Fright Night (2011)
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 106 min
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Written by: Marti Noxon (screenplay) & Tom Holland (Story)
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant,
Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Christopher Mintz-Plasse
by Michele Pearson (via AllHorror.net)
Here in the ARR family, we have had many a discussion on the current and future movie remakes. There was even an epic live debate a couple of months ago regarding remakes that got rather heated. I have watched several remakes, liked some, hated most. Fright Night was a remake that I loved.
Anton Yelchin stars as Charlie Brewster, a nerdy closet geek living in Las Vegas who is desperate to fit in at school and keep his Farscape convention attendance under wraps from his new, cooler friends and way out of his league girlfriend, Amy. When several kids up and disappear from school, Charlie’s still geeky former best friend, Ed, tells him that Charlie’s new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire and responsible for the disappearances. Charlie brushes off Ed’s request for help in killing Jerry but is blackmailed into checking on one of their missing friends. Unbeknownst to the guys, Jerry spies on them as they break into their friend’s empty house and later confronts a vulnerable Ed.
The next day, upon finding that Ed has now disappeared, Charlie begins to think that Ed was right. After conducting his own investigation, Charlie realizes that not only is Jerry a vampire, but he is now coming after Charlie, Amy and Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette). Desperate for help, Charlie turns to Criss Angel style magician and reported vampire expert Peter Vincent (David Tennant) whose stage show, Fright Night, is the hit of the Hard Rock Resort.
This film had the potential to be terrible. It wasn’t. This was due to three things: strong writing, great direction and a solid cast. Marti Noxon, who wrote the screenplay, has been a producer and writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Grey’s Anatomy and Mad Men so she has history and background with hit shows. Being a Whedonite, knowing that Joss counted on her for not only Buffy and Angel but also to join him again in his web series Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Blog adds, in my opinion, serious credibility to her work. Craig Gillespie previously worked with actress Toni Collette as director of her Showtime series, United States of Tara. His style of direction is smooth with an almost seamless transition from scene to scene, creating a flow throughout the film that doesn’t allow you to get bored. Scenes are purposeful. Nothing feels crammed in, everything has a purpose. But even with a strong script and a great director, the actors could have brought it down. Thankfully they didn’t.
I am not a Colin Farrell fan but the way he played vampire Jerry, I have to thank him for bringing the sexy, seductive, blood thirsty vampire back to the big screen. I especially liked his subtle digs at the Twilight franchise. Anton Yelchin as Charlie portrays his character’s growth and maturity throughout the film naturally with the perfect mix of comedy and seriousness. However, my real draw to Fright Night was the opportunity to watch David Tennant. As the Tenth Doctor on the BBC series Doctor Who, Tennant was able to display a range of acting abilities that were honed on the stages of London and this ability shines again in Fright Night. Channeling the style of Criss Angel and a toned down Russell Brand, he steals every scene he’s in as magician Peter Vincent. This is Tennant’s first Hollywood film and I would be shocked if it is his last.
Fright Night is billed as a comedy horror. While having several laugh out loud moments, this is not a slap stick horror film. The comedic tone is uneasy and actually adds to the tension leading up to the scares rather than relieving it. Was I scared? No but then again, I am jaded and it takes a lot for a film to actually scare me anymore. Horror newbies will like this film as is just enough blood, gore and scary moments to make them squeal a little. Horror vets will like this film for the story line, the return of relevant gore to a horror film and that it actually made an R rating rather than the PG-13 “horror” films we have been plagued with for the past few years.
I did watch the movie in 3D. While I despise the incessant push of 3D with every single new release, it wasn’t entirely bad. Since Fright Night was actually shot in 3D and not in standard format with 3D post production remastering, the 3D effects work well. I would say that this film did not need the 3D effects to cover a lackluster script and poor acting like Final Destination 5 did. Basically, if you have the opportunity to watch Fright Night on a regular screen, save your money and do so.
This movie reinforced my faith that Hollywood won’t screw up everything in the horror genre. They just need to get a great team together and let them do what they do without the big wigs mucking it up. Fright Night proves that and I hope it’s a lesson that they’ll remember on future films.
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