Fright Night

Tom Holland’s 1985 Fright Night was 80s camp at its best - a cartoonish mix of sharp fangs and glowing eyes that quickly became a cult classic, spawning a sequel and, more recently, a remake. Now, let me start by saying that I am not a huge fan of remakes; most of them are pointless and unnecessary and rarely add anything to the original. However, the joint star power of Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin (who was brilliant in Alpha Dog) – not to mention David Tennant in a pair of leather trousers – proved hard to resist, and so I pushed my cynicism aside...and was actually very pleasantly surprised.

Yelchin plays Charlie Brewster, a teenager who becomes convinced that his charming new neighbour Jerry (Farrell) is a vampire. As more and more locals begin to go missing – including Charlie’s best friend ‘Evil’ Ed (Christopher ‘McLovin’ Mintz-Plasse) – he teams up with self-proclaimed vampire-expert Peter Vincent (Tennant) to send Jerry back to his grave.

The cast is great – Yelchin is extremely likeable, Farrell is suitably menacing and Tennant brilliantly channels his inner Russell Brand – and the script is sharp and funny. The film pays homage to its 80s influences (Chris Sarandon - the original Jerry – makes a cameo appearance) and also gives a knowing nod to more recent vampire flicks, and as a result is a very enjoyable watch. Some parts are genuinely scary: director Craig Gillespie builds tension without relying on cheap scares, making the horror, when it comes, all the more frightening. Forget glitter and lovesick teenagers – these are vampires as they are meant to be. The comedy balances out the scares perfectly: Mintz-Plasse in particular looks like he’s having a ball, and his geek-turned-vampire gets the most laughs – “I’m seriously so angry you think I read Twilight!”

But, speaking of Twilight...do we really need another vampire film? Is Fright Night just another unnecessary remake? Probably. But it is great fun, and if you like your vampire flicks with a bit more bite, then you could do a lot worse.

Catriona Davidson