Review: FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on August 18, 2011, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.

The use of Hugo’s cover of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” under the end credits of Fright Night at first seems incongruous; it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the movie we’ve just watched. But when you think about it, this version of the song—which waters down the original’s bite in what feels like attempt to boost its palatability to a wider audience—fits this defanged remake perfectly.

There’s nothing wrong with the people behind a cinematic reboot taking the material in different directions; indeed, that’s to be encouraged. But this one makes all the wrong moves in updating Tom Holland’s 1985 favorite about a young fright fan discovering a real vampire living next door, and calling on one of his horror heroes to help slay the monster. Myself, I’ve got nine problems with Fright Night 2011:

1. Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is no longer a devotee of the dark; he’s a typical high-schooler with typical concerns, which means this story lacks the original’s provocative idea of a boy’s love of scary stuff turning on him in the worst way. Marti Noxon’s script also negates the suspense of Charley starting to suspect his new neighbor is up to no good, and slowly discovering his worst fears realized. Here, he’s not even aware that anything’s up in the house next to his, and has to be told by:
2. Evil Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is no longer a quirky highlight among the supporting characters, but simply a plot device. It is he who snoops on Jerry (Colin Farrell), discovers why the young lovelies who disappear through his front door by night are never seen leaving and essentially exists to explain the plot to Charley before being quickly written out of the piece. This saps the tension from Fright Night’s first act, and the moment when Jerry catches up to Evil Ed lacks the charge of the corresponding scene in Holland’s film because:
3. The homosexual undertones that gave the original Fright Night a little extra edge have been whitewashed out of the scenario. Gone is Jerry’s ambiguous roommate, and the big scene between Jerry and Evil Ed is comparatively quite timid about expressing the obvious subtext. Who’d have thought that a movie made in 1985 would be braver about suggesting the material’s gay leanings than its 2011 counterpart?
4. Farrell doesn’t get enough opportunities to make his incarnation of Jerry distinctive. There are a few moments when he’s able to put his own stamp on the characterization; rather than Chris Sarandon’s suave seducer, Farrell’s Jerry is more of a dominant alpha male. Too often, though, he’s a generic villain spouting wannabe threatening one-liners and sparking car chases and explosions. He’s also none too menacing when he vamps out, since:
5. Despite the best ambitions of makeup FX creators Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, too much of Fright Night’s creature and gore work is way too obviously computer-generated. Beyond the fact that this makes Jerry and others’ vamp faces silly rather than scary, it undercuts what should have been one of the movie’s best scenes, a lengthy cat-and-mouse setpiece that builds up genuine suspense to a potentially sly and shocking punchline—which is dashed by its overwrought, blatantly digitized final effect. The movie is also visually disappointing in terms of:
6. The 3D. While director Craig Gillespie isn’t too proud to have a little fun throwing things at the camera every once in a while, this is one case where the common complaint of the 3D distractingly darkening the image is justified—a particular problem for a movie set largely at night.
7. Peter Vincent (David Tennant) is no longer a hero to Charley whom the teen discovers has feet of clay; his seeking out of Peter is more of a random act of desperation. This time, Peter is a Las Vegas magician with a vampire-themed act who is ostensibly modeled on the likes of Criss Angel, but when encountered behind the scenes, he’s a disaffected, inebriated hedonist who seems much more inspired by Russell Brand, and he’s neither as funny nor as compelling as Roddy McDowall’s washed-up former celebrity. The Peter Vincent of 1985 was a singular character, in need of redemption; the 2011 version is a familiar type, and such a petulant adult brat that what he seems to need most is a good spanking. The attempt to give his character some gravitas via a generic childhood-trauma device doesn’t work.
8. We’re told that Jerry has settled in the Vegas suburb where most of the story takes place because it’s a transient community, where people come and go so frequently that no one will notice a few missing persons. That being the case, it still doesn’t make sense why Jerry slaughters an entire family in the film’s opening scene, and a few minutes later in his homeroom, Charley notices that a remarkable number of his classmates are absent. You’d think Jerry would be a little more discerning in his choice of victims, even in this setting; taking out entire households and depopulating the local high school don’t seem like very effective ways of staying under the radar.
9. If they had to rework an old song for the closing credits, couldn’t they have put a new spin on the J. Geils Band’s ’85 Fright Night theme instead?