Fright Night: "You're so cool, Brewster!"

I have seen The Doctor in leather pants fighting vampires, and it was damn entertaining. Not a cinematic tour-de-force, not an epic blockbuster, but a fun and solid film. There are some movies where you can tell everyone in it had a blast making it, and this is one. Everyone was just good, and Anton Yelchin is pretty fun. I predict good things from him; he’d make a good cerebral action hero, if such a thing exists.

Man, I haven;t read your post to avoid spoilers, on the off chance I might see this as my first 3-D film of the modern era… Haven;t seen a 3-d FILM IN LETERALLY 15 YEARS. But I think what is important about Fright Night is the original… Camp and twist… if it somehow preserved my memory of the grounbreaking original I might be willing to give it a star or two. Somehow I believe Raimi’s drag me to hell, which is one of the last films I have seen in three years, is a better exemplary production and is more true to the spirit of the original Fright Night than this new abomination.

I’m confused…have you seen the remake or not?

I’ve never seen the original but it’s playing in theaters now too and I might go see it tomorrow night at a first-run (ha) discount theater nearby. I think it’s pretty cool that they’d bring that back and want to see it on the big screen.

I will see the remake just because I like Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin, but I’ll wait until it gets to the cheaper theaters, specifically one that doesn’t have a 3D setup. I want to see it in 2D because 1) it opened ONLY in 3D and I don’t want to encourage that kind of crap (in fact I actively hope it hurts the movie’s box office), and 2) I refuse to pay extra for 3D no matter what. Even if I were to see it in 3D, I’d pay for another, normal, movie that I like and have already seen, and sneak into the 3D showing. I carry my own glasses for such occasions. Unethical? Oh hell yeah. Do I care? Oh hell no.

I do want to see it though, and I will. One way or another.

I didn’t see it in 3D (and didn’t really notice too many contrived “pointing at the screen” bits, if you know what I mean). I’ve seen the original, and this one is just as good.

One thing that puzzled me about the original:

You never DO find out what Jerry’s “assistant” is. He’s not human, but…

… just another Renfield.

Saw it. Not exactly groundbreaking cinema, but I had a good time, especially during the second half. You see, the first half is under the impression that we give a shit about Charlie, who is as blandly written a character as I could fathom. The second half realizes that no one cares about the twerp, and makes tenth doctor Peter Vincent the hero, and that I could get behind.

Also, Colin Farrell sells the role of Jerry the Vampire. He was gorgeous and menacing, and darkly sexy, and for the sake of womankind, I think he needs to devote his life to bedding the entirety of the world’s female population. Or, at least, me.

ETA: I was a little surprised to find out that Marti Noxon wrote this script, but in hindsight, I’m really not. When it was established that Jerry couldn’t enter a house without being invited, I thought, “The writer’s been watching too much Buffy.”

Meh, that’s pretty standard vampire stuff. And I’ll admit, I’m a straight guy and I thought Colin was pretty magnetic in this film. He doesn’t play baddies often enough.

And is also a plot point in the original.

I had said…

I went to that discount theater last night, the one that listed playing the original, bought my ticket and even asked the guy at the box office “this is the old one, right?” and he said yes. The movie started and I was thinking, this is a really great print! It looked so good. My mind was so hung on the notion that I was seeing the original, and the tract house setting of the opening was so generic, that it wasn’t until Anton Yelchin rode up on his bike that I realized I was seeing the remake. I’ve never had that experience before. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to see the original since I was looking forward to it, but pleased that I could see the 2D version of the new one for only $5.50.

Since I didn’t see the original everything was new to me, and it was fun enough, a good time at the movies. I did a triple-feature of this, The Help and Attack The Block (my 7th time seeing that one) and it started off the evening nicely.

I liked it for all the reasons stated, especially Colin Ferrill and David Tennant. I laughed when Peter Vincent was taking off all his fakery to become just this guy, you know? Christopher Mintz-Plasse was suitably over-the-top near the end, but I quite liked his character at the beginning. Parts of the movie in the middle and end seemed a bit choppy, as if they’d left a lot on the cutting room floor to make it move faster. That’s not too much of a criticism, just an observation.

Random extremely shallow musing: how can a girl as beautiful and likable as the actress who played Amy, Charley Brewster’s girlfriend, be named Imogen Poots? I’ll have to get over my childish urge to giggle whenever I see her name, because she has a LOT of projects coming up and I want to see every one of them. I’ve seen her in movies in the past, but this is the first time I equated the name with the actress/character.

I loved the look of the ending credits, the red creepy font, and the letter of each name exploding into a million little pieces.
Off-topic…

Have you and Small Hen seen In Bruges? He’s such a great bad guy in that. You want to slap him, often, but you also start feeling sorry for him. It’s arguably his best movie, certainly up there. It’s violent and profane, but a lot of fun, and worth seeking out for the interaction between Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Feinnes alone. And the fuckin’ fairytale setting. [further offtopic note to those who have seen In Bruges: the writer/director Martin McDonagh (whose next movie Seven Psychopaths also features Farrell) has a brother who is as talented as he is. John Michael McDonagh has a movie in theaters now that stands right up with In Bruges called The Guard, with Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle and Mark Strong. Anyone who loves In Bruges will also love The Guard. It’s funny, violent, profane, smart, great dialogue and acting, interesting setting & even moving at times. I’ve seen it twice already and it holds up. [/offtopic]

In Bruges is one of my favorite movies ever, but I’ve never seen The Guard. I’ll have to check that one out, thanks!

Nice! The Guard is in limited release and is unlikely to go wide. Like In Bruges it’s just too quirky to be mainstream. If it is playing near you, go support it. If not, when it comes out on DVD/streaming, it’ll make a terrific double feature with In Bruges.

david tennant in leather… :smiley:

what better reason does a girl need to go see a movie?

Equipoise - The original is on Netflix streaming, if you have it.

I did see In Bruges and quite liked it; I more meant really nutso crazy baddies, as opposed to conflicted crooks as he was In Bruges. Never seen Farrell in a movie where he projected that menace.

I loved Farrell in the movie Phone Booth- I had thought he had the range of a Daisy air rifle, but he rocked that movie. In Bruges was hilarious fun (and contained the absolute best “get a weapon to my partner” scene ever!).

I really want to see this one, but with impressionable kids it’ll be dvd!