Fright Night

I don't think that Fright Night, the 1985 comic horror film that's become a minor cult hit over time, was on anyone's short list of films they wanted to get remade. But, here it is, and there's a lot that director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Marti Norton (I Am Number Four) get right. The movie, like the original, is assured in its mixture of comedy and violent horror. This is a tricky balance to pull off, and I applaud the filmmakers for it. That said, there are some pretty big missteps and lost opportunities here. This is a decent remake, but could have been so much better in the longrun.

The film's biggest mistake is the handling of one of the lead characters, Peter Vincent. In the '85 original, he was a likable and sympathetic character, as well as just a great idea all around. In that film, Peter Vincent was a washed up B-movie horror actor who was facing hard times both personally and professionally. He was the host of a cheesy late night monster movie program, and no one took him seriously anymore, or seemed to notice him. The heart of the film came from the relationship he began to develop with Charlie, a teenaged boy who was convinced that his next door neighbor was a vampire, and needed Vincent's help, because hey, who better to turn to for help than a guy who spent most of his life fighting vampires in countless movies? The late, great Roddy McDowall played Vincent as a broken down man with nothing to believe in, who gains some confidence and some purpose back in his life when he finds himself fighting for something he believes in. It was a great character, and could easily have worked in the modern version, but that's not what we get.

This time around, Peter Vincent (played here by Doctor Who's David Tennant) is a boozy, obnoxious, spoiled, and cowardly Las Vegas magician who has an interest in the supernatural, and uses it in his act. He is no longer a sympathetic character we can root for. Instead, he has been reduced to being the odious British comic relief who drinks too much, insults and drunkenly swears at his girlfriend/assistant, and staggers about. His character is completely wrong for Fright Night. It's not even all that convincing that Charlie (played here by Anton Yelchin, who is already starting to look a bit too old to be playing a high school kid) would turn to this film's Vincent for help, other than the fact the screenplay twists and contorts itself to bring the two together. As for Tennant's performance, it too hits every wrong note. He seems to be doing a Russell Brand imitation, and a repellant one at that. The portrayal of the character, as well as the performance, is one of the key factors that kept me from enjoying this update as much as I wanted to.

At least the other updates and changes are nowhere near as jarring and hurtful to the film. The setting has been changed to an isolated suburb in the middle of a desert on the outskirts of the Las Vegas strip, which when you think about it, really is a perfect setting for a modern day vampire film. With such a strong night life scene, and the relative isolation of the neighborhood, it makes sense why the vampire Jerry (played by Colin Farrell) would make the area his personal feeding ground. Too bad the movie doesn't exploit the idea as much as it should. As in the original, Charlie suspects that his new neighbor Jerry is up to no good, when he notices young women entering Jerry's house, but never coming out, and blood-curdling screams from next door waking him in the middle of the night. His suspicions are further aroused when he watches a videotape of Jerry, and finds out he doesn't show up on camera. Charlie knows that he's dealing with a supernatural evil, and what's worse, he knows that Jerry is watching him.

This is where the remake goes further astray, as since Peter Vincent has been reduced to a comic sidekick with no real bearing on the story, the movie turns into an extended cat and mouse game between Charlie and Jerry, with no real human emotion at the center of it all. Don't get me wrong, it's all done very well, and the cast fills their parts well. But this modern day Fright Night is missing the charm that made the original more than just a standard monster movie. There is a hint at some human emotion early on in the character of Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Charlie's geeky former best friend, who Charlie has since ditched so he could hang out with some cooler kids, and start a relationship with the lovely Amy (Imogen Poots). Charlie and Ed used to be inseparable, making homemade action movies and participating in role playing games. Now that Charlie is hanging out with a different crowd, Ed is visibly hurt and saddened. An early scene where the two former friends confront each other hints at a very strong subplot, but unfortunately, Ed exits the movie fairly early on (much faster than in the original), so this intriguing element ends up going nowhere.

At the very least, Fright Night stays true to its classic vampire roots, making Jerry into an animalistic killer, though he is far less interesting than the vampires in last year's Let Me In. In the original, Jerry was more of a dangerous seducer and manipulator. Farrell's portrayal is much more aggressive and brutal. In one scene, Jerry wants to gain entry into Charlie's house, but Charlie naturally refuses to invite him in, as vampire lore clearly states that a vampire can only enter someone's house if they are invited inside. Not letting this stop him, Jerry digs up a gas line in the back yard, and causes Charlie's house to explode, so he doesn't have to work around that silly old rule. I think this approach could have worked if Jerry was allowed to be more deceptively charming. It certainly would have made his acts more shocking. Here, he comes across as the deranged sort who really would blow up someone's house to get at them.

I don't want to stress only the negatives, for as far as horror remakes go, this one's pretty good. It's well made, well acted, well shot, has some laugh out loud comic moments, and has some good special effects to its credit. Oh, and it's in 3D, which for the most part is pretty pointless, except for one very cool effect. When a vampire dies in the movie, their bodies burn up in ashes and cinders, and the 3D effect of having the cinders seemingly fly out of the screen is very well done. But, that alone is not worth the inflated ticket price, especially since this movie naturally takes place mostly at night or in dark places. Best to see the 2D version if you can, as aside from the cinder effect, you're not missing a whole lot.

Like most remakes, Fright Night is no replacement for the original, but it does its job well enough. I just missed the human emotion from the original, and was especially turned off by the portrayal of Peter Vincent. Heck, if he had been handled differently, I might have been able to recommend it. As it is, this is a near-miss. I'd recommend it as a rental, but why, when the original is already available for rent?

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