Thank God this didn't suck.
Yeah, the original Fright Night fell woefully short for me so I was holding high hopes for the remake to be superior. A rare case indeed in such a line of work as this. And I must say I did enjoy this one much more, in yet another rare case this is actually a remake that isn't superflous. It doesn't tread the same waters beat for beat but actually does something original of it's own while still telling the story, which is how a remake should be done! Keep the basic story of in this case, a teenage boy who suspects and soon discovers his next door neighbor is a vampire and takes matters into his own hands with the help of a now this time occultist magician instead of a TV show host to keep his friends and family safe. I think the cast this time around is great with Anton Yelchin being our main lead, and it was very bittersweet to see him again but he does well and feels like a real person. In fact everyone does, the modern quality of the writing and acting makes every character feel like they're someone in your neighborhood. There's no cliche character types or situations, it just tells the story in an entertaining way. I must admit at first I didn't buy Colin Farrell as a bloodsucker, a dark wizard perhaps but no nosferatu but he won me over as the film went on. I really like both the mom and the girlfriend, they're fun and witty and actually do stuff in the story rather than just be someone to save at the end. But my absolute favorite is David Tennant as this Criss Angel looking performer who actually looks way better and knows much of the supernatural to the point he has an entire armory to fight various beasts and monsters, I mean...it's David Tennant it's incredibly hard not to enjoy him, it's like this mix of Time Lord and ginger haired demon in his performance and it's wonderful. The effects aren't half bad either, only using CG when necessary and does some pretty neat tricks with the whole no reflection or image in cameras. It's a pretty good movie and one I actually don't mind recommending, a remake done well with some good laughs and horror elements, and yeah the characters do some dumb stuff but it doesn't hurt the movie much. It's just a fun decently made movie perfect for a movie night with some friends that's actually a huge improvement over the original. 3 stars, 7/10, a good movie for the season!
