Once again, Hollywood is running out ideas and it's Fright's Night's turn for the remake. Fright Night is a huge cult classic that I'm sure was expected to flop, instead turned into a pleasant surprise. It's a fun film that came out of the 80's and is a classic treasure; it's like Rear Window with vampires. I didn't see the film until a few years ago, not sure how I missed it, I guess The Lost Boys was my vampire film of the 80's. But I loved the film and its clever mix of horror and humor. Plus it has a great cast, fun effects and a cool story. To remake it, again, everyone gets upset at first but from the trailer the film actually looked pretty good. I saw this opening day looking forward to seeing a reboot and while it's certainly flawed, this is actually a pretty decent remake.
Charley Brewster is a teenager who discovers he has a new neighbor moving in next door to him. Charley's geeky ex-friend, Ed, tells him that many fellow students have gone missing. Charley disregards this, but talks him into coming to an old friend's house to check if he's alright.When Charley goes home after school, his mother introduces him to Jerry, who is the new neighbor. Charley meets up with Ed who informs him that his new neighbor is a vampire, Charley doesn't believe Ed and leaves. On his way home Ed is confronted by Jerry who convinces him to become a vampire and bites him. The next day Charley realizes that Ed is missing and decides to go to his house to investigate. As Jerry begins to attack more people throughout the neighborhood, Charley goes into Jerry's house and finds out that he is keeping all of his victims in secret rooms. Charley decides to go to Las Vegas magician Peter Vincent, a supposed expert on vampires and hope to destroy Jerry before he gets to his mother and beautiful girlfriend.
Colin Ferrel, what can I say? Who could have been a more perfect choice? After his stint in rehab, I'm sure he more than enjoyed getting back into playing the bad boy. His Jerry may not have the exact same charm as Chris Sarandon, but you can tell he had a lot of fun and brought a lot to the character. However I wasn't as excited on the choice for Charlie, Anton Yelchin, who was actually kind of boring in my opinion. You can tell he tries but I don't think he had the best lines to work with. Now David Tennant who replaces Roddy McDowall was actually a decent replacement almost like a Cris Angel character, but honestly, even if I get hate for this comment, I think I would have loved to see Russell Brand in this role if they were going for that direction.
There are a few disappointments with the film like not having the same chemistry that the original Charlie and Peter had, it seems like their relationship is more rushed in the remake and not like they really belong together. Also, since the film does take itself seriously as if we are supposed to buy that this is happening in our real world, how is it that there is absolutely no police investigation when people are missing? I mean, they say that people pass through Vegas and are never heard from again, but an entire family is missing and nothing is questioned? Also I was upset with the lack of Ed, I loved the plot change with him, but we didn't have enough Ed which Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays pretty well. The script may need work however; I still had fun watching the action and special effects. Though I don't think that the 3D was exactly needed for the film, they stuck to the original look to the vampires which I'm glad they did. But please, no more Twilight references, let's just try to forget those books or movies ever existed. Before I end the comment since I'm running out of room here, doesn't the poster remind you of No Country for Old Men? Maybe it's just me no, it's not me, they copied the poster. But I enjoyed the film, I'm pretty sure those who loved the original will get a good kick out of the remake. Its fun, stylish, sexy and exactly the good time horror movie we needed this year.
7/10
Charley Brewster is a teenager who discovers he has a new neighbor moving in next door to him. Charley's geeky ex-friend, Ed, tells him that many fellow students have gone missing. Charley disregards this, but talks him into coming to an old friend's house to check if he's alright.When Charley goes home after school, his mother introduces him to Jerry, who is the new neighbor. Charley meets up with Ed who informs him that his new neighbor is a vampire, Charley doesn't believe Ed and leaves. On his way home Ed is confronted by Jerry who convinces him to become a vampire and bites him. The next day Charley realizes that Ed is missing and decides to go to his house to investigate. As Jerry begins to attack more people throughout the neighborhood, Charley goes into Jerry's house and finds out that he is keeping all of his victims in secret rooms. Charley decides to go to Las Vegas magician Peter Vincent, a supposed expert on vampires and hope to destroy Jerry before he gets to his mother and beautiful girlfriend.
Colin Ferrel, what can I say? Who could have been a more perfect choice? After his stint in rehab, I'm sure he more than enjoyed getting back into playing the bad boy. His Jerry may not have the exact same charm as Chris Sarandon, but you can tell he had a lot of fun and brought a lot to the character. However I wasn't as excited on the choice for Charlie, Anton Yelchin, who was actually kind of boring in my opinion. You can tell he tries but I don't think he had the best lines to work with. Now David Tennant who replaces Roddy McDowall was actually a decent replacement almost like a Cris Angel character, but honestly, even if I get hate for this comment, I think I would have loved to see Russell Brand in this role if they were going for that direction.
There are a few disappointments with the film like not having the same chemistry that the original Charlie and Peter had, it seems like their relationship is more rushed in the remake and not like they really belong together. Also, since the film does take itself seriously as if we are supposed to buy that this is happening in our real world, how is it that there is absolutely no police investigation when people are missing? I mean, they say that people pass through Vegas and are never heard from again, but an entire family is missing and nothing is questioned? Also I was upset with the lack of Ed, I loved the plot change with him, but we didn't have enough Ed which Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays pretty well. The script may need work however; I still had fun watching the action and special effects. Though I don't think that the 3D was exactly needed for the film, they stuck to the original look to the vampires which I'm glad they did. But please, no more Twilight references, let's just try to forget those books or movies ever existed. Before I end the comment since I'm running out of room here, doesn't the poster remind you of No Country for Old Men? Maybe it's just me no, it's not me, they copied the poster. But I enjoyed the film, I'm pretty sure those who loved the original will get a good kick out of the remake. Its fun, stylish, sexy and exactly the good time horror movie we needed this year.
7/10