Melanie's Review of Fright Night

I’m a little torn about the Fright Night remake.

I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for the original, so I went into the remake a little skeptical. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the 2011 version, but it just wasn’t as good as the 1985 film.

Putting that aside, director Craig Gillespie and cast tried very hard to live up to the original. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it as campy as I would have liked, and it lacked some of the back-story that I remember from the first Fright Night. I was also a little worried about the 3-D aspect of the film, but have to admit that I liked the subtlety of it and liked that it wasn’t overdone.

Craig Gillespie has only directed a couple of movies, but made a very smart move not straying too far from the original storyline. It’s the standard formula: teen leaves behind geeky past, scores hot popular chick, tries to deal with dad ditching him and his mom, new neighbour moves in next door who’s a vampire, then teen has to save mom, girlfriend, and the world from vampire.

I’ll be honest: Colin Farrell (Miami Vice, Horrible Bosses) is hot. He is really, really hot.

Yet can ‘hot’ carry a movie? Sadly, not really. It worked for a little while, but Farrell didn’t really say much during the film and after a time it became really noticeable. I also found that he didn’t have as much charisma as Chris Sarandon the first Jerry.

One thing I really appreciated about this film is they cast the two main teenage leads well. I enjoyed Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Alpha Dog) as Charlie Brewster in this version. He was relatable and strong enough to help carry the movie.

Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta) was also excellent as the cool popular girlfriend, who’s different from the other teenagers her age. She gave the movie some of its depth. Yelchin and Poots were far better than their original counterparts in the first film.

I also really enjoyed David Tennant (Harry Potter, TV’s Doctor Who) as Peter Vincent. His interaction with my favourite character, Ginger, played by Sandra Vergara, was definitely the best part of the movie. The two of them together were hilarious! She was dead sexy too!

inally. McLovin.  Oh, McLovin. I’m thinking that Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s time is nearly over in the movie world. He’s been playing the same role in every film since Superbad, and personally I’m getting a little tired of him. He definitely had the ‘nerd’ part of Charlie’s ex-best-friend Ed down, but didn’t offer up much beyond that. Personally I found his entire performance flat. The original “Evil Ed” played by Stephen Geoffreys, was such an amazingly played character, that I’m not sure that anyone could have lived up to it.

I found Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine) who played Charlie’s mom, to be wasted in the film. She’s such a strong actress, and didn’t have much in the script to latch on to.

The cameo by Chris Sarandon was priceless. Although, I wish he’d been in the film a lot longer. He is a fantastic actor, and his part was too fast. I actually would have loved to have seen him play Peter Vincent. I think that would have been a fun twist.

If I were to sum up my feelings on this movie, I would say that people who haven ‘t seen the original will totally enjoy the ride. I think anyone who has seen the original will have a more tepid take on it.

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