Film Reviews

Fright Night

• Rating:
• Director: Craig Gillespie
• Starring: Anton Yelchin
• Details: US / 105 mins (15A)

A hugely entertaining and fun flick, that compliments the cheesy but much loved original perfectly, Fright Night is a blast thanks to some wry performances and confident direction. The 3D is utterly useless and not worth your money, but the content was there to begin with. Despite a disappointing box office opening in The States, this should play very well and find the home it deserves on DVD.
Anton Yelchin is newly popular teen, Charley Brewster. Despite some geeky tendencies, he's managed to pull the school hottie (Poots), get in with the cool crowd, but alienate former best mate, Ed (Mintz-Plasse). When a brooding, enigmatic stranger (Farrell) moves in next door, and begins flirting with his lonely mother (Colette), Ed claims that he is in fact a vampire who has been chowing down on local strippers. Beginning to realise that Ed is right after initially dismissing his claims, Charley attempts to enlist Vegas magician, Peter Vincent (a very funny Tennant) to do battle with his charismatic, but deadly neighbour.
The balance of horror and comedy is wonderfully struck by Lars and the Real Girl helmer, Gillespie, who manages to make the horror effective and the comedy elements genuinely funny. Such is the tone that its neither horrifically violent, or side-splittingly funny, it still manages to do both with panache and aplomb. A couple of more lively sequences, involving our heroes in peril, are particularly impressive, with Gillespie building tension gradually, while interjecting moments of comedy in a similar fashion to the first Scream film.
Casting is spot on, with Yelchin carrying the film in his now customary pseudo-John Cusack manner. He can thread that geek/cool line and this is a perfect role for him to do that. Plasse is funny, but has played this role before. Alas, the film belongs to both Farrell and Tennant who steal every single seen they're in. The former all snarling predator, the latter channelling Russell Brand amusingly, and proving he has a serious future in Hollywood.
Fright Night is unapologetically a popcorn film, and a very good one. The 3D is muck, and actually hinders some scenes. But that's a small gripe in a very entertaining flick.

Review by Mike Sheridan