Directed by Craig Gillespie. Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse 15A cert, gen release, 106 min
THIS WEEK'S big 1980s remake overhauls Tom Holland's 1985 comic-horror Fright Night, a movie that, back in the day, was big enough to support a sequel, two years of comic-book adventures and an Amiga game. Amiga, we tell you.
A trusty video store staple, Fright Nighthung around bottom shelves until it was wrongly lumped in with "video nasties" and hauled away by the same book- burning squad that demonised Child's Play, another mischievous Holland opus. Like the original, this fun, disposable 2011 edition from the director of Lars and the Real Girland Mr Woodcockoffers a spooky family entertainment peppered with date-friendly splatter.
Charley, as played by Anton Yelchin (the new Chekov and the new Kyle Reese) makes for a charming every-teen hero. As the film opens, Charley’s social stock is on the rise. Having acquired a hot girlfriend (Imogen Poots) and cool chums on campus, he hardly notices when his fellow students start to disappear. Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), an older, nerdier acquaintance, babbles something ridiculous about top Vegas occultist Peter Vincent (David Tennant) and vampires, but it hardly seems likely.
So what if new neighbour Jerry (Colin Farrell) keeps his windows blacked out? These are the Vegas suburbs, where most people work nights. And so what if Jerry keeps sniffing hungrily around Charley and his mom (Toni Collette)? There are stranger predilections catered for on the strip, surely?
Finally, when the burden of proof becomes too weighty to ignore, Charley turns to leather- clad showman Vincent for advice. But will Dr Who know how to dispatch the undead handyman next door? In any event, an excellent cast make merry with the material.
Vampirologists may scoff and complain that the new Fright Night makes the Twilightfranchise look like Nosferatu, but its silliness and irreverence is part of the appeal. Farrell's vampire doesn't brood; he's either getting even or getting some. Why did nobody think to cast Colin as an irrepressible, bloodsucking seducer before now?
