Now Playing: ‘Fright Night’ Is Everything a Vampire Movie Should Be

I cannot lie; I haven’t seen the original ‘Fright Night’ since I was a little kid. The only thing that I remember about the film is a scene where Charley Brewster walks around a dimly-lit room brandishing a cross. That, and the movie terrified me. So, if you’re looking for a review that compares the new to old, sorry, this isn’t it.

Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is one of the cool kids in his high school. Although he used to be a nerd, dressing up in costumes and playing with toy swords, he’s since left all that behind – including his friends – to get the cute girl on campus (Imogen Poots). But when one of his old chums goes missing, another past friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) forces his way back into Charley’s life to help solve the case. He believes that Charlie’s new night-owl neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire who killed their best buddy for getting too close.

As any normal kid would do, Charley shrugs it off and blames the paranoia on too many readings of ‘Twilight’. However, more disappearances and odd events soon prove that the theory is true. Charley’s new neighbor, the same guy his mom (Toni Collette) has been flirting with, is in fact a vampire.

Jerry isn’t your average modern vampire. He doesn’t glisten in the sun (although he does eat a lot of apples). He doesn’t look like he just stepped off the set of a teen movie. Jerry is the real deal. He drinks blood and kicks ass. He goes all the way back to vampire roots. We’re talking holy water, garlic, crosses and stakes. Charley cannot defeat the menace by calling on a pack of shirtless bronzed boys to morph into protecting puppies. He’s got to go all sorts of medieval on Jerry’s ass – and he sure isn’t doing it in a PG-13 way.

‘Fright Night’ capitalizes on the tone and feel of an old cult classic while adding the super cool visuals, humor and style of today’s films. Colin Farrell deserves an award for playing one of the best villains that you’ll love to hate. If you enjoy what Sam Raimi did with ‘Evil Dead 2’ and ‘Army of Darkness’, and love his modernized twists like ‘Drag Me to Hell’, then ‘Fright Night’ will be everything you want it to be. It’s an all-around good time.

Rating: ★★★★☆

5 comments

  1. EM

    I thought the original had some entertainment value but didn’t quite come together for me. In other words, the concept was ripe for a remake. And if this one doesn’t quite hit the mark…well, maybe a tremake will do the trick!

  2. Saw this over the weekend. It’s a great deal of fun. The full-on vampire effect is a little cheesy, and the ending is kind of a cop-out, but those are small problems I can forgive.

    The next day, we also watched the original on cable. My, that movie hasn’t aged well at all. The acting is particularly amateurish. This is one of those rare cases where the remake is an overall better movie.

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