Fright Night remake getting great reviews!

[MIB41]

Emeraldknight and myself will be venturing out this weekend to check this out. Looks like a fun movie! I think this remake will be able to co-exist with the original. The reviews are very good.

Fright Night - Rotten Tomatoes

[Hector]

I was going to watch Conan...but that one is getting really bad reviews...so it's Fright Night for me as well...

[emeraldknight47]

Yes, TK, we will have our buttocks firmly planted in movie seats Saturday for this one. David Tennant as Peter Vincent is getting a good buzz (and it gives me a chance to see a former "Doctor" on the big screen...

[Megospidey]

Looking forward to this and Conan. Will probably see Conan first.

[toys2cool]

welcom to FRIIIIIGHT NIIIGHT! for real man I love the original, I really wanna watch this

[Goblin19]

Watched it last night. I liked it. It doesn't quite compare to the original, which is one of my favorite horror movies. I will say one thing about it. Although they use the same characters and premise, the plot takes many different turns to the point where I wasn't sure what would happen next. I was shocked and pleased by how much they changed. It made it the rare non-pointless remake.

[MIB41]

Watched it last night. I liked it. It doesn't quite compare to the original, which is one of my favorite horror movies. I will say one thing about it. Although they use the same characters and premise, the plot takes many different turns to the point where I wasn't sure what would happen next. I was shocked and pleased by how much they changed. It made it the rare non-pointless remake.

Excellent. Thanks for the review Gobby! We've got one positive in the can. Glad to hear you loved the original as well, because that's me. I'm glad they can coincide together and yet be different in their own right.

[samurainoir]

I enjoyed it. Nice use of 3-d. Terrific cast. Some nice set pieces to differentiate it from the original.

Dr who was great as an updated Peter Vincent.

[emeraldknight47]

I enjoyed it. Nice use of 3-d. Terrific cast. Some nice set pieces to differentiate it from the original.

Dr who was great as an updated Peter Vincent.

That's great to hear regarding Tennant. I loved him as The Doctor and think he's got a lot of similar quirkiness to the late, great Roddy McDowell...

[Hector]

I won't watch it in 3D...I hate wearing those annoying plastic glasses...and the extra enhancement is really not that great for me anyway.

[emeraldknight47]

MIB41 and I went to see the new FRIGHT NIGHT tonight and whilst he was less than smitten by it (he said it was okay, so there is that), I thought it was pretty damn good.

Of course, I haven't seen the original in years and years and years (probably at least twenty), so I kind of went into this one with fresh eyes. I though Colin Farrell was good as Jerry and Toni Collette is smoulderingly hot as Charley's mom. Anton Yelchin makes Charley a likeable character except when he's giving the shaft to his longtime friend and former best buddy, Ed (just so he can ultimately give the "shaft" to the ultrahot and tasty Imogen Poots (she is just a doll!).

I was enjoying the movie quite a bit, then David Tennant showed up as Peter Vincent and kicked it up to warp speed. Maybe it's because I'm a huge WHO fan, but Tennant, to me, stole every scene he was in (and the scenes with his girlfriend are a scream). He's a very different Peter Vincent that Roddy McDowell's version (which is fine with me, 'cause nobody can "ape" McDowell successfully (and, yes, that was a very bad pun)), but he's still a great and charismatic Peter Vincent and kind of a tragic one at that. Plus, he's STILL the Doctor, to an extent, too---just completely unleashed and unhibited (I had to laugh every single time he spewed out "F**k You!!!!" with that WHOvian accent)

I would highly recommend seeing this this to one and all. Good flick. Would it have been smarter to open it in October. Probably. But maybe by releasing it now, I can have it in my stocking on Xmas morning....!

[samurainoir]

I really appreciated the fact that David Tennant took his Peter Vincent off into an entirely different direction. I was a bit wary of the Vegas thing, but it actually really worked well in the fact that the film is self aware enough not to be that slavish to the original and avoid certain pitfalls that would have hamstrung it.

Chief among them the "stupid stupid mom" tease. Toni Collette really has her moments to shine. Also they dispense with the "is he or isn't he a vampire nonsense" pretty early, as well as making McLovin's turn as Evil Ed a real emotional bit of character building for the main character by it's efficiency of screen time.

Not a top film by any stretch of the imagination, but the wife likes vampires and this is definitely one that I wouldn't have regretted sitting through.

[MIB41]

The Fright Night remake was passable for what it was. But if your a fan of the original, and have seen it in recent years, it's very easy to pick the new one apart in terms of comparing the two. The original unfolded the premise far better and from a more plausible perspective. The original vampire (played charmingly by Chris Sarandon) has every intention of blending in and staying concealed. He picks his victims discreetly and from socially undesirable segments of the populace. The new one picks from all over. Kids begin disappearing at an alarming rate in schools and homes go up for sale all over, yet no one seems to notice. And while Colin Farrell makes for a interesting vampire, he never offers a personality that would make you comfortable if he moved in next to you. If you had people disappearing in your neighborhood, you would immediately suspect him. Farrell gives his vampire the same whacky schlock he provided as Bullseye in DareDevil - Crazy, dangerous, and comical. A pale shadow to Chris Sarandon's vampire.

Another aspect that hurts this film is the Evil Ed character. In this film HE is the one who knows all about the vampire. Unlike the original, you are not really taken on that journey of discovery. And while he has some hysterical dialogue in a number of scenes, he is too much of a social recluse. In the original, Charlie is a kid anyone can relate with. And it is HE who makes the discovery and has to spend much of the film trying to prove what he knows to everyone else. That is the fun of that film. It really plays on the idea of "what if" and how crazy even a normal kid would look trying to suggest it to anyone (even his closest friends). This film completely loses that idea.

And finally we have Peter Vincent. I guess in many ways its understandable why they wanted to stay away from the original depiction in the retelling. Because no one touches Roddy McDowell in that role. His portrayal was classic in every sense of the word and paid wonderful homage to all of the classic horror hosts who have coated the airways back during that original resurgence of old monster films in the 60's. But in making Peter Vincent an entirely different character, he essentially loses his relevance to the overall theme of the film. And I think that right there is where this new director really misses the point.

The original was a wonderful homage to the classic horror films from both Universal and Hammer. It was beautifully atmospheric. You have the old haunted house; kids watching old monster movies while gluing together monster kits. You have a horror show host who figures into the plot (nicely dressed to look like Peter Cushing, but having a name lovingly borrowed from both Peter Cushing and Vincent Price). And in the midst of all that, you have a real life vampire that moves in next to the all American kid that anyone can relate to. This kid discovers that all of these old images and myths about the legend of vampires could actually be true. And THAT is the journey you take with him. THAT is the fun of the film. And ALL OF THAT is lost in the new one. The new film has ZERO atmosphere. In the retelling, this vampire moves into a neighborhood where all the houses look the same. And the vampire's interior is oddly all WHITE. What's worse, for a person who should have lived for centuries, he has collected nothing. His house is empty. Kind of like this script.

[torgospizza]

I was going to watch Conan...but that one is getting really bad reviews...

I'm going to see it Thursday. Most of the negative reviews I've read seem to not know anything about the original character and only compare it to Milius' film. Apparently, most reviewers think barbarians are gym rats that shave their legs.