Fright Night

Release Date: 02 September 2011
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette
Details: US / 105 mins (15A)

A hugely entertaining and fun flick, that compliments the cheesy but much loved original perfectly, Fright Night is a blast thanks to some wry performances and confident direction. The 3D is utterly useless and not worth your money, but the content was there to begin with. Despite a disappointing box office opening in The States, this should play very well and find the home it deserves on DVD.

Anton Yelchin is newly popular teen, Charley Brewster. Despite some geeky tendencies, he's managed to pull the school hottie (Poots), get in with the cool crowd, but alienate former best mate, Ed (Mintz-Plasse). When a brooding, enigmatic stranger (Farrell) moves in next door, and begins flirting with his lonely mother (Colette), Ed claims that he is in fact a vampire who has been chowing down on local strippers. Beginning to realise that Ed is right after initially dismissing his claims, Charley attempts to enlist Vegas magician, Peter Vincent (a very funny Tennant) to do battle with his charismatic, but deadly neighbour.

The balance of horror and comedy is wonderfully struck by Lars and the Real Girl helmer, Gillespie, who manages to make the horror effective and the comedy elements genuinely funny. Such is the tone that its neither horrifically violent, or side-splittingly funny, it still manages to do both with panache and aplomb. A couple of more lively sequences, involving our heroes in peril, are particularly impressive, with Gillespie building tension gradually, while interjecting moments of comedy in a similar fashion to the first Scream film.

Casting is spot on, with Yelchin carrying the film in his now customary pseudo-John Cusack manner. He can thread that geek/cool line and this is a perfect role for him to do that. Plasse is funny, but has played this role before. Alas, the film belongs to both Farrell and Tennant who steal every single seen they're in. The former all snarling predator, the latter channelling Russell Brand amusingly, and proving he has a serious future in Hollywood.

Fright Night is unapologetically a popcorn film, and a very good one. The 3D is muck, and actually hinders some scenes. But that's a small gripe in a very entertaining flick.

Review by Mike Sheridan

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Your Comments

CherrySueDointhedo

Fright Night a remake of the 1985 Horror, starring this time Colin Farrell (Coddle Farddle), Anton Yelchin, David Tennant and Toni Colette. This film, to me, was Disturbia with teeth. A teenage lad's obsession with a neighbour he knows is up to no good. This time the neighbourino is a vampire, no less. We saw the 3D version, which I found very dark but the lads seemed to love. Fright Night really didn't try too hard and that's why I liked it, switching quickly from laugh out loud to genuinely frightening. I'm convinced that had anybody else attempted the role of Coddle they would come off as Ham, maybe Ham & Cheese but Mr Farrell just made it work. He commanded the screen with comic timing and micro expressions of the seasoned Hollywood actor he has become. Christopher Mintz Plasse also making an appearance, still riding high on his role as Red Mist in Kick Ass, this kid is naturally funny and proves as much, once more, on this outing. David Tennant as the Las Vegas magician and self confessed vampire killer appeared at first as an homage to Russell Brand but quickly came into his hilarious own. All in all I'm not sure I would send you running out to see this one, while I genuinely enjoyed it I might suggest waiting for the DVD. The Lads disagree entirely, according to them you need to see this with immediateness. If you fancy a cinema trip, you can't go far wrong with this one.

Posted 14/08/2011 01:43:10

TBone

"who steal every single seen their in" should be: "who steal every single scene they're in" just sayin

Posted 26/08/2011 14:33:00

Videok1d

I loved this remake! It stands up to the original very well. Both are great films and this will become a cult classic like the original.

Posted 30/08/2011 14:42:08

Bertaut

Another week, another remake.

Posted 01/09/2011 01:27:28

KickedArse

Saw this last night thanks to this site. Loved it! A lot of fun. Farrell is great

Posted 01/09/2011 15:28:06

FilmBuff76

I approach remakes of classic horror films with a degree of caution. However, I try to give the remake a fair chance. In the case of the 2004 Dawn Of The Dead, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. In the case of the 2011 Fright Night, it's a decent attempt to remake the 1985 classic - one of my favourite horror films. Colin Farrell was a smart choice to play Jerry and Imogen Poots continues to show great potential. However, I was disappointed with what was done with the Peter Vincent character. Perhaps the film-makers knew that they couldn't top Roddy McDowall's performance in the original, so they did a complete 180 on the character instead. The 3D is OK, but the frequent darkness of the film renders it a bit muted. All in all, worth watching but it won't be joining the original in my film collection.

Posted 02/09/2011 18:33:26

noel

An easy 1hr 40 mins or so nothing great nothing terrible, Farrell is ok Tennant steals the show, Great little cameo from Chris Sarandon, dont bother with the 3D as its another conversion, all in all not bad.

Posted 03/09/2011 02:39:54

Greg

It was ok and a bit of a laugh at times. Colin Farrell was a bit rubbish but thought David Tennant worked well.

Posted 04/09/2011 12:32:13

Dave

3D ruined it for me, Farrell proves he is a versatile actor.. the darkness of film was frustrating and in places veeeery slow, Tennant class... all in all 3 stars and an afternoon cinema flick, if its raining.

Posted 07/09/2011 14:45:05

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