...what exactly was he? If he was a vampire, how was he surviving and living during the daylight, tending to the vampire's home, etc. Then again, the way he died, turning into that green stuff, then ashes. What the heck was he?
SC
He was something in between a vampire and a human, prolly some slave-race subjugated to the vampires.
shareOk,thanks for that. I have watched it again since then and thought something along those lines-a mix of vampire but not exactly like his master. Almost like how Evil Ed, when he turned was part vampire but then he also had the capacity to turn into a wolf.
SC
He's a ghoul.
not only was he a Ghoul but a Manly Ghoul.
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Hehe.
I thought he was either Jerry's slave or a zombie?
shareHe was a ghoul, He protects Jerry from getting staked in the daytime while he's in his coffin, sort of like a vampires helper/protector.
shareHe was a ghoul - feeding off of his Master's blood.
Not true. Cole might've fed off dead human carcasses but not the vamp's blood.
shareAnd you know this how?
I also comment that with my brother and a friend when we watched this night. Billy probably is some kind of ghoul/zombie risen from dead only to serve his master Jerry. Loot what happened after he was shot in the head. He begin to walk like a classic zombie with his hand straight ahead. They way Peter Vincent killed him, can make people think that Billy was vampire, but he was not.
share
Definitely some sort of ghoul.
Like in Blade he is called a "familiar" like a wannabe Vampire. That is what I think anyhow.
share
Had the same question and glad I found these answers. It just didn'y make sense. A Ghoul.....good job.
"The foul stench of Eldrun is what gave the dragons their power!"
I would say he is not a vampire not completely human ether.I would say he is almost like a a grim reaper/protector for Jerry.They sort of answer this on the front of this page i say sort of because there is still no real concrete explanation as to what he is its more speculating.
It is under questions and answers
here is what they said
" While it is confirmed that Billy is not human, it is also true that he is not a Vampire. As Jerry's "Familiar", Billy may be a different sort of supernatural creature or an altered human that is able to live longer than the average human being and protect Jerry against those who would do him harm during daylight hours. Peter Vincent is mistaken that Bullets will hurt Billy, mistaking him for a true human, but at no point is it revealed that Billy was a vampire. The difference in the death scenes and the decomposition of the body is enough of a difference between Jerry and Billy. "
See they sort of answer it lol but still do not say what he is exactly.
I believe he was a zombie. Vampires don't die quick from a stab in the ribcage. Only stab a vampire can die from is in the heart.
shareCole was a ghoul, the half-human protector of Dandridge. Not only it's obvious, but also hinted at greatly in the original screenplay from 1984, which I once sold on Ebay for $140 about 3-4 years ago. I never felt obligated to have to bring this information up, but the constant back-and-forth is really tiring. I will, however, engage any questions about this situation and others from what I can recall. It's interesting how people make things out to be much bigger than what it really is, when the movie is actually a simple, old-fashioned vampire tale with a contemporary twist of satire. By the way, the original screenplay was a fun and entertaining read. I've read both that and 2 novel versions but Holland's work is really good.
shareThis debate isnt new nor is it unimportant to fans. I saw this in the theater when it was released and everyone around me was like wtf? is cole a vampire too? whats going on? *confusion* *chaos* *chagrin*
The audiunce was really confused and so was I. this was in 1984 or whatever. I'm still confused about it. Even if the ebayed 140$ screenplay says hes a ghoul, that information was not effectively communicated on screen.
You zyggums and the audience confused about Billy Cole a ghoul lol.
shareok.. then how is he a ghoul? every definition ive read says ghouls haunt graveyards and eat carrion and deadpeople. does he eat dead people in this film? all he does is get shot. seemingly die. come back alllll arrrrr eeeeeeer zombie fashion and then get staked.. then melts. is that ghoul-esque to u?
