‘Fright Night’ should be more fun
The remake of 1985’s Fright Night combines two of today’s hottest trends, vampires and 3D, in an effort to entertain audiences. Instead of sparkly, teenage vampires, Colin Farrell’s Jerry is meant to be dark and menacing and instead of the colorful world of Pandora in Avatar, the 3D is used for shots of the suburbs of Las Vegas. The original film isn’t exactly Citizen Kane, but this remake seems to struggle with whether it’s a corny horror movie or attempting to be something more.
Anton Yelchin stars as Charley, a kid living with his mom (Toni Collette) in the Vegas suburbs. Charley used to be a total dork, fantasizing about supernatural stuff with his nerdy friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), until he became part of the in-crowd when he started dating Amy (Imogen Poots).
A mysterious stranger named Jerry (played by Chris Sarandon in the original film) moves into the house next door and Charley becomes suspicious after Ed confides that he believes Jerry is a vampire. Soon, Charley discovers that Ed’s theory is true and that everyone in his neighborhood is in danger of being bitten and turned into a vampire.
Charley enlists the help of Criss Angel-like supernatural expert Peter Vincent (David Tennant doing his best Russell Brand impression) to help him get rid of Jerry.
The first problem is that Farrell is just not that scary. He’s over-the-top slick, charming and cool. He does landscaping in a wife-beater, he eats an apple seductively and he scores hot chicks. In a way, it’s fitting because the film seems like it’s following in the tradition of 80s horror, the kind that had lots of fake blood and special effects makeup. Here, though, it feels like a mismatch as the film seems to switch back and forth between cheesy and taking itself too seriously.
Yelchin is too quiet and timid, skills that work in dramatic film but that seem overly subtle in a film like this. He seems to tiptoe around his mom and his girlfriend, quietly suffering at not knowing how to reveal Jerry’s true nature. When he does something brave, it seems unexpected and out of character given that hasn’t’ shown those qualities before in the film.
Mintz-Plasse is the standout and the only character to bring laughs to a film that should be more fun. He threatens to expose Charley for the nerd he used to be, ruining his new “cool guy” reputation by showing everyone a video of the two and their friend—the first victim of the vampire—in costumes pretending to be warriors. He brings the geek swagger he perfected in films like Superbad and seems to be the only one that realizes this movie should have more funny moments.
The pop culture references are fun, but not enough to sustain an entire movie. In an early scene, Charley reluctantly accompanies Ed to investigate their friend’s disappearance and Ed is insulted when Charley accuses him of reading too much Twilight. In another, Ed tries to explain that Jerry isn’t the sexy vampire Hollywood loves, describing him as the shark from Jaws. The best is the cameo by Sarandon, who is the one being attacked as opposed to doing the attacking.
The 3D is a non-issue, seeming more like a bandwagon move than a useful tool for the film. Sure, I don’t mind seeing Farrell in 3D, but there are only a couple scenes that seem to utilize it to its capacity.
Overall, Fright Night seems to be torn between being a more modern horror movie or harkening back to the days of the 80s horror flick. During the press conference at Comic Con, the cast had the energy level of an unwatered houseplant and it certainly seemed like they weren’t all that enthused about their film. Perhaps it was because everyone seemed to be making a different movie.
