Hollywood's love affair with 'Night' horror flicks

“Fright Night” is a 3-D remake of a well-known ’80s horror flick, but you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for, well, just about every other horror movie ever made.

That has nothing to do with the quality of this Colin Farrell vampire film (it’s actually pretty good). Instead, it’s because many past genre efforts have used the word “night” in their title. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more predictable horror-movie word (except maybe “dead”).

With “Fright Night” opening tomorrow, we look back at some notable “night” movies (minus the original).

‘The Night of the Hunter’ (1955)
This classic stars Robert Mitchum as the psychotic Reverend Harry Powell and features one of the most indelibly scary moments in cinema history: Mitchum’s sinister rendition of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” as he’s perched outside the home of the family that his character torments.

‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)
George A. Romero introduced the modern zombie movie and made himself a household name with this succinct, unsettling portrait of an undead army descending upon human survivors holed up inside a Pennsylvania farmhouse.

‘Prom Night’ (1980)
It doesn’t have the cachet of the other movies we’ve included here, but this Jamie Lee Curtis vehicle about high school students being stalked by a slasher on prom night spurred three sequels and a remake in 2008.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984)
Without question, the world would be a far poorer place had Wes Craven never given birth to Freddy Krueger, the disfigured, blade-fingered demon who haunted the dreams of Springwood, Ohio’s teens. He’s one of the all-time-great villains.

‘30 Days of Night’ (2007)
It’s not as well-regarded as the comic series that inspired it, but “30 Days of Night” is an intense and gory ride through vampire hell, set against the bleak darkness of Alaska in winter.