Fright Night (2011)

Fright Night is a 2011 3D comedy horror film directed by Craig Gillespie. It is a remake of the 1985 Tom Holland film of the same name. The film had its premiere at The O2 in London on August 14, 2011, and was widely released on August 19 in Real D 3D.

The Plot

The film opens with a vampire (Colin Farrell) systematically stalking and killing an entire family in a suburb of Las Vegas, Nevada. The film then focuses on Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a teenager who discovers that a new neighbor has moved in next door to him. Charley is an average teen, who has recently been accepted as one of the 'cool' kids after a nerdy adolescence. Upon arriving at school, Charley's former friend, "Evil" Ed Lee (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), informs him that many fellow students have gone missing. Charley disregards this, but Ed blackmails him into coming to an old friend's house, the same house seen at the beginning, to check if he is alright.

When Charley goes home after school, his mother (Toni Collette) introduces him to Jerry Dandrige, their new neighbor. Charley eventually remembers to meet up with Ed, who informs him that Jerry is a vampire. Charley becomes fed up with Ed and leaves. On his way home, Ed is harassed by a bully (Dave Franco). He manages to escape but is confronted by Jerry, who bites him. The next day, Charley realizes that Ed is missing and decides to go to his house to investigate.

As Jerry begins to attack more people throughout the neighborhood, Charley sneaks into Jerry's house and finds out that he keeps his victims in secret rooms. Charley manages to free one of his victims, but she burns the moment she steps into the sunlight during their escape. Charley goes to Vegas magician Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a supposed expert on vampires. Unfortunately, Vincent doesn't take him seriously, and kicks him out, leaving an angry Charley to deal with Jerry on his own.

Jerry comes to Charley's house the next night and complains to his mother, but Charley convinces her not to let him in. Reasoning that if there's no house, he does not need an invitation to enter in order to claim his victims, Jerry ignites the natural gas in the house and blows it up. Charley, his mother, and his girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots), barely escape with their lives, fleeing through the desert in their minivan. Jerry chases them with his truck, forcing them to crash. When their disabled car is then hit by another vehicle, Jerry kills the driver (played in cameo by Chris Sarandon). Jerry then attacks Charley, and is only stopped by being staked by Charley's mother (with a real estate sign stake). She then faints from a head injury sustained in the crash.

Charley's mother is then admitted to a hospital. At the hospital, Charley gets a call from Peter telling him to come over. Peter gives Charley advice on how to defeat Jerry, but midway through the conversation Ed (now a vampire) shows up, posing as a package delivery boy. Charley and Ed fight while Vincent hides in his panic room. Jerry, who survived the attack from Charley's mother, also arrives, and Amy manages to fight him off. Charley kills Ed, who briefly reassures Charley before dying that it's okay. With Jerry in pursuit, Charley and Amy then run into a club where they get separated in the crowd. Amy is bitten and taken by Jerry.

The next day Charley tells Peter that he is going after Jerry and he needs his help. Peter refuses and reveals that both of his parents were killed by a vampire (later revealed to be Jerry himself). He does, however, give Charley a stake that will kill Jerry and turn all of his victims back into humans. Charley goes to fight Jerry at his house where Peter decides to join him after all. The two break all of the windows to let sunlight in.

They are led into Jerry's basement where they are attacked by many of Jerry's victims, now vampires, including Amy. Charley, having outfitted himself in a flame-retardant suit, lights himself on fire in order to burn and disorient Jerry while he tries to stake him. Peter assists him by shooting a hole in the floor above to allow sunlight in which burns Jerry. Charley quickly stabs Jerry in the heart, killing him instantly and returning his victims to their human form. Afterwards, Charley's mother recovers from the hospital and goes to shop for a new house as Charley and Amy have sex in Peter's penthouse.

Reviews

Fright Night received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 75% of 147 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 64 based on 30 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B-minus" on an A+ to F scale.

Robert Koehler of Variety, writes Fright Night has "a cleverly balanced mix of scares and laughs".

The Cast

Anton Yelchin as Charley Brewster
 Colin