Review: “Fright Night” Lacks Fangs ... Or Much Reason to Exist

Colin Farrell

When the most impressive thing about your movie is the sight of Colin Farrell smoldering in a dirty wifebeater, you know you’ve got problems. Such is the case with Fright Night, Dreamworks’ anemic remake of the 1985 horror-comedy about a high school boy who discovers there’s a murderous vampire living next door.

Viewed with modern eyes, the original feels quite old-fashioned, making the original a decent (if still highly unnecessary) candidate for a remake. Unfortunately, the updated version arrives on the scene with all the panache of a frozen cadaver.

While the Tom Holland-directed original is far from a great film, it’s got quirky charm and a cheeky self-awareness that has helped it maintain a cult following in the more than 25 years since its release. Not exactly scary and not exactly funny, it’s still compulsively watchable, with impressive makeup effects, a game cast (including future gay porn actor Stephen Geoffreys as “Evil” Ed), and just the right amount of ‘80s cheese.

Stephen Geoffrey's in the original Fright Night

Fright Night 2011 (filmed in 3D for no good reason) boasts the same basic premise, but the setting has moved to a faceless desert housing tract on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) has seen his social status rise exponentially since he started dating Amy (Brit actress Imogen Poots, struggling mightily with an American accent), a pretty popular girl at his high school. Unfortunately, to maintain his heightened standing he’s been forced to cut ties with childhood friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a nerdy social pariah who covers over his hurt feelings with a shield of sarcasm-laced disdain.

The thing is, Ed has been tracking Charley’s new next-door neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell), a delectable beefcake he believes is actually a vampire. Though Charley initially shrugs off his old friend’s concerns as a flight of immature fancy, when Ed mysteriously disappears, he starts doing a little investigating of his own. Only then does he discover that his friend was right – Jerry is, in fact, a member of the undead, and he’s got his eye on both Amy and Charley’s mother Jane (Toni Collette).

Not knowing where else to turn, Charley soon enlists the help of a pompous Criss Angel-esque Vegas magician named Peter Vincent (former Doctor Who star David Tennant), who owns an impressive Penn & Teller-style collection of ancient supernatural artifacts. Skeptical and even hostile at first, the leather-clad, eyeliner-sporting illusionist eventually learns the truth and agrees to help Charley in his quest to destroy the merciless killer.

Unfortunately, the impressive cast here is hamstrung by a piss-poor script (penned by former Buffy scribe Marti Noxon) and lackluster direction by Lars and the Real Girl helmer Craig Gillespie. For one thing, Charley is presented as such an unrepentant, social-climbing jerk in the beginning that by the time he finally sees the error of his ways, we can’t be bothered to care.

While his flaws ultimately make him more three-dimensional than William Ragsdale’s Charley in the original film, there’s a rote quality to his eventual turnaround that lacks genuine pathos. Yelchin, who’s been good in other films but is saddled with a whiny, unappealing character here, is sadly unable to rise above the flimsy material.

On the flipside of that, Farrell’s vampire is far too one-note. The original version of the character (played by Chris Sarandon, who has a cameo here) had a tragic dimension, with Jerry pining for a long-lost love. Here Jerry’s only motivation is to hunt and kill, making him about as interesting as one of the faceless killers you’d see in a second-rate slasher film. Farrell certainly makes for a sexy hellion and glowers just fine in the role, but like the other performers here he simply hasn’t been given much to work with.