REVIEW: Fright Night

This is a compromise, the vampire is still good-looking BUT he kills people. Win Win

The 1980's Fright Night is probably the kind of movie Hollywood should remake more often . It's good but great. It has a cool premise that's probably better than the execution. Sure they'll be those who whine about how great the original was but come on, it's cheesy fun at the best of times. This remake is slicker and a whole lot less goofy, while still being pretty goofy, and has a couple of impressively executed action sequences. It's disposable entertainment I can get behind, far from perfect but always enjoyable. Art it ain't, but Marti Noxon's script has enough about it to not feel too much like the next Happy Meal on the conveyor belt.

For those unfamiliar with the original, the plot like many, many films before it is someone moves in next door who is up to no good, and it's up to our hero to stop him. In this case our hero is played by Anton Yelchin, who has been bouncing around breaking out for a while, and he is pretty much your stock teen hero. Colin Farrell plays the Vampire next door, and is the main reason to recommend this movie. Farrell always seems to do better in none leading roles, and he has an absolute blast here exuding effortless menace and cool all the while being asked mostly to walk around rooms menacingly. Farrell might be one of my favorite actors when he's on his game and he carries the thing here. David Tennant is a bit less successful as the vampire hunter recruited by Yelchin to help destroy Farrell. I don't have much objection to Tennant's performance, he was actually a lot less hammy than I was expecting, but his character is pretty awkwardly crafted into the film, here solely because he was a character in the original film and doesn't really seem to serve a purpose. Imogen Poots is ' The Hot Girlfriend' and Toni Collette is wasted entirely as 'Mum'.

There is enough here to make you leave happy, sure plots come and go nowhere and the characters are archetypal (The kindest way to phrase it) But mostly thanks to Farrell I had a good time. And the Horror is predictably accentuated with the 3D, with blood and all sorts thrown towards the camera. I still think its a con, but at least it was a con that left an apologetic note here, instead of the usual slap in the face. High quality junk food cinema. A Cadbury's dream not a milky bar, Kettle chips instead of walkers. More of this food analogous shit will hence forth take place in your mind.

Rating: 5/10