FRIGHT NIGHT.....

The stars of the production of the re-make of Fright Night are Jo Edna Boldin and Allison Jones.  Who?  They are the people who were in charge of casting and consequently were responsible for enabling Colin Farrell (lots of films all very good) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the recent Star Trek re-boot and Kyle Reese in Terminator:Salvation), to help combat, in my eyes, the handicap of being a re-make.  Together with Toni Collette who, like many others, i first saw in the excellent Muriel's Wedding, they do a good job to modernise what i think is one of the best 80's horrors.  Unfortunately whenever i watch a re-make i naturally compare it to the original. I say unfortunately because it seems that most re-makes seem to be based on films which the originals are my favourites, this one included.  There are several gaping holes which could have been smoothed over (no one seems particularly bothered that an increasing number of students are missing from the school) and a slightly more in depth explanation of why many of the residents of the small town have blacked out windows( a large contingent of the towns workforce work night-shifts).  It has a few good "jumpy" moments, preceded of course by the usual absence of music and the effects are very good.  David Tennant is good also as Peter Vincent the self proclaimed vampire killer and Vegas magician ( and i thought Russell Brand look-a-like)who is also the character with the "Bad guys did something to a relation" card.  I did enjoy it, but wouldn't have gone to the cinema for it. To be honest , if there wasn't the current vampire based movie/tv show bandwagon rolling along at full pelt, i don't think this film would have been made.  If you're unsure what to watch when you're perusing the choices in Blockbusters or your local dvd rental emporium, then try this. You could do worse but if you enjoyed the original don't expect an improvement. It really just is a pure up-date and nothing more. It filled an evening for me and fueled the fire in me that is an increasing annoyance of re-boots...with certain exceptions.......enjoy.