*Note: I’m a supporter of spoiler-free reviews and the following contains as few spoilers as possible.
Fright Night started as a 1985 vampire cult classic; while it may not have held any true scary moments, and watching it now it’s fairly dated, the film is still a highly enjoyable experience and the special effects are great. Now, I haven’t seen the original in a while, but I do remember the main points and thankfully this remake doesn’t simply “copy and paste” the entire first film (like Quarantine and Funny Games), but modernizes it for a contemporary audience. Some of these changes I loved, some I found interesting, some I hated, but Fright Night (2011) is still entertaining – in my opinion not as much as the first, but still fun.
Anton Yelchin plays a high schooler that for the first time in his life is in the “in-crowd,” ditching his nerdy best friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka McLovin’ from Superbad) for his hot new blonde girlfriend (Imogen Poots). Moving in next door to Yelchin is Jerry (Colin Farrell), a vampire who is feeding on all the neighbors in this small desert town just outside of Las Vegas. With the help of vampire expert Peter Vincent (played by David Tennant, a former Dr. Who), his friends, and his mother (Toni Collette), Yelchin must fight off the vampire and save his town!
Even though I prefer the Peter Vincent in the original Fright Night, I loved what they did to his character in this one to make it relevant to today. I also really enjoyed many of the big action setpieces (one involving Jerry getting a shovel, another taking place in Jerry’s basement). The effects were so-so; there was too much CGI blood and gore that took me out of the experience. Don’t get me wrong, some of the visuals were pretty awesome (there’s one scene where a character literally blows up out of nowhere that is probably the best moment in the film), but overall the picture had a “made-in-a-computer” feel. The acting, I felt, was weak also. It’s not to say the acting in the first movie was award-winning material, but I found it hard to simply get behind some of the characters. Mintz-Plasse is still essentially playing the same goofy character he always does, and Anton Yelchin, even though it is written in the script, is an asshole. His girlfriend is also an uninteresting character - at least she doesn’t resort to the typical ‘damsel-in-distress’ dumb bimbo category. I did love Colin Farrell in his role of Jerry the vampire – particularly one scene in which he tries to borrow beer from the Yelchin household; it is fairly scary and tension-ridden (and a great product placement opportunity for Budweiser). Tennant’s Vincent, a character that was not really necessary to move the plot forward, was still enjoyable to me as well. If not for Tennant and Farrell, the film would have been a tough sell for me.
Even with all its shortcomings, I prefer the original over the remake, but Fright Night (2011) is still fun. Fans of the genre should get their money's worth. In this era where Twilight has dictated what many people think of as vampires (and is referenced in this film), it’s at least nice to see a movie like this that shows vampires for what they truly are: bloodcurdling intimidating murdering sexualized badasses. Also, this film has one of my favorite end credits sequences I can think of from recent memory. If it's possible tough I'd suggest seeing this in 2D and not 3D. The majority of the film takes place at night, so it became extremely dark and hard to see. Besides a few gimmicky pop-out moments, the 3D isn't even used that often. So catch it in 2D if you can, and have a bloodsucking good time!
Rating: B-
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