Charley (Anton Yelchin) is a teenager living in a housing development in the middle of nowhere outside of Las Vegas with his mother.   He has a beautiful girlfriend (Imogen Poots).   His life is normal until Jerry moves in next door.  Ed, his ex-best friend, is convinced Jerry is a vampire and is responsible for the disappearances of several people including several teens.   Charley doesn't believe Ed and soon starts to believe after Ed disappears.  

David Tennant is great as Las Vegas illusionist Peter Vincent (who puts on a nightly show of him killing vampire women).   I wish FRIGHT NIGHT had more scenes with Peter Vincent.   Tennant enjoys playing this guy and he does with such zeal.   He outshines the other actors in the movie.   Colin Farrell has fun playing Jerry (even though I still don't think much of Farrell as an actor still).   The original FRIGHT NIGHT was fun and has a little more of a story than the remake.  Still the remake has more action and tries to be a little different from the original.   Remakes always run the risk of being too much the same like the original or not as good as the movie it remakes (even though some remakes improve on the originals).  Marti Noxon (one of the writers from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) crafts an interesting script for the remake.  She takes some of the elements from the original while putting her own spin on it for the remake.    I miss the washed up actor as TV host from the original, but that character would seem out of place now where a Las Vegas illusionist wouldn't.   Vegas is the perfect place for people to disappear unnoticed.

The effects work comes out at you in 3D.   Go see this remake over CONAN.  It is the better of the two genre efforts being released this week.   Also if you are up for it, go check out the original too if you haven't seen it or watched it in a while.    FRIGHT NIGHT is a more action driven ride than the original and it will keep you watching until the end.

this movie review is (c)8-20-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com