The latest in a long line of remakes, Fright Night does an awesome job of updating the film for the current generation by retaining the mix of horror and comedy that made the original so wonderful while carving out its own place on the horror landscape. The 3D is pretty good too.

Before I get into a synopsis I have to pause a moment and qualify where I am coming from on this movie. The 1985 original Tom Holland directed Fright Night is my favorite movie of all time (well, tied with Better Off Dead) and as such this remake had a lot at stake for me. I should also reiterate that I do not, in principle, hate remakes. Some are good and some are bad but none of them, no matter what they do, ruin the original. It is still there for anyone to see who wants to. If the remake sucks then that is too bad but I don’t hate them all and I don’t get pissy about them existing in the first place. This may have to be its own article. The point is, I loved the original movie and could quote the whole thing for you right now if I were so inclined and I was cautiously optimistic about the remake. As it turns out, the remake is so different than the original that it really manages to become its own thing and that is really good. The new Fright Night doesn’t come off feeling like a stale retread but a new thing that shares the spirit of the original. I complained about Karate Kid sticking too close to the source material while still deviating from it. The screenwriters there could have benefited from a conversation with Marti Noxon here as she has proven decisively that she knows how to do this remake thing.

Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is a social climber. He has traded in his nerd best friend ‘Evil’ Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) for girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) and a more popular crowd of kids and is, as the story begins, a pretty big douche. He banters with his mom (Toni Collette) and is chatty with his neighbors but when Evil comes to him in need of help Charley only agrees under the threat of having embarrassing videos exposed to his new friends. Things don’t get too much better between them when Evil reveals that he suspects that Charley’s new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. Charley blows Evil off but starts to get freaked out when Evil disappears and he starts snooping around. Charley discovers in fairly short order that Jerry is, in fact, a vampire and that he is a fairly no-nonsense ‘kills little bitches who spy on him’ sort of vampire. Charley attempts to enlist the aid of Peter Vincent, a Vegas stage magician who’s entire show revolves around killing vampires. Finding a drunk and a fraud, Charley tries to sort things out himself. All hell breaks loose.

If you have seen the original movie there is probably a lot in that plot synopsis that raises hackles a bit. Like I said, it is pretty different than how things went down in the original. The broad strokes are there but the details are definitely not the same. I have read a lot of criticism on message boards about the changes but honestly the only reason the changes should offend or bother you is if you can’t get the original out of your head and that to me is kind of silly. Anyone who tells me this movie sucks because Jerry can’t change into a bat or a wolf or mist like in the first one automatically loses the argument because this is not the same Jerry and not the same movie. But in the first one Jerry can be seen in cameras but not in this one. Argument fail. Not the same movie or the same Jerry. The trick here is, and what makes this a worth take on Fright Night, is that it gets the spirit right. It feels like it should and does the same sort of thing the first one did but in a new and different way. I don’t want to belabor this review with comparisons to the first film because it isn’t fair to the new one and they are pretty different anyway so I will leave it at that. I will be happy to talk more about it in the comments but for now, that is enough remake talk.

Fright Night is a very welcome return to the ‘vampires as monsters’ genre, something that has been lost amidst the droves of Twilight and True Blood clones. Vampires as sympathetic characters can be done well but lately they have just been done to death. It is awesome to see a movie where the vampire is just a straight up monster and who doesn’t fuck around when it comes to taking care of his business. Jerry is smooth and suave when he needs to be but when it comes down to it he is all about efficiency.

The human characters in the movie are all grounded and all flawed. Charley’s arc finds him trying to reconcile what he wants with who he is and how to hang on to things he cares about without losing sight of what really matters. The film doesn’t beat you over the head with his insecurities but they do make him relatable. Peter Vincent is likewise flawed if not quite a bit moreso. There is a bit more depth here behind why he is the way he is and the movie doles that out for you incrementally. Amy is kind of thankless but she is not weak and dependent at all and that is refreshing in and of itself.

Fright Night is big and action packed with a two hour run time that features a lot of violence and set pieces but it takes the time to establish characters and doesn’t forget to ground things in its own reality. When the crazy shit starts happening you feel like the movie has earned it. Further, there are real moments of suspense in the movie that don’t just rely on startle scares and jump out moments but real tension. Tonally, it is well balanced and the tension, action, horror and comedy are all integrated in together so you don’t get a feeling of lopsidedness.

A lot of the credit here has to go to the performances as everyone does a really great job. Farrell in particular fits Jerry perfectly. He is very creepy and feels very dangerous. He pulls menace off effortlessly and there is never a moment you don’t feel like he is a credible threat. That he seems to be enjoying himself makes it that much better. David Tennant is brilliant as Peter Vincent. It would have been easy for him to have been an over the top drunk or coward but Tennant finds the right sweet spot to produce a credible character who is also hilarious and fun to watch.

Yelchin gives us a nuanced Charley as well. He could have over done the douche or over done the swing in the character later but instead we have a guy who is clearly conflicted and eventually guilty, terrified and determined all at once. This is pretty important as the character starts off with a major character flaw and still has to be someone the audience gives a shit about.

The original movie was known for its special effects and while the current film has traded practical effects for CGI those effects still look great. The facial contortions of the vampires and the ‘vamp faces’ look reasonably similar to the ones in the original film but manage to be more dynamic and less like a an appliance. The 3D, if you choose to see it that way, is good and strikes the right balance of gimmicks and depth of field and doesn’t feel like a waste of money. It does make the picture a lot darker and when you are dealing with a movie that takes place mostly at night, that can be an issue so bear that in mind when choosing your presentation.

It has to be said, however, that as much as I liked the movie ultimately, the first act suffers from some issues. The dialogue doesn’t quite feel right and in the very beginning I was really worried that the whole thing was going to fall apart. There are some genuinely funny moments in here which help but until Charley starts believing that Jerry is a vampire some of the material is hard to watch. After that, however, the film really kicks in and fires on all cylinders.

Conclusion [9.0 out of 10]

Fright Night is a lot of things from a great example of how to do remakes to a great example of how to do vampire horror movies but the thing that it is the most is a great time. The humor works. The action works. The horror works. The whole thing just works and is very worthy to bear the name Fright Night. At the end of the day I will probably always prefer the original but that is more about me than it is anything else. This new version of Fright Night is excellent and will sit proudly next to the original on my shelf when it is released…that is, of course, assuming that they put the original on Blu-ray some time soon.