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.