Comprised of Colin Farrell‘s delightful sniffs, Imogen Poots‘ persistent pouts, David Tennant‘s facial ticks and Anton Yelchin‘s big wide eyes roaming every which way, Fright Night, directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl), will win you over. A remake of the 1985 camp classic of the same name, adapted for modern times by one Marti Noxon and shot in 3D by Javier Aguirresarobe (A Better Life, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), Fright Night remembers its roots while never becoming a slave to them.
And why would one insist on so much? The tale being told, of teenager Charley (Yelchin) and his realization that his new next door neighbor (Farrell) is a vampire, was perhaps creative back in the 80s but, even then, a spin on something ever-familiar. By now, the vampire sub-genre has become the stuff on the side of Burger King cups and the wallpaper at your local shopping mall. Gillespie and Noxon are smart enough to recognize this outright, and have fun with the ridiculousness of a vampire world inside a pre-fab suburbia in the desert of Las Vegas.
No one has more fun than Farrell, who’s Jerry (originally played by Chris Sarandon) quite literally chews up scenery. Any scene involving the hunky bloodsucker is weighed down by Farrell’s over-the-top quivers and constantly-changing accent, which appropriately matches his constantly-changing eyeball dilation. In many ways, it feels like the performance he was trying to give in Daredevil years ago. Some things get better with age. Farrell works well in the obvious here. Take one particular scene in which Charley must refuse to invite Jerry inside his home. There’s no subtlety to the vampire’s threats, no shroud over his eagerness to be let in to “help” Charley clean up a spill. Gillespie has fun with the vast amount of vampire rules that exist, and which ones work and which ones don’t.
The only combatant against Farrell’s chewery is Mr. Tennant, who plays the Roddy McDowall-originated role of Peter Vincent, resident Las Vegas magician and all-around wanna-be rock star. Not yet a household name in the states, Tennant should make up for lost time with his turn here, sexing up the screen with all the juicy sensual pomp and circumstance Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner assume they naturally emit. They should take a few pointers from this former doctor.
Aguirresarobe and Gillespie make good use of the 3D, immersive at times and jumpy at others. It all comes to a head enjoyably at the finale.
There is, however, a missed opportunity within Charley’s relationship with Amy (Poots). In the first act, much is made of how attractive Amy is compared to Charley’s apparent once-a-nerd-always-a-nerd looks, our hero getting poked fun at for the discrepancy by his new, “cool” friends. More is added on when it is revealed that the young couple has yet to have sex, more added on still when Charley refuses Amy’s request for it in lieu of his growing vampiric suspicions and/or his lack of self-confidence sexually? And then, nothing. Sure, Jerry pokes fun at the lad a bit, but it never gets interesting like it could have. Perhaps the filmmakers didn’t want something so true seeping into this fantasy horror-comedy.
Still, it’s an enjoyable romp with more than enough laughs and scares to meet its quota.