If only the CGI didn’t suck!
Fright Night (2011)
Directed By: Craig Gillespie
The Prologue
And I’m finally getting around to writing a review for the 2011 remake of Fright Night! Movies from the 80′s can be very hard to remake. There were just some weird fun factor that comes into effect in those movies that aren’t easily duplicated, even with the new technology and all of that stuff today. Take into account that major studio films have a bad habit of overly plugging products in their movies and you have a cause to go into this thing a bit weary. But I did go into this one with a mostly open mind, and I will try my best not to overly compare it to the fun classic that came out in 1985.
The Movie
A remake of the 1985 original, teenager Charley Brewster guesses that his new neighbor Jerry Dandrige is a vampire responsible for a string of recent deaths. When no one he knows believes him, he enlists Peter Vincent, a self proclaimed vampire killer and Las Vegas magician, to help him take down Jerry. Overall, you could have some fun with this one, and I did in areas. But there are a few issues with this that stand out like a green thumb. Still, I think it could have been a whole lot worse.
I kinda want to give this props for not being an overall scene for scene remake of the original. Things are a lot different in some areas than they were in the 1985 one. For one, Brewster is a bit of a dick at the start of this. He has a hot girlfriend, idiot friends, and his new found popularity has caused him to forsake his old friend Ed. Ed of course knows from the start that Jerry is a vampire and he tries to clue Charley in on this early in the film but Brewster is having none of it. Also, Peter Vincent is all different and Jerry could care less if someone knows he’s a vampire or not. It’s different, that fact catches you off guard a bit, but it’s not entirely a bad thing.
What is a bad thing is the CGI in this film. It seems like every major studio horror release has this very same issue, but this time it wasn’t just the blood that looks awful in CGI. There is CGI fire and when Jerry is vamping out, he’s a corny looking CGI mess as well. The film does a few things right, like most the new plot elements and dialogue, but this CGI just really takes you right out of it. It’s always cool to see someone explode in sunlight, but when they turn into a CGI cloud of smoke, fire, and some gore, it really makes you want to shake your head due to how fake it actually works. I mean surely they could have done better, right??
I also think the ending is a bit of drag in areas. The movie flip flops between classic Fright Night elements and new ones, it actually packs a lot more action which is a great thing, but there’s parts that come into play with Vincent near and at the end that just seems too cheesy for it’s own good. I’ll give the movie credit for being more vampire logical than the original, but some things just seem to fit a little too well together and if you’ve seen this I’m sure you know what I mean. But all that said, the acting is good, it has good action, but the CGI is terrible and it’s a little too corny for it’s own good in a lot of areas.
The Conclusion
It can be fun and it’s got some action, but it could have been a lot better in a few areas. I won’t say it’s a total waste, but I really loved a lot about the original that is missing here. I think if you took the original all the way out of the equation here, you still have a few too many flaws here that really holds it down just a bit. But everyone from Colin Ferrell to McLovin (yeah I know that’s not his real name) do a fine job in their roles.
The Rating (6.5/10)
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