Fright Night

Hollywood must be running out of ideas in which to make movies. Why else would so-o many remakes be made in not a very long period of time? However, in the case of "Fright Night", I might make an exception. This was a fun, slick version of the the 1985 original of the same name.

This centers on a teenager Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) which, through his best buddy Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), guesses that his new neighbor Jerry Dandringe (Colin Farrell) is a vampire responsible for a string of recent deaths including Charley and Ed's friend Adam (Will Denton). When no one he knows believes him including his Mom, Jane (Toni Collette) and his girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots), he enlists a reluctant Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a self-proclaimed vampire killer and Las Vegas magician, to help him take down Jerry.

This was slickly directed by Craig Gillespie ("Lars and the Real Girl" '07, "Mr. Woodcock" '07 and 16 years of TV commercials). With the small amount of feature film experience, this guy has certainly found his niche. He should get more work his way. I think he's paid his dues.

It was effectively written by virtual newcomer to feature films, Marti Noxon ("I Am Number Four" and a ton of TV). Like the aforementioned director, she too should be given future work. There were few, very few inconsistencies, but not even enough to take away from this roller coaster ride.

The special make-up effects were created and designed by veterans Greg Nicotera and Howard Berger ("From Dusk Till Dawn" '96, "Boogie Nights"'97, "The Haunting" '99, "The Green Mile" '99, "The Cell" 2000, "Thir13en Ghosts" '01, "The Time Machine" '02, "Identity" '03, "Kill Bill Vol. 1" '03, "Kill Bill Vol. 2" '04, "Sin City" '05, "The Amityville Horror" '05, "Hostel" '05, "Poseidon" '06, "The Hitcher" '07, "Disturbia" '07, "Death Proof" '07, "Transformers" '07, "Planet Terror" '07, "Seven Pounds" '08, "Inglourious Basterds" '09, "The Final Destination" '09, "Surrogates" '09, "Splice" '09, "The Book of Eli" '10, "Piranha" '10, "Water for Elephants" '11) and scads more to their credit. These guys are obviously busy with good reason. They are one of the tops in their field and still going strong. They've just finished two more films.

If you like horror with a comedic, almost campy feel to it, this will satisfy you immensely. I haven't had this much fun in a film, especially a horror film, in quite some time. I usually can take or leave 3D, but this is a killer process, because it adds to the campiness, and comic relief that's going on in this. If you have as much fun watching this as those in the film who looked as though they were having a ball making it, you'll wish the ride never ended.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                          Rated: R                           106min.