"Fright Night" is a refreshing remake

Director: Craig Gillespie

Time: 1 hour 41 minutes

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Starring: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots

Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is a high school student enjoying his final years of adolescence -- he is fairly popular, is dating the ever-beautiful Amy (Imogen Poots), and is just enjoying his senior year. But when a mysterious man named Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves next door, people in his neighborhood start disappearing. Is Jerry the cause of these disappearances? If so, what secret is he hiding?

"Fright Night" is a remake of the 1985 cult classic of the same name. I've never seen the original, but if it anything like the modern version, it must have been good. "Fright Night" offers up a full plate of delicious film treats -- sweet innocence of youth, sultry vixens, tasty dark comedy, sharp humor and vampires. I don't want to overuse a cliche, but this film is probably the first vampire film on the decade that doesn't suck.

Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin make the movie. Farrell is the premier billing for a bad-guy role and he relishes in it here. Anton Yelchin, a young veteran of films like "Star Trek" and "Terminator: Salvation", prove that he can take the lead role of a film and carry that responsibility on his shoulders. Yelchin's past roles saw him playing dorky, scrawny youth that needed to be lead to their goals. Here, Yelchin grabs the reins and takes full control of his character's destiny -- which is a good thing, because this film would be considerably worse without his breakthrough performance here.

The film is far from perfect. There are some significant plot discrepancies and fallacies of logic scattered throughout the film. However, "Fright Night" is efficient enough to deliver its plot and story concisely and without too much trouble. If you want a good laugh, catch this fun film this weekend.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

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