'Fright Night' (11)

'Fright Night' (11) (R) (3 1/2 STARS)

Writer: Marti Nixon based on 1985 film written by Tom Holland
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots, David Tennant, Sandra Vergara

The 1985 movie "Fright Night" was a wonderfully campy, fun and gruesome vampire movie. I am not a big vampire movie guy because I think there are too many and most are lame. The HBO show "True Blood" is my favorite vampire themed entertainment now, the "Twilight" movies suck and the best in my opinion is 1987's "Near Dark". I loved the original "Fright Night" and I am happy to report to it's fans that this remake is different but just as good, maybe better.

The remake is different in that it is very fresh, beautifully shot and youthful when the original was more camp. The remake made me laugh a lot and on purpose and the acting is fantastic. The acting is one of the things that is better in the remake. Colin Farrell gives a sexy, sleek and energetic performance as Jerry the vampire. He lives next door to Charley Brewster and his mother Jane. Charley believes that his next door neighbor Jerry is a vampire right away and now Jerry is hitting on his mother and his hot girlfriend Amy!

The movie takes place in Las Vegas and moving the original location to Vegas is a masterstroke. Come on, Vegas never sleeps and so don't vampires. This is one of the fresh and smart changes writer Marti Nixon gives this remake and why I love this movie! The original had a hammy but wonderful performance by Roddy McDowell as horror movie host Peter Vincent. Charley goes to Vincent to get help in fighting Jerry. The remake has British actor David Tennant and though not better than McDowell, he gives a fresh spin on the role and he is brilliant and funny.

Colin Farrell plays Jerry and he blows away the original's Chris Sarandon, who makes a very funny cameo appearance here. Farrell is one of our best actors today and he is now showing his brilliant grasp of comedy. With this and his Oscar worthy performance in "Horrible Bosses" he is on a roll! He is sexy, beautiful, funny, charming and sleazy here and I think his performance is better than it should have been. He has fun with the role and is smart in that he doesn't go over the top. I also like Toni Collette and Anton Yelchin as Charley a lot and them being cast made me grateful.

There is also another solid performance by Christopher Mintz-Plasse who plays Charley's nerdy friend Ed and Mintz-Plasse plays a nerd better than anyone. I loved the choice of Imogen Poots as Charley's girlfriend Amy and I look forward to seeing her again. She is sweet, charming and makes us glad that her and good guy Charley are together. As I mentioned before I loved David Tennant as Peter Vincent and there is a small, striking, funny performance by Sandra Vergara as Vincent's sexy girl. She is so good in such little time I want to see her again!

"Fright Night" is a lot of fun and it has what most vampire movies lately don't have, a good story. The vampire myth is so dependable because it is so sexy and intriguing and most vampire movies these days forget this. The movie is not balls out scary but it sure is more fun and effective than "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". There are some great jolts, a great car chase and a lot of good humor. The acting is what makes this more than just a good movie. It gets the job of nailing the genre perfectly and while it is just a horror movie it is also one of the best movies of the summer!