Fright Night

Year: 2011
Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette


Plot: Charley Brewster discovers that his next door neighbor Jerry is a vampire who's feeding off people in the neighborhood. He turns to magician cum vampire expert Peter Vincent for help.


Review: I vaguely remember the original Fright Night many years ago. I can only recall a bit of the vampire played by Chris Sarandon (who makes a cameo here) and Roddy McDowall as the vampire killer.

Director Craig Gillespie successfully merges horror and comedy in his remake by creating lots of light hearted moments courtesy of the smart dialogue and good comic timing. Admittedly, some of the lines seem a tad cheesy, but overall it works.

You can also expect a lot of blood spatter, as what is a horror flick without the blood and gore? Gillespie pulls no punches or claws as the blood flies everywhere everytime someone gets fangs sunk into them.

Anton Yelchin isn't quite ready to be leading man material, but he pulls off the former nerd turned cool kid well enough, and warms up to the Charley Brewster role by the time the film gets to its climax. Colin Farrell uses his always present dark charm to his advantage as Jerry the vampire, and becomes a somewhat intimidating, but not too scary monster. Some of his lines are pretty corny, but hey, it's a comedy. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is rather annoying as Charley's best friend Ed, while Imogen Poots is nice to look at as Charley's squeeze. David Tennant however scores major points as Peter Vincent, whom many have accurately described as a cross between Russell Brand and Criss Angel. He is a hoot to watch and steals nearly every scene he's in.

Personally, I'd prefer a horror film that takes itself seriously than one that doesn't, which is why Fright Night wouldn't be one of my favourites. But I gotta say I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would, and it's a nice way to spend 2 hours.

Note: Hugo's version of Jay-Z's 99 Problems that plays during the end credits is a killer song. It's just perfect for this. (3.5/5)