Film File - Fright Night

These are good times for vampires. Almost single-handedly, the 'Twilight' series has elevated this nocturnal breed into the cultural limelight over the past few years, and any half-way decent film involving fangs is almost guaranteed gold at the box office. So what happens when evil moves in next door and no-one believes you? Such is the predicament confronting a teenager who discovers he's next to the neighbour from hell - but, predictably, nobody believes him, not even his mother. That's when he decides to become the local vampire warden. On foot of the present preoccupation with vampires, particularly amongst the late teen and early 20s audience, a remake of the much-loved 1985 horror classic, 'Fright Night', was an idea perfectly in tune with the bloody breed becoming part of the mainstream for film and TV audiences. The story follows Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a high school senior who's on top of the world: he runs with the hip crowd, dates the most coveted girl, Amy (Imogen Poots), and hangs out with his occult-obsessed best mate Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But this perfect world implodes when Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a nice guy at first, but there's something not quite right about him - a fact no-one, including Charley's mother Jane (Toni Collette), seems to notice. After observing some very strange activity, Charley comes to an unmistakable conclusion that Jerry is a vampire preying on the neighbourhood. Unable to convince anyone that something needs to be done, Charley looks to popular Las Vegas illusionist Peter Vincent (David Tennant) for help and advice before taking matters into his own hands to get rid of the monster. Dublin actor Colin Farrell was initially cautious about signing up to a remake of a classic he held in such high regard. "I was 11 or 12 years-old the first time I saw 'Fright Night. I don't want to say it's sacrosanct, but in a way it is and it's kind of perfect in its own form," he said. On seeing Marti Noxon's script, however, he decided to don the fangs: "Just like the original, it straddles the line between horror and a kind of sweet tongue-in-cheek comedy." The film hinges on Farrell's role, a position he undertakes with aplomb as a bloodsucker par excellence. When Charley's best buddy, Ed, goes missing, the popular college boy is forced to take on the evil next door as more and more people get snatched into the caverns under Jerry's house - a sort of vampire larder. Enter Peter Vincent, a Las Vegas showman channelling cheesy 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' performances, recruited by Charley for the final showdown. Mindful of the huge cult following for the original film, director Craig Gillespie wisely keep close to the feel and tone of the original - adding 3D technology to give the bloodier scenes a bigger impact. Other vampire movie references abound throughout, cultural signposts that plays well to its intended younger audience. The cast is well-chosen, with Farrell and Yelchin displaying a particularly good chemistry. Essentially, though, the film revolves around Farrell, who proves once again his versatility to dance between dramatic and comedy roles. He makes 'Fright Night' jump in a role he really gets his teeth into.