Fright
Night
Rated R Our Ratings: V-5 ;L -5 ; S/N –4.
Running time: 1 hour 46 min
 |
As you can see, the vampire’s power is
greater than the cross. © 2011 Walt Disney Pictures |
Evil brings death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
Psalms 34:21
Director Craig Gillespie’s remake of a popular vampire horror
film is set in a suburban housing devel
opment of Los Vegas. This is very appropriate in that many of the citizens
of that city work at night
at gambling casinos and sleep much of the day, as do vampires. The plot even
of the original was an old one beloved by sci-fi and fantasy writers, teenaged
Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) thinks his neighbor is up to evil—in
this case is a vampire—but no one believes him. Thus he sets forth
with a friend to prove that his fear and suspicion are real. There follows
lots of blood and gore, with the climactic battle enhanced by the 3D and
CGI effects—sparks from explosions seem to come right at you. As usual
the cross is used as a defensive device, but these vampires apparently haven’t
read the literature, the cross-held in our hero’s hand extended having
no effect.
Even with a fine cast that includes Colin Farrell (as the vampire) and Toni
Collette as the mother I found it hard to sit through this thing. Guess you
have to be a fan of the vampire genre to appreciate it. It was a fun moment,
however, when my companion who was a fan of the original pointed out that
Chris Sarandon, who played the vampire neighbor in the 1985 original, plays
an ill-fated traveler in the new version. Also David Tennant is very funny
as Peter Vincent, a vampire impersonator who stars in an opulent act at his
Los Vegas show palace. His collection of vampire fighting objects proves
very valuable in the showdown. As you can see, I am conflicted about the
film, and the genre itself.
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