Fright Night: Review By Julian Roman

Colin Farrell collects a paycheck in the disappointing and nonsensical remake of the eighties horror classic, Fright Night. Anton Yelchin stars as Charley, a Las Vegas teenager who's friends disappearances coincide with the arrival of his creepy new neighbor, Jerry (Farrell). Toni Collette and Imogen Poots co-star as Charlie's hapless girlfriend and mother. David Tennant, who I've loved for years as Doctor Who, also sucks it up as vampire hunter/magician - Peter Vincent; underwhelming and silly in the role immortalized by the great Roddy McDowall.

Everything that made the original great is ruined here. While I realize that film is now twenty-six years old, there was no reason on earth for the filmmakers to deviate from such a successful formula. The original had the same premise, but had a far superior plot and characters. I almost feel like this movie was dumbed down for modern audiences. It has more cursing, gore, T & A, but no brains. There are so many scenes that make no sense at all. For example, Charlie cover's everything in crucifixes and garlic to ward off Jerry...but didn't put any on himself so he's vulnerable to attack. Insert WTF here please. The climactic battle is so epically lame, Roddy McDowall is probably spinning in his grave.

I didn't find Fright Night remotely scary. It attempts to be, but is tediously predictable. There's a few cheeky moments where they attempt to balance the mood of the film with humor. It does work, adding levity to some scenes, but not enough to change my opinion of the movie. The critical relationship between Charlie and Jerry initially had promise before devolving. Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell are good actors with better material and direction. They obviously dial it in here.

The screening that I saw had a load of teenagers, who were all extolling Fright Night's greatness outside the theater. Could it be I've become an old geek, unschooled in the ways of tweener coolness and unable to relate to such a demographically geared movie? I queried this sample of youth to enlighten me on the film's entertainment value. This is near verbatim responses, wow - that chick's ass was so hot, Colin Farrell is so sexy, those magician babes were freaking awesome. Ladies and gentleman, from the youth of America, hot asses and a sexy Colin Farrell are your primary reasons for seeing Fright Night. Sure, we could hope for a better story and acting, but why bother with all that hot ass in glorious 3D.