Fright Night (2011)

 This update of the 1985 horror comedy focuses more on terror than laughs when teen Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) suspects that his new neighbor, the sinister Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell), is a vampire, and turns to a self-styled vampire expert, Peter Vincent (David Tennant), for help. Las Vegas magician Vincent proves useless, and it's up to Charley to save his mom, Jane (Toni Collette), and girlfriend, Amy, from the seductive bloodsucker.

I must admit that despite hearing about how great the original Fright Night was from its cult following, I have never actually sat down and watched it.  From what I gather about this remake, it doesn’t add a whole lot of new changes, nor does it feel particularly necessary, but that doesn’t mean the update wasn’t a success. It is a well-made transition into a more modern environment that actually sends vampires back to their normal nightwalker ways. That automatically puts the film on the winning side in my book, but the way they handled the story and characters is what makes it such an enjoyable film.

What is usually a good setup for a story, when the ole neighbor may ends up being a psycho killer, works out really well. At first it builds some tension up pertaining to a few characters on whether Jerry is really a vampire, but somewhat quickly, (and thankfully!) they get most of the characters into the loop so they can get to the vampire hunting instead of playing ambiguously with something we already know.  It turns into a pretty straight forward classic vampire tale of man vs. human; all of it feels like a breath of fresh air. The mythology of vampires is narrowed down to their heyday, they are violent creatures that roam at night and sleep during the day. They have no reflections and must be invited before coming in. They are back into the creatures many of us sane people fell in love with. It has a few pacing problems, with some rushed set pieces and character arcs, but never does it feel slow. It movies quickly and it’s over right where you’d want it to be. The comedy is there, but the last thirty minutes or so it’s just pure horror that is light on scares but serious in tone. It’s a good change of direction from the first half of the film.

The biggest appeal the film has to offer is Collin Farrell as the vampire Jerry. He sort of went on a blockbuster phase in the early 2000s but since his turn in the film In Bruges, he turned it around and made all of us fall in love with him again. Here is cool, slick, and adds a subtle tenseness to the way he delivers his dialogue that makes you actually root for him to win. He looks to be having a blast with the character and I fucking was thrilled to be along for the ride. His counterpart Anton Yelchin, is never nearly as fun, but is a completely relatable character that you cannot help but like.  He plays a less cool version of Shia LeBeouf from Disturbia. The last and probably most hyped character is David Tennant as Peter Vincent. Many have buzzed about his role because he’s the Doctor from Doctor Who, but I simply did not see what was so fluffy about his role. It’s a pretty standard comic relief performance that never seemed to become hilarious. If you can impersonate anyone in the world, why would you choose Criss Angel and Russell Brand?

Fright Night never does anything to become an amazing film, but the countless things it doesn’t do is why it’s enjoyable. It’s a simple game of cat and mouse and only one will end up winning. There is no side arc, or unnecessary characters. It moves fast and keeps it accelerating the whole time. It’s a film that you should have had a lot of fun with, but quickly moves onto the next big movie.  

Overall Score: 7.5/10