Fangs but no bite

Directed by relatively unknown Craig Gillespie, Fright Night stars Anton Yelchin  as geek turned young vampire hunter (‘Charley Brewster’), squaring off against an over sexed Colin Farrell as ‘Jerry’ the blood sucker in question, and trying to protect his girlfriend ‘Amy’ (Imogen Poots) from becoming Jerry’s vampire bride to be. We know the formula and have seen it countless times before, but if you’re a fan of the 1985 original then you will probably appreciate this reworking.

Farrell seems a perfect choice for the pale skinned sexual predator role and he seems to really enjoy himself playing Jerry, and it’s refreshing to see a vampire minus the angst and heartache that we have come to see with other recent fluffy vampire films. Tennant is also fun to watch as an eccentric, bad mannered Peter Vincent, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse is perfectly chosen as ‘Evil Ed’ the vampire obsessed nerdy best friend of Charley. It’s a good job that these performances are entertainingly flamboyant as without them the film would seriously fail to deliver. The rest of the cast seem to totally transparent and pointless especially Toni Collette as Charley’s mum who seems to be there one second then gone for the remainder of the film, and doesn’t seem at all phased that her new neighbour is a creature of the night.

Although there are some mildly suspenseful points and clever action sequences, the film is lacking in genuine suspense, thrills and frights and missing much in the way of plot or backstory to the main villain who is really just an evil alluring stage presence. The emphasis of this film seems to be the fact that another old cult classic has been given the contemporary treatment with an eclectic cast (much in the same vain as the rehashed Disturbia film), shame as the concept for this remake had a lot of potential. Fright Night will probably be a hit with a younger generation rediscovering the tongue in cheek vampire-thriller genre, similarly to how the original became a cult hit in the eighties. But for the rest of us this film will be easily forgettable with nothing new to offer.

Having all said and done this is still an enjoyable film to watch that remains true to the original version and films of this genre where the vampires are actually evil killers without remorse. With some nice camera work, special effects and score, you will probably enjoy this for what it is; a slick trendy but shallow comedy horror that delivers exactly what you would expect but not a great deal more.

Fangs but no bite..

Directed by relatively unknown Craig Gillespie, Fright Night stars Anton Yelchin  as geek turned young vampire hunter (‘Charley Brewster’), squaring off against an over sexed Colin Farrell as ‘Jerry’ the blood sucker in question, and trying to protect his girlfriend ‘Amy’ (Imogen Poots) from becoming Jerry’s vampire bride to be. We know the formula and have seen it countless times before, but if you’re a fan of the 1985 original then you will probably appreciate this reworking.

Farrell seems a perfect choice for the pale skinned sexual predator role and he seems to really enjoy himself playing Jerry, and it’s refreshing to see a vampire minus the angst and heartache that we have come to see with other recent fluffy vampire films. Tennant is also fun to watch as an eccentric, bad mannered Peter Vincent, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse is perfectly chosen as ‘Evil Ed’ the vampire obsessed nerdy best friend of Charley. It’s a good job that these performances are entertainingly flamboyant as without them the film would seriously fail to deliver. The rest of the cast seem to totally transparent and pointless especially Toni Collette as Charley’s mum who seems to be there one second then gone for the remainder of the film, and doesn’t seem at all phased that her new neighbour is a creature of the night.

Although there are some mildly suspenseful points and clever action sequences, the film is lacking in genuine suspense, thrills and frights and missing much in the way of plot or backstory to the main villain who is really just an evil alluring stage presence. The emphasis of this film seems to be the fact that another old cult classic has been given the contemporary treatment with an eclectic cast (much in the same vain as the rehashed Disturbia film), shame as the concept for this remake had a lot of potential. Fright Night will probably be a hit with a younger generation rediscovering the tongue in cheek vampire-thriller genre, similarly to how the original became a cult hit in the eighties. But for the rest of us this film will be easily forgettable with nothing new to offer.

Having all said and done this is still an enjoyable film to watch that remains true to the original version and films of this genre where the vampires are actually evil killers without remorse. With some nice camera work, special effects and score, you will probably enjoy this for what it is; a slick trendy but shallow comedy horror that delivers exactly what you would expect but not a great deal more.