Plot: High school student Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) seems to suddenly have it all. His acne has cleared up, he's getting along with his Mom Jane (Toni Collette), and he's dating one of the hottest girls in school Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots). But just when everything seems perfect, a new neighbor named Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. When Ed, (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) Charley's former best friend tries to convince Charley that Jerry is in fact a vampire, Charley blows him off. However when kids at school, including Ed, begin to disappear, Charley begins to suspect that his friend may have been right and that Jerry must be destroyed. But even with the help of celebrity vampire aficionado Peter Vincent (David Tennant) can Charley really destroy a 400 year old creature of the night?
Review: The 21st century version of Fright Night proves to be a marginally entertaining film that is heavy on gore and humor but light on scares. While I somewhat enjoyed director Craig Gillespie's updated version of the 1980s classic, it certainly won't go down as a classic vampire movie. Gillespie's pacing comes across frenetic and rushed with little time for plot or character development. And yet despite the rushed feel of most of the film, there are certain scenes that dragged on for an eternity. For example the scene where Charley tries to save his stripper neighbor from the clutches of Jerry's dungeon goes on...and on...and on. How a director can manage a slap dash pace and yet have scenes that are mind numbingly cumbersome is beyond me. Yet somehow Gillespie succeeds.
To be fair it is not all Gillespie's fault. Marti Noxon's formulaic and tired script bears a lot of the blame for Fright Night's faults. It was as if Noxon's script came out of a step by step instruction book on how to write a horror screenplay. Step One: Have nasty and obvious vampire move next door. Step Two: Have main protagonist's best friend disappear. Step Three: Have main protagonist finally admit his neighbor is a vampire. Step Four: Have protagonist enlist the help of a reluctant vampire expert who initially resists but then joins the fight. Step Five: Have protagonist's hot girlfriend kidnapped by the vampire, etc, etc, etc. You get the idea and the idea is not originality.
Except for Star Trek, I've never been a huge fan of Anton Yelchin. He's blander than a Congressional bill memo and half as exciting. There is little depth to Charley and I find it very unrealistic that when Ed approaches him about a missing friend (a friend mind you that the two of them have been friends with since they were toddlers) that he could care less. Yelchin's emotional outbursts, the few times they do occur, ring false and forced. Imogen Poots as Charley's girlfriend Amy is just a token hot chick and Toni Collette, a normally brilliant actress, is relegated to the background.
Fortunately Fright Night is not bereft of any redeeming features. This isn't Twilight after all. Far from it. For one thing there is real gore in Fright Night and some of the vampire kills are pretty cool. Also the concept of the setting was logical; a Las Vegas residence where the population is transient and a lot of people work on the strip at night. I also loved the set design, particularly Peter Vincent's (David Tennant's) occult like apartment.
Speaking of Tennant I thoroughly enjoyed his portrayal of the Vegas magician Peter Vincent, which is a not too subtle rip off of Chris Angel Mind Freak. Vincent provided a majority of the comic relief and while there was more than a little Doctor Who (the role that made him famous in the UK) in Vincent, Tennant's performance was none the less entertaining.
The one actor who categorically saved Fright Night was Colin Farrell. His slick, sleek, and cocky performance as the vampire Jerry was spot on. Whether he was threatening Charley to stay out of his business through a mild conversation with major subtext, setting fire to Charley's house, or draining a bystander's body dry, Farrell proves why he is still a viable actor in Hollywood. I just wish he would pick better movies to star in.
While many vampire films bite deep, Fright Night unfortunately only manages a mild nibble.
My rating: 6/10
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