Frightening fun

MUCH to my girlfriend’s dismay I have always had a penchant for horror movies. My love affair with supernatural / otherworldly fiction began when I was seven … coincidently around the time my older brother Don was naively entrusted to baby-sit me.

I quickly realised that the adult-child dynamic had never before occurred to Don when he haphazardly asked me ‘what time do you go to bed?’

‘Oh around 11 o’clock’, I shrugged, knowing full-well that a second past 8pm would have my dear old mum furious at both of us. Nonetheless, the daft muppet believed me and, being the hands-off type of guy he is, he went off upstairs to play Nintendo and left me alone with the TV remote.

I couldn’t believe it, I had finally (after only seven years of existence) managed to trick someone into letting me stay up past my bedtime to indulge in the forbidden fruit of late night TV!

It was a joyous affair filled with excitement and revelry … for a while, at least. That night I learned two things; vampire movies are shown after 9pm and, seven-year-olds have nightmares for weeks after watching them.

However, after a few weeks of sleeping with the lights on and cowering under the duvet with a clove of garlic (cleverly procured from my mum’s kitchen cabinet), I got over it. It was a turning point and after that, I used to sneak out of bed late at night to see how long I could watch these films for without getting caught.

 The vampire movie that terrified me as a child was called Fright Night so when I read that it had been re-made starring the ingenious Colin Farrel, I jumped at the chance to see it ... even though I have hated every re-make ever re-made.

Most people at one point have lamented that they have a neighbour from hell, but for Charlie Brewster, that remark is more than just hyperbole.

Charlie lives a quiet suburban life with his mother, Jane, and things are looking pretty good for the young chap. He’s got a gorgeous girlfriend Amy (Poots) and he’s even ditched his geeky friends Ed (Mintz-Plasse) and Adam to hang around with the ‘cool clique’.

However, his luck changes when his new neighbour Jerry arrives. At this point I would like to point out that Jerry is a rubbish name for a vampire. You would expect something more sinister from a creature of darkness … I mean, who’s going to run in fear when they hear ‘I’m Jerry and I’ll be your vampire for the evening’?

Regardless of his name, Jerry oozes cool (it is Farell, after all) and has an inexplicable way of drawing in the ladies. This doesn’t sit too well with Charlie who notices the attention Jerry is showing Jane and Amy.

Anyway, Ed, in true geek form, has been documenting the mysterious disappearance of several kids from the school, including Charlie’s former friend Adam … and has pegged the esoteric late night construction worker Jerry as his prime suspect.

Charlie wants to hear none of it and is embarrassed by being seen with Ed at school. He dismisses the theory but Ed is so adamant that Charlie needs to hear him out, he threatens to blackmail him with some old videos that would ruin his credibility with the cool kids.

Reluctantly he agrees to meet Ed at Adam’s house and learns that his former friends have been watching his new neighbour for quite some time and believe he’s a vampire. Ed suggests that the only way to defeat him is to enlist the services of Peter Vincent, the star of a Las Vegas magic show with a vampire theme.

Charlie is less than impressed and dismisses Ed’s plans … until the next day when good old Ed goes missing too. Could there be some truth to Ed’s crazy claims?

Eventually, Charlie begins to ‘test’ Jerry using all the cliché vampire myths ever shown on TV. However, when he stumbles on the truth about his new neighbour, he begins to realise that it’s up to him to save Ed, Jane and Amy … no easy taking for a young man alone.

He decides to take Ed’s advice and seeks the help of the reluctant Vegas star who doesn’t really believe in vampires. The pair set out on a race against time to save the day … which wouldn’t be so bad if Peter wasn’t a big girl’s blouse.

What separates this version from the 1985 original is that, although the former version did have elements of comedy it was still genuinely terrifying (at least, that’s how I remember it), whereas this remake is more of a ‘horrordy’, (an amalgamation for a horror comedy).

It’s a light-hearted take on a cult classic that works surprisingly well. This is due in no short part to Farrel’s involvement. I got the impression he enjoyed stepping away from the more serious films he’s made recently and had great fun with his role.

He projects a terrifying intensity that disperses the moment he cracks his trademark grin (albeit a little toothier than usual).

The dialogue is what you would expect from a movie of this sort, but thanks to the subject matter it’s easy to have fun with. There are innuendos galore and lots of pop culture references that keep you entertained even when Farell’s not on-screen.

In fact, in all fairness to the rest of the cast, they did a good job.

Obviously it’s hard not to love Mintz-Plasse, he brings an endearing quality to all his roles. He’s the kind of guy you’d see in the street and just want to hug for no apparent reason and perhaps ruffle his hair a bit.
 
I think in this case, the side-kick was more entertaining to watch than the hero. That’s not to disparage Yelchin’s efforts, on the contrary, he did very well in his role, but he’s just not as funny as Mintz-Plasse or as charming as Farell. If they were a family, he’d be the middle child I’m sure.

Did I enjoy this movie? Yes. Was it better than the original? No, it was different. Was it scary? No … now where did I leave that garlic?

Showing in Cineco, Seef II and Saar Cineplex