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"FRIGHT NIGHT"
(2011) (Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell) (R)

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QUICK TAKE:
Horror: A suburban Las Vegas teen discovers that he has a vampire living next door to him.
PLOT:
Charley Brewster (ANTON YELCHIN) has finally come into his own in high school. His acne has cleared up; he has a gorgeous girlfriend, Amy (IMOGEN POOTS); and he has some cool, new friends in Mark and Ben (DAVE FRANCO and REID EWING). But his old nerdy friend, "Evil" Ed Thompson (CHRISTOPHER MINTZ-PLASSE), keeps pestering him to hang out. Even worse, Ed has been trying desperately to convince Charley that his next-door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (COLIN FARRELL), is a vampire.

Charley doesn't believe Ed...until Ed doesn't show up for school one day, and Charley discovers some amateur video his friend shot in which Jerry doesn't show up at all on the footage. Suddenly, he feels very threatened in his own home. Even worse, Jerry seems to have taken a liking to both Amy, and Charley's divorced mother, Jane (TONI COLLETTE).

Charley decides to enlist the help of the great Peter Vincent (DAVID TENNANT), a Vegas magician whose popular show centers on vampires and the occult. Vincent, a playboy alcoholic, scoffs at the boy's request and thinks him deranged. But he eventually comes to believe Charley and must overcome his own fear of bloodsuckers stemming from a childhood trauma.

OUR TAKE: 5 out of 10
I don't read that much. I just don't have the time. So, when people ask me if a particular film was as good as the beloved book it is based on and what has been changed from the original text, I often answer them with a polite "I don't know. I just see movies." "The Help" was a classic example. People feel ownership of that book and approach the movie version like detectives, looking to see which parts were left out and which were kept in. "Harry Potter" fans were the same way, and the forces are already assembling for upcoming adaptations of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Hunger Games."

The closest I can relate is when beloved movies from yesteryear are updated and remade. For the most part, I have been able to separate the old versions from the new and see the new films as the money-making ploys that they are. Not so with "Fright Night." That's MY movie! It was the first vampire flick I ever saw as a kid. It was probably the first horror movie of mine, too (I was a squeamish lad who came to the horror genre rather late in my teens). So, the 1985 version with Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall is like movie religion to me. I can quote it to you chapter and verse.

So in some ways, I am the perfect person to assess the quality of the new version. In other ways, there was no chance I could give it a true, fair shake. The best thing I can say about "Fright Night" circa 2011 is that it really does respect the original. It keeps the character names and basic storyline. But it tweaks it all rather cleverly, throws in some of the first film's classic lines and makes them feel organic to what's happening on screen, and even includes a really terrific cameo by Sarandon himself.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't work as a complete motion picture. It's really four or five truly great sequences or moments that try to use the framework of the original as a crutch. The film isn't quite sure of itself. It only wants to go so far in breaking new ground and cutting the ties. It takes chances in spots. But it could have taken a lot more. It's not a bad movie. I was surprised by how much I didn't hate it, all things considered. But I doubt it will hold up well on repeat viewings (and without the very cool 3-D gore splatter effects...the biggest reason to pay to see this on the big screen actually).

Once again, a suburban kid named Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) discovers that a vampire named Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell) has moved in next door to him and his mom, Jane (Toni Collette). Charley fears for his life, his mom's life, and the life of his cute girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) especially after his childhood friend, "Evil" Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), disappears after warning him of the bloodsucker in their midst.

Peter enlists the help of Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a famed Las Vegas magician whose stage show revolves around vampires and the occult. Vincent, though, has personal reasons for not helping the boy. A vampire killed his parents when he was a child, and he doesn't intend to face one again. But face one they eventually must in a climactic showdown in the bloodsucker's lair.

One of the things I objected to about the new "Fright Night" is kind of indicative of the way movies have gone these days. It's unnecessarily profane and graphic. The original had a certain elegance to it, with Roddy McDowell's washed-up horror actor turned creature-feature host being a nice link to the scary movies of yore. Sarandon, meanwhile, was like an '80s nightclub swinger on the prowl and willing to seduce male or female to satisfy his appetites. He also had a live-in "keeper" named Billy Cole to play off of and reveal small bits of his soul and back-story.

By contrast, the new Peter Vincent is a profane, misogynistic alcoholic. The performance is flashy and entertaining, but Tennant veers off into Russell Brand territory on occasion and the re-imagined character doesn't quite work in the context of the "Fright Night" story. This was the role in which they really should have cast Sarandon. It would have smoothed over the bumps in the screenplay and been an even better link to the first film.

Farrell, meanwhile, clearly has the seductive quality to play Dandridge. But he doesn't seem quite comfortable in the role. I felt he was acting the part of a vampire rather than "being" a vampire. And he has no one in the movie to reveal himself to, so it's just Farrell kind of strutting and posing for most of the film.

The rest of the cast is fine, though, especially Collette in the expanded part of the mom. The new "Fright Night" also has some great jump scenes, such as Charley's rescue of one of his neighbors from Jerry's lair only for the woman to meet a grisly fate the moment where it looks like she is finally safe. And, again, I say if you are into gore and splatter, director Craig Gillespie delivers some great 3-D blood effects here. I also liked when a vampire would be staked and disintegrate, his or her ashes seemed to float out and linger in the audience for several seconds afterward.

So, final take, the new "Fright Night" lacks charm and depth. It's strictly for subscribers of Fangoria magazine in that it commits to its R rating and gives gore hounds a lot to sink their teeth into. There was an opportunity here for more, though. A shame. I give it a 5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)




Reviewed August 17, 2011 / Posted August 19, 2011


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