Fright Night (2011)

In 1985 the original Fright Night became a cult hit because it provided a love letter to horror for fans who enjoyed shock, gore, camp and horror in one whole package. Even now it still stands the test of time which is probably why so may people were confused when the remake was first announced.

The story is about a Teenager named Charley (Anton Yelchin) who's life is going pretty well. He's dating the gorgeous Amy (Imogen Potts), but at the expense of losing his geeky best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Towards the end of the School year Ed believes Charley's neighbour Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire and tries to convince Charley to help him after some students go missing.
As with the original, Fright Night lives or dies on it's vampire and the vampire killing 'expert'.  David Tennant takes over the role of vampire slayer Peter Vincent from Roddy McDowell, who, it's fair to say, owned the last movie. He dresses up in a costume that reminds you of Russell Brand and does well with the role he's been given. It's just unfortunate he doesn't quite have the charm, or indeed the punchlines to make Vincent stand out more. Colin Farrell looks like his having a great time as Jerry. He plays the role as more of a bad ass in worn jeans then the charmer in a shirt we see in so many other vampire movies of late (Twilight has a lot to answer for).

The story starts off pretty slowly but luckily Anton Yelchin and Chris Mintz-Plasse are likable enough to keep the audience interested. They both seem to be growing up and moving into more adult roles which is great to see especially in Mintz-Plasse's case as he was in danger of just being known for McLovin. Which no doubt he will be, but here, Chris plays a role that starts off similar but his performance soon changes into something we have yet to see from him. If Yelchin keeps his level of performances high, then he could soon well be the alternative choice for leading male roles.

As the story continues to unfold the tension starts to increase and the special effects come into play a lot more. The transformations from human to Vampire are unsettling to say the least but the final confrontation, while smart, is somewhat of a let down.

The original wasn't particularly scary, and neither is this one. In the original, it takes Charley much longer to realise he's not crazy, but here he's pretty much a Vampire slayer after the first quarter of the film. This isn't necessarily and improvement, in fact, nothing really improves apart from the obvious touches of special effects and the added 3D (which wasn't half bad, but the fact that most cinemas in the UK are showing it in 3D only is a shocking decision).

Fright Night is an entertaining film that doesn't do much different from the original but is still a great alternative for people who've had their fair share of Twilight.