Fright Night

Fright Night

2011
Action (Horror)
Rated: R
Running Time: 106 minutes
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Colette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots, David Tennant
Directed By: Craig Gillespie
Rating: 3 out of 10

Outline

After people start going missing in Charley’s hometown, He must face the awkward truth his neighbor may be a vampire.

Review

Fright Night is a remake of the cult vampire movie of the same name from the 1980’s. I can say with strong conviction it should have stayed in that decade. Now I am going to stop any supporters of campy films out there right now. I am going to do that by saying I know this was supposed to be campy but it even failed in that regard. In Hollywood’s race to remake every movie be it amazing or crap, this movie was a front runner for one major reason. If you guessed Vampires popularity at the moment was the reason then you are correct. It was very clear early on that this film was not going to get a passing grade. I am not sure why this film bothered me so much. It could have been the cheesy teenage vibe coming off of it. It might have been the terrible casting. It could have been the misplaced humor. Whatever the reason though it boils down to simply this was not a good film. The film centers around young Charley Brewster played by the usually reliable Anton Yelchin. I am not going to say Yelchin was bad in this film more so the role was so poor he never had a chance. Charley lives with his mother (Collette) in the transient state of Las Vegas. People come and go in this town and because the lifestyle is so chaotic there, no one knows and even cares why they leave. Brewster is a former nerd who has a popularity shift when he starts dating the popular girl Amy (Poots yes that really is her last name). He is living the good life until a man moves in next door named Jerry (Ferrell). This is the entire movie. It Is Charley bumbling his way through the myriad of steps to try and discover if Jerry is actually a vampire and how to deal with him. I understand what the writers were trying to do with Charley’s character. They were trying to make him into the unlikeliest of heroes that worked so well in other movies like Kick Ass and Zombieland. They failed where the others worked because the dialogue was so poorly scripted. It was an actual struggle to make it through this film. I cared less than nothing for the characters and they did nothing to rectify that. The film dragged from one miserable scene to the next never knowing what the audience wanted. Two things stood out the most for me in their awfulness. The first was Charley’s former friend Ed played by his 15 minutes are up actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He basically ruins movies at this point he is so awkward on screen. He fumbled his way through this movie and was a major detractor. The second major flaw was Vampire expert Peter Vincent (Tennant). While Tennant actually did a good job with the role, the role itself was strangely placed in the movie. He is this eccentric rich guy who collects vampire stories and weapons and such and I just didn’t understand why they went with this part. Anyways the terrible blending of cartoonish style action, very simplistic humor, and unbelievable characters was not only out of place but out of its time. Director Craig Gillespie stayed too close to the 1980’s original campy feel and it failed to pay off. This type of film is like Indiana Jones and should have stayed in the eighties and nineties where it belongs. One last thing I am pretty sure Toni Collette is a vampire because she hasn’t aged a day since playing Wendy Torrance in the Shining. I strongly recommend you skip this movie as Fright Night will make you want to drive a stake into your own heart.

T Factor + If you like campy films this could score higher on the rating scale.

T Factor – If you like your vampire movies scary or suspenseful this could score lower on the rating scale.

f you liked this film reel recommendations: Cursed, or Kick Ass