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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Fright Night

FRIGHT NIGHT directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Marti Noxon based on the screenplay by Tom Holland, with Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Toni Collette and David Tennant. A DreamWorks release. 106 minutes. Opens Friday (August 19). See listing Rating: NNN


When Marti Noxon’s script stays true to the 1985 original, the Fright Night remake hits the sweet spot of scary and funny. It only runs into trouble when it tries to turn Tom Holland’s charmingly old-school horror comedy into a blockbuster.

Fright Night doesn’t want to be a blockbuster. It’s a small-scale creeper about a suburban teenager (a weedy Anton Yelchin) who can’t get anyone to believe him when a vampire (Colin Farrell) moves into his neighbourhood and starts devouring call girls.

This version makes a few tactical errors, like throwing out the slow build of Holland’s original for more action beats, including an entirely unnecessary set piece cribbed from Children Of Men that takes place inside a moving vehicle.

But once David Tennant gets involved as the disreputable Vegas illusionist to whom Yelchin turns for assistance, director Craig Gillespie finds the groove he’s been chasing and Farrell has an adversary with the proper stature – and terrific comic timing.

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