Why would Jerry give Charley a choice?

I concur with WhoopsieThree-D. Jerry Dandridge showed signs of real humanity (rare in vampire flicks up until that point). He fed on prostitutes and presumably vagrants -- people whose lives are deemed meaningless in society. Charley was a smart kid with a bright future (despite his struggles with trig), which Jerry recognized.

Incorrect. Jerry isn't empathising with Charley, nor does he care Charley is a "good kid" The reason he is feeding on the dispossessed, hookers and vagrants is because at that time at least, deaths of those sorts of people weren't as keenly looked into by the police. There weren't as many people in those peoples lives to clamour for an investigation. He's being clever and hiding himself, not giving the game away. The only reason he's giving Charley a choice to shut up is from self-preservation - he knows killing Charley, or both Charley and his mum is going to bring police too close to home - especially after Charley has already reported him to the police. he'd be the first suspect. So he does the only thing he can. he tries to scare Charley into shutting up so it'll all blow over. When Charley refuses, he has no choice left but to kill him. I'm assuming Dandridge and Cole would've done a moonlight flit immediately after and the house be back on the market. Jerry is multi-layered as a film villain, but he's also a predator, pure and simple. Everything he does initially is about keeping attention away from himself. It's not out of humanity and recognising a good kid when he meets one.

There are two lines in the script from that scene that didn't make it to the film. Charley says, "If you kill me, everyone will be suspicious, my mother, the police..." Jerry responds, "Not if it looks like an accident. A fall, for instance." Then he flings open the window. This tells me Jerry wasn't concerned about the cops. Charley posed a bigger threat and Jerry just wanted to be left alone.

No, Jerry is very concerned about the cops hence the very obvious efforts to make sure his kills didn't attract the kind of outrage that leads to task forces and major police investigations close to home. He's trying to cloak himself in suburbia. It's simply at this point he has no choice, after Charley refuses to drop it, but to chance his arm at killing Charley. That's the interesting thing about the movie. Dandridge is a killer yes - but Charley is the one who puts himself in the firing line, along with his family and friends. Dandridge's last wish is to kill anyone who's gonna be missed or will bring attention to him. It's just Charley effectively backs Dandridge into a corner by refusing to shut up. Dandridge has no chice now but to kill him and hope for the best.





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