The ‘remake culture’ in Hollywood may have produced some catastrophic duds in recent years, but there’s nothing to suggest that it’s going away any time soon. The success of horror remakes in particular is something that can only lead to more reboots/reimaginings down the line – and no doubt, lots will be rubbish. Very surprisingly though, Fright Night isn’t one of them.
Directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl), Fright Night is a remake of the 1985 horror hit. The plot is pretty much the same, with Anton Yelchin playing ‘former nerd’ Charley Brewster, who lives in a Vegas suburb with his mum (Toni Collete) and is enjoying his new cooler social status with girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots). All going well then – apart from the fact that Jerry (Colin Farrell) has just moved in next door and has more than a touch of the night about him….
If I’m honest, I didn’t know what to expect from this movie – I enjoyed the original but it wouldn’t be a particular favourite of mine. However, it turns out that Fright Night is actually great fun. Sure, it doesn’t deviate much from the original ‘vampire next door’ setup but it still manages to feel pretty fresh throughout. It moves along at a brisk pace, with tongue firmly in cheek at all times. Initially, you have trouble liking Charlie – he doesn’t seem to be particularly affable – but the movie progresses swiftly enough to make him a much more enjoyable and likeable character, with Yelchin ticking every box in the ‘frustrated teen boy’ acting checklist. The cast are generally good too, with Farrell clearly loving being the sympathy-free villain. Christopher Mintz-Plasse and David Tennant both pop up as a nerd and Criss Angel type respectively and do a fine job, even with Mintz-Plasse playing the same character he always does.
Special mention should go to the 3D, too. I saw the film at Dublin’s Moviefest and was very impressed with how it all looked, even with most of the movie being set at night. It was phenomenally risky to have the movie in 3D but in the screen I saw it, at least, it looked great and delivered some nice ‘jump at the screen’ moments. You can listen to our discussion about modern 3D (including Fright Night) in our recent podcast, here.
Fright Night definitely succeeds more as a ‘comedy horror’ than an actual scary movie, as for the most part it’s not particularly horrifying. But that’s hardly a big criticism, seeing as it’s constantly fun, entertaining and with a few decent ‘jump’ moments thrown in for good measure. The special effects work well too, with a particularly effective finale that makes great use of 3D. It might have worked better as a Halloween release, but as it stands, Fright Night is a fun way to spend an evening, and a great surprise all round.
