summer of 1466, Janos and Gellert attended a gathering hosted by King Matthias of Hungary. The focus of the gathering was to debate and discuss the Turks, who had been invading and ravaging their lands for years. It was at this event that Gellert met Maria of Lipany. Maria was a distant cousin to King Matthias, yet financial and other circumstances had left her family at the mercy of her distant family's benevolence.

The couple instantly connected and in a matter of a few months, the couple were married. Both sides of the families contributed lands to the happy couple, increasing the family's assets to include a fiefdom in Wallachia.

Unfortunately, a life of wedded bliss was not to be. In 1476, King Matthias called all of his nobles to help fight off the Turks yet again. Gathering his best forces, Gellert left his home and wife to fight for King and Country. It was during this campaign that Gellert worked with Vlad II, who had recently recovered his previous title, Voivod of Wallachia, and with it was King Matthias' favorite.

Vlad II and Gellert had very different ideas of how the war should be fought. Gellert, learning rhetoric and logic from his time studying the scriptures opted for negotiating with the Turks, hoping there could be peaceful resolution. This would allow Gellert to return home to the happy life he and Maria had started to create.

Vlad II was not willing to accept any peaceful solution. It really wasn't any wonder at his extreme hatred towards the enemy. Vlad and his half-brother Radu had spent most of their childhoods as political prisoners of the Turkish sultan. Some even said that Radu had been brainwashed by the Sultan, and currently served the Ottoman Empire in one way or another. He wanted blood, and Gellert's idea of peace and letting bygones be bygones did not sit well with him.

Because of Vlad's higher rank and superiority, Gellert backed down and accepted Vlad's command and orders. However, this did not appease Vlad. He had been watching Gellert increase in notoriety and in wealth, while his own wealth dwindled in comparison. Vlad didn't like having competition, especially in his own realm. So nearing the end of the battle, he sent a portion of his forces to take Gellert's land and wealth.

Gellert was unaware of what awaited him on his homecoming. Nothing on the battleground could have prepared him for the carnage. Entire villages burned, bodies lying on the ground like broken dolls with blood everywhere. It coated the wall, the tables, even the very alter in the local church was not spared. And if that wasn't horrific enough, Vlad decided to leave his calling card...dozens of his very citizens impaled in spikes leading up to Gellert very own castle.

Approaching his keep, Gellert feared the worst. He knew he had left his wife here, happy and safe. However, as he got closer, the more he recognized the people in pieces on spikes around him. The keep looked locked up and secure, with the doors barred and the drawbridge raised.

But all hope died as they unbarred the door. Maria and her maidservants, seeing and hearing the screaming and carnage held out as long as they could. However, Vlad's men knew how to get to them one way or another. In the end, through taunts and lies, the ladies believed that their men were dead, and their only option was to join them. So, Maria and her ladies, seeing no rescue or escape possible, killed themselves. Vlad cursed God, sold his soul to Satan, and became a vampire. Vlad's very 1st victim was Gellert before leaving to go to America. Gellert stayed in Romania, now as a vampire, killing many and infecting many, creating his own vampire coven throughout Europe. His coven members were all killed but him and his sister Regine. He came to America and rebranded himself as Jerry Dandridge.

History[]

Jerry Dandridge is a vampire who moved to Rancho Corvalis for unknown reasons and begins killing beautiful women (afterwards cutting their heads off to prevent them from coming back as vampires themselves). Things are going well for him until his neighbor, a young teenager named Charley Brewster, discovers his secret and begins a mission to destroy him. Fortunately for Jerry, nobody believes Charley.

Jerry visits Charley, invited into the house by his mother Judy, where he tells Charley that he is going to give him a choice — something he claims he doesn't have — the choice being either to keep his secret or he will be killed. Ignoring his ultimatum, Charley stabs Jerry with a pencil, and the vampire flees.

Worried for Charley, his girlfriend Amy Peterson and his best friend Evil Ed calls in famous horror actor and vampire expert Peter Vincent, to perform a fake test to see if Jerry is a vampire, the "test" fails, but Peter realizes the truth when he notices Jerry's lack of a reflection. Jerry realizes at least two people are aware he is a vampire after stepping on the broken shards of the mirror that Peter dropped.

