I have never actually seen the original Fright Night, but my best friend Kat has, and she seemed to think the remake did just fine. As someone completely new to the franchise, I felt like it was well worth my $8.50 at the local AMC.
I don’t think I need to get spoilery, since it’s not the sort of movie that I want to dissect when it comes to plot and characterization. It was just fun. The pacing was excellent, the humor and horror were mixed well. Colin Farell was delightfully creepy in both the “holy shit, vampire” and “yucky dude from next door that hits on your mom” kind of way. David Tennant was in leather pants.
Let me repeat that for my fellow Doctor Who fangirls: David Tennant was in leather pants.
There was suspense, and creepiness, and just enough ridiculous gore to remind me that even though I was squirming in my seat at times, the movie was one big nodding, winking joke about vampires. (“Jerry the vampire?”) It makes me happy when I see movies where vampires are giant, gross bastards instead of whiny drama queens who want to spend all eternity writing poetry and gazing soulfully at teenaged girls.
And the part I liked the most? The characters weren’t dumb. It’s so rare to see a horror (even if it should be “horror” here, I suppose) movie where the characters are actually competent. There wasn’t really a time in the entire movie where I felt like shouting at the screen, as if that would prevent someone from doing something hideously stupid, and that’s rare indeed.
I recommend it, definitely.