Fright Night (2011)

Review by Sean Patterson



"Welcome to Fright Night -- for real."

Never having seen the original Fright Night puts me in a position to review the remake without the reflective baggage of nostalgia. As good as that might be for an optimally neutral movie review, it's also too bad, since this remake will certainly not inspire any future nostalgia of its own.
Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is a teen in a small Las Vegas suburb who discovers his new neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. With the help of his hot girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) and the famous "vampire slayer" Peter Vincent (David Tennant), he sets out to save his neighborhood from becoming a vampire den.
The vampires here are not the sexy, sparkling type that are currently so popular. Instead, they are the true monsters of legend, complete with weaknesses against crosses and wooden stakes.
Farrell does a good job of toning down his smooth personality and comes across as a dangerous, yet modern, creature of the night. The other actors are notably good as well. Yelchin does a good job in the lead, but it's easy to see that the character wasn't much of a challenge for him. Still, it's more geek cred for him to add to his rapidly climbing total.
The movie runs at a fast pace and is well directed and edited. The good acting helps it a lot: the casting director certainly earned his or her pay. What brings the movie down to the level of just average is the predictable story and the dialogue which, while sufficient, is somehow flat. This isn't a very quotable flick.
The movie works best on a meta level. Knowing the cast's other works is what provides most of the laughs. For example, Chris Sarandon, who played Jerry in the original Fright Night, has a rather forced cameo at one point. Seeing Kyle Reese/Chekov as an angsty teen, the 10th doctor as an asshole Vegas performer, or McLovin with his arm off is fun to see but doesn't help the story. Anyone who can't place these actors in those alternate contexts is going to miss out on most of the humor in the movie.
This remake of Fright Night hasn't inspired me to see the original. This movie doesn't really stand out in any way, and I probably won't remember it this time next year unless someone were to bring it up. Still, it's a good date-night movie if your girl loves time lords and you are geeky enough to get the meta-jokes.