Later that night, Jerry kidnaps Amy at a night club and turns Evil Ed into a vampire after stalking him in an alley. Charley attempts to convince Peter to help him, but to no avail; however he changes his mind and later shows up in front of Jerry's house to help Charley on his mission.

Sometime after the abduction, Amy wakes up in Jerry's room, where he begins to seduce her, biting her in the process. Charley learns that Amy is half vampire and Jerry must die by sunrise in order to save her. He and Peter find his house after Evil Ed is seemingly killed by Peter. They are beset by Jerry's nonhuman servant, Billy Cole, but he is immediately killed after the struggle. Peter looks for Jerry, while Charley finds Amy, who talks to him briefly before trying to kill him.

In the segueing confrontation, Jerry flees into the basement as the sun rises. Peter and Charley fight Jerry after Peter finds his coffin behind a false wall. Peter drives a stake into Jerry's heart, but Jerry vertically rises from his coffin like Nosferatu and rips the stake out before continuing the attack.

Eventually, just as Jerry is about to kill Peter, they break the windows allowing the sunlight to flow into the basement, eventually destroying the vampire and returning Amy to normal. Jerry turns into a grotesque, flaming bat-creature as he dies, blowing out every window in the house before turning into dust.

Jerry and amy

Jerry dancing with and seducing Amy at a Night Club.

Jerry vamped out2

Jerry with fangs and red eyes, shortly before his death.

Resurrection[]

Immediately following his death, the secretive vampire society The Legion of the Endless Night gathered Dandridge's ashes with the intention of resurrecting him, since he was the oldest known vampire. Eventually his remains wound up in the clutches of witch Constance Beauregard, who used her magical powers to transform the ashes into a living organism. In order to revive him she needed blood, which she attempted to obtain from Claudia Hinnault, and a new body to transplant his soul into, so she chose Moves Wilson, an African-American all-star NBA player for The Twisters. Beauregard's plans were thwarted by Peter, Charley and his then-current girlfriend Natalia Hinnault, but not before the transference of Dandridge's soul into Wilson's body had begun.

Wilson caught the attention of The Legion when he vamped out during a basketball game and attacked his fellow players. Eventually they found him in the company of Evil Ed, so they beat up Ed, left him for dead and abducted Wilson. Back at Legion headquarters, Wilson was infused with the blood of virgin vampires, his skin began to lighten, and soon Jerry Dandridge emerged through his body. Due to Bearegard's failure to complete the resurrection and their swift intervention, The Legion discovered that Dandridge was able to withstand the rays of the sun, and they quickly determined how to harness this ability.

Dandridge fled to Paris, where he began to amass a new legion of vampires beginning with a prostitute named Lili. By the time the pair had created seven new vampires, not only was he targeted for destruction by Parisian and American chapters of The Anti-Monster Society, but also by Evil Ed, who was hellbent on revenge. A battle ensued, which ended with Evil Ed driving a stake through Dandrige's shoulder. An ailing Jerry Dandridge, gradually reverting back into Moves Wilson, was last seen being carried into the night by Lili in her vampire bat form.

Quotes[]

  • "Welcome to Fright Night! For real."
  • "Now we wouldn't want to wake your mother, would we Charley? Then I'd have to kill her too, RIGHT?"
  • Do you realize how much trouble you've caused me, Charley? Spying on me. Almost disturbing my sleep this afternoon. Telling policemen about me! You deserve to die, boy. Of course... I can give you something I don't have: a choice. Forget about me, Charley. Forget about me, and I'll forget about you. What do you say, Charley?"
  • "Hello, Edward. You don't have to be afraid of me. I know what it's like being different. Only they won't pick on you anymore... or beat you up. I'll see to that. All you have to do is take my hand."
  • "You shouldn't lose your temper, Charley. It isn't polite."
  • "I don't want to kill you, Charley. I want you to bring Peter Vincent to my house. Just the two of you. That is, if you ever want to see Amy...again."
  • "You have to have faith for this to work on me, Mr. Vincent."
  • (last words) "Amy!"

Photos[]


  1. Holland T Ulrich AJ. Fright Night : Origins. Place of publication not identified: Encyclopocalypse Publications; 2022.
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