Fright Night 2011 Review

A few years ago I saw a good chunk of an 80s horror film called Fright Night. What I saw of it I loved and I liked all the eighties ness of the film. It had a wonderful camp vibe to it that was just good fun.

A friend loaned a copy of the film to me a few months ago and finally saw it completely and loved it. Chris Sarandon was camp yet suave as the vampire Jerry Dandrige and I thought that Roddy McDowell was brilliant as the horror actor Peter Vincent, the 'vampire killer'.

This brings me to the remake which I was a skeptical about, then again there are just too many remakes these days. However, I have to admit I found that I liked the remake more than I thought I would. I found it  entetaining and eschewing the 'crapness' surrounding vampires at the current moment with the likes of Twilight. 

Now how does it rate in comparison to the original. I still think the original is t he better one of the two but the remake is definitely still worth a watch.

Anton Yelchin's Charlie Brewster seemed a tad too unlikeable at the start but I warmed to his version  as the film moved on, I didn't like how he treated his friend Ed, the new version of Evil Ed, at the start but he got better as he learned. Colin Farrell was pretty good as Jerry, a bit more 'blokey' with his beer and casual appearance in comparison to the camp suave of Chris Sarandon, which I loved.

David Tennant had a hard act to follow as Peter Vincent, who is now a Criss Angel type illusionist, and although I think he is a great actor I didn't warm to his Peter Vincent as much. There was a charm to Roddy McDowell that made the character enduring, a actor trying to be braver than he actually was and overcoming the fear. And he also had a wonderful camp style in the original. Tennant's Peter Vincent was a bit crude and scratching your balls just doesn't seem as funny to me than Peter Vincent driving off in the original thinking Charlie is a bit bonkers.

Overall I rate the Fright Night remake a Three out of Five.

45 years of Star Trek

45 years ago today the very first episode of Star Trek aired with the episode "The Man Trap". Although it was the sixth episode aired, the producers thought that this episode was the best one to launch the show on.

The pilot episode 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' actually aired two weeks later, which was actually the second pilot. Which is the pisode which introduced Kirk, Scotty and Sulu. Although Sulu was a physicist in this pilot and not the helmsman. It seemed a bit jarring to put the pilot third, given things like the uniforms being different, Sulu's position being different and a different doctor.

Although Spock was the only one who survived from the first pilot 'The Cage' a lot of what became his character was established here as well. In 'The Cage' Spock was very emotional and it was the first officer 'Number One' who was the logical one. When she was dropped a lot of her character traits were added to Spock and  that's how Spock became the icon that he is today.

The original piot had Jeffrey Hunter playing Captain Pike who, in comparison to Kirk, seemed more reflective and perhaps more cerebral. At the start he is thinking of resigning because of the stress of his command and losing crewmembers on a mission.

When I watch Pike I do see the prototype of what became Picard on the Next Generation. But he did not have the energy that Bill Shatner had when he played Captain Kirk. There is an energy Shatner brings to Kirk, even now at 80 Shatner still has the energy of a man half his age. He made Captain Kirk and to me will always be the real Kirk.

I am currently going through the Original Series again and this is the first time I have been watching them remastered. The new remastered effects add a freshness to the episodes but what I love is that they are very faithful to the original episodes and they don't take you out. The true gem of the remastered episodes is seeing the true beauty of Matt Jeffries' designed Enterprise. 45 years later and that ship is still a beauty.

Even though the JJ Abrams' movie is not my preferred take on Star Trek, it is wonderful that the movie is keeping the Trek flame alive and getting stronger once again. Star Trek in all its incarnations is a wonderful universe to be in and the scharacters and stories always inspired me.

So lets raise a toast to Star Trek. May it live long and prosper.