Suspicious Minds

Fright Night's Remake exposes its humorous fangs

By Morgan P Salvo

Being on vacation sometimes changes the way you think. After being nestled in the tiny comfortable city of Cianciana, Sicily for a week all calm relaxed and really hot, a chance to take an hour bus ride to visit the ruins of Agrigento sounded cool. But it was even hotter there so the opportunity to grab a gelato and take in the cinema at the main piazza sounded even better than ancient Greek-looking half destroyed columns .I was more than willing to watch Horrible Bosses in Italian if not for just the experience but for the air conditioning to escape the 110 degree heat wave that was bearing down. Alas this was not to be as the movie times clashed with the bus ride back. So in anticipation of my next movie experience being able to write my next movie review I rifled through the upcoming shows in an internet café and came up Fright Night. I fired off a missive to my editor and got the green light for the 2011 remake of the 1985 horror flick that seems to run on every other channel ever other week even way before Halloween.
Fright Night is not nearly as bad as I thought but it has some funny problems and I think that’s its point. The easy to overlook inconsistencies with the plot and its storyline’s many holes one can put aside and just go with the goofy flow of this flick as it relies on part cheese, part ridiculous and well part… fright.

Beginning with an odd shot of tract homes in Las Vegas Fright Night chucks us right into the middle of clichéd horror movie suburban teen world. The skeletal plot revolves around missing bodies, claustrophobic bored people and a new neighbor who could very well be a blood sucking vampire. Vegas is the perfect setting for a neighborhood vampire’s nocturnal existence. The 1985 flick is only marginally redone and mostly updated with things like eBay references and contemporary gizmos called cell phones..
At first I thought FN was yet another installment of “why 3D?” but soon the camera work and images get their gears meshing and it all starts to click. And then about half way in there is a huge 3D surprise death scene payoff. Continuing from there is a lot of blown-to-smithereens vampire floating cinders that you want to swat away from your eyes. Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl Mr. Woodcock) proves again his warped sense of humor while nabbing cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (New Moon, Eclipse) to add more irony to the mix.
In the barrage of “it’s cool to be vamp” era we are constantly subjugated to, it was refreshing to see a real old school vampire tale fairly reverent to the original flick. This wave of vampire movies surely must come to an end and thankfully there is even a Twilight putdown in this flick. No boy-toy glitter or taking off of shirts here.
You can’t fault Colin Farrell with repeat performances as this chameleon actor does something different every time he’s on screen. He does some eye darting and smoldering that has to go down in history as one of the hardest body language signals to read as well as confusingly funny. The TV vampire hunter (originally by hammy Roddy McDowell) Peter Vincent (name coupling of horror icons Peter Cushing and Vincent Price) is played this time around by British television actor David Tennant with a boozy combination of David Frost meets Chris Angel Mindfreak. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Super Bad Kick-Ass) is growing up but still embodies the super nerd. Anton Yelchin and Brit Imogen Poots (these two should seriously consider name changes) fare well together as the teen hot chick goes for nerd lovebirds. And Toni Collette does a “we’ve-seen-this-all-before” hip mom routine.
Fright Night better than I expected but not great, could be easy to pick on but even easier to let go and just have fun with the adequate smattering of sex, gore, suspense and humor. The best part by far was just being at the movies again with about only three other people. And even though Bend hasn’t reached the oven baking heat of Agrigento it sure was nice to sit in a theatre with air-conditioning.

Fright Night
Starring Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse,
Toni Collette
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Rated R
2 ½ stars