Movie Review: Colin Farrell is sinister fun as the suburban bloodsucker in FRIGHT NIGHT
Colin Farrell has bedroom eyes and smoky good looks that turn sinister when his nostrils flare. It’s a shame he’s taken this long to play a modern-day, movie vampire. The part fits him to hand-in-glove perfection.
As Jerry, the handsome but mysterious neighbor who moves next door to high school senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) and his divorced mom Jane (Toni Collette), Farrell plays the vampire as self-confident male certain of his success with women, although he’s also a seductive killer.
Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, United States of Tara) remakes the 1985 horror comedy Fright Night and while he doesn’t necessarily improve upon the pulpy original he does match its playful balance of laughs and screams.
Charlie (Yelchin) dismisses his geeky childhood friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who insists there’s a monster in their Las Vegas subdivision. After Ed goes missing and Charlie catches Jerry attacking a pretty female neighbor, the timid teen goes toe-to-toe with the bloodsucker-next-door in order to protect his mom and his pretty girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots).
Gillespie dishes out the 3-D-enhanced scares carefully for maximum effect. In fact, Jerry bites into Granny Smith apples as often as he bites into someone’s neck.
Fright Night’s biggest thrills occur on a desert highway outside of town as Charlie, his mother and Amy try to escape from Jerry after he destroys their house and attempts to destroy their car.
Late in the movie, when Charlie confronts Jerry in his basement lair, Gillespie loosens up and lets loose plenty of vampire movie staples for a satisfying climax.
Fright Night goes for the gore but the movie is at its best as a teen comedy with Charlie nervously trying to hold onto his pretty girlfriend and to separate himself from his geeky past.
Screenwriter Marti Noxon (I Am Number Four) does a good job capturing teen angst and the biggest laughs occur over familiar teen anxieties like sex and popularity at school.
It help that twenty-something Anton Yelchin is believably boyish with his wiry frame and frizzy hair. As Charlie, he’s the perfect mix of sometimes bravery and consistent fear as the teen that dares to stand in Jerry’s way.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse has great fun with some of the film’s gory gags as he reunites with Charlie one last time.
Toni Collette maintains calm disbelief, even when her house explodes, and her grounded performance helps keep Fright Night from falling over into complete farce.
David Tennant (in the role made famous by Roddy MaDowall in the original Fright Night and its 1988 sequel) channels illusionist Chris Angel as a Goth Las Vegas magician who partners with Charlie.
Fans of the original Fright Night will appreciate Chris Sarandon making a cameo appearance in the remake, although Farrell is the better vampire of the two.
Gillespie and Noxon make some clever updates to the story as Charlie uses an iPhone app to pick a lock and break into Jerry’s house.
More importantly, Gillespie retains the camp feeling of the movie despite the addition of some impressive 3-D gore effects.
After all, the original Fright Night is a cult classic but not some cinema classic. Remaking it is risk-free as long as you remember not to take its B-movie tale of the vampire-next-door seriously.
Too many other summer blockbusters have directors who confuse their film’s high special-effects budgets with high drama. It feels good to sit back and watch a movie made by someone who knows it’s forgettable fluff.
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios
Director: Craig Gillespie
Scriptwriter: Marti Noxon, from Tom Holland’s original story
Cinematographer: Javier Aguirresarobe
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse Production Designer: Richard Bridgland Running Time: 106 minutes
Producers: Michael De Luca Productions, Gaeta/Rosenzweig Films, DreamWorks SKG
Rating: Rated R
Release Date: August 19, 2011