Absolutely lol. The movie wasn't about Cole. It was about Dandridge and Charles Brewster with Peter Vincent fighting to gain courage and faith against enemies. The original screenplay from October 1984, months before its actual release in the late summer of 1985 depicts who and what Billy Cole was without actually having to spell it out loud. Cole guarded the vampire's coffin during daylight and frequented the house doing chores to keep busy and everyone living outside unsuspecting. Cole disposed of the dead bodies the vampire killed in only ways he felt appropriate. You can fill in the blanks cant you? And of course Cole's demise was nothing short of "ghoulish" if you ask me LOL.
sharemelting and putting bodies in plastic bags in the car isnt ghoulist to me no. "LOL". and how is the movie not about him? thats like saying the movie isnt about amy or ed or charlies mother. its about all of them. "LOL".
shareWhen I watched this movie as a kid I was under the impression that Billy was human up until the point when Peter shot him. I figured that Jerry raised him as an undead during that moment when Jerry makes a very pointed look at Billy's corpse.
shareWhatever ha was, he was an unsettling character. He has that "forced smile" and eyes that seemed to look right through you. A very creepy character indeed!
shareI don't think Billy is a ghoul, per say. Rather, he's a "new but unoriginal" creature that can be presumably created by vampires like Jerry. Bosworth from Fright Night 2 is a similar kind of creature, but different because he eats bugs and when he dies, all of those bugs spill out of him rather than him disintegrating into green goo and dirt. Also, why is "ghoul" being used to name the kind of creature Billy Cole is? The only times ghouls are used for such designations are the games set in both versions of the World of Darkness made by White Wolf (created by humans being fed blood by vampires), the manga/anime/OVA of Hellsing (they're like quasi-vampires and originate from either being the same sex as the vampire or not being a virgin before being turned), the Eddie Murphy movie Vampire in Brooklyn (the ghoul in this movie is more like a sentient decomposing zombie as a familiar than anything else and is created by being fed the vampire's blood), the St. Germaine series by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (they're also not particularly associated with vampires as they're created via an ancient Egyptian ritual), and the Rosario + Vampire anime/manga (they're created when the blood of ANY monster, not just vampires, is injected into a human.). Other series that have monsters similar to vampiric ghouls that are not called ghouls are Blade (one vampire victim turns into a decomposing, fanged, sentient zombie-like creature rather than turn into a vampire), Fright Night 1 and 2 (Billy Cole and Bosworth, who are two similar but different creatures), Elder Scrolls series (reanimated corpses called thralls rather than ghouls), Vampire Hunter D series (These ghoul-like creatures are similar to vampires, but lack advanced powers that the "Nobility" have and are closer to Jerry Dandrige in the Fright Night Remake.), Salem's Lot (the "human" servant who takes a lot of shots to kill on the stairs) and many more. This proves that just because Billy Cole is an inhuman servant to a vampire does not mean that he is a "ghoul".
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All the people calling him a ghoul have read too much Vampire the Masquerade. They used the term ghoul for humans who drank their master's blood and protected them during the day.
shareI've always figured he was just a guardian or caretaker who assisted his vampire master, protecting him during the daylight hours. Similar to Dracula's servant Renfield or even Bosworth from the sequel to this film. He was definitely not a vampire as others have speculated, I don't remember Evil Ed dissolving into goo and sand after he was staked. I'm not sure why he survived gunshots but was killed by a stake to the heart though. And as for his demise, maybe the filmmakers just wanted a cool looking death scene with a melting body and since it was decided Evil Ed was going to live at the time, they used Billy Cole for that instead. It probably is just lazy writing, but this is how I've always perceived the character.
Horror_Metal
Billy Cole's death is far from lazy writing. It was an original scene and just because it remains baffling to many viewers doesn't take anything away from it, but rather makes it that much more special. It's fascinating how an unresolved mystery can really mess with people's heads nearly 30 years later lol.
shareI never said his death scene was lazy writing. I was talking about how they never made it clear why he was killed by a stake to the heart. The scene itself was awesome.
Horror_Metal