Fright Night (2011)

Directed by: Chris Gillespie

Release Date: 2011

Being a fan of the original movie, I had to watch the remake written by a Buffy the Vampire Slayer series regular writer, Marti Noxon. She wrote one of my favorite episodes on Season 2 ("Surprise") so I had to support! Unfortunately, I was severely disappointed.

Charlie (Anton Yelchin) has a hot girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots) and has a BFF played by actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin') as Ed. The story takes a contemporary spin to the eighties version scenario in which the audience spends some time in school with our main characters. Charlie was a geek and is now "cool" because he's dating Amy. Poor Ed is left in the dirt. This aspect of the film didn't add anything to the picture but didn't detract either. Either way, this cliched high school element was a complete turn off. But I had to keep watching.

When Colin Farrell as Jerry appears before the audience, expectations were high. Mr. Farrell is already a piece of hotness to begin with and to play the seductive vampire in this movie, perfect win, right? Wrong. In this case, his native accent would have added that extra spark to make every girl's seat pants cream with pleasure. For this girl, his American accent came across as boring and plain - not even menacing. Chris Sarandon's vampire was so sexalicious I wouldn't have minded being bit by him in the eighties! But perhaps, that's just me.

The best part about this movie had to be David Tennant as the illusionist, Peter Vincent. Not having watched him in Doctor Who but knowing of him, I was able to enjoy Tennant without another past character tainting my perception of his acting style/ability. Honestly, Tennant stole every scene. As much as Anton Yelchin was decent in this picture, he paled in comparison to Tennant's drunkard and rambunctious character. Peter Vincent definitely received the contemporary makeover, indeed!

I wanted to enjoy Fright Night as its own movie without comparisons but this was very hard. The film could've been better.

Final Verdict? Watch for David Tennant. And...yeah, that's it, just David Tennant.

The trailer for your enjoyment.

Technorati tags: fright night,marti noxon,funny horror,eighties remake,chris sarandon,campy horror movies,david tennant,2012 horror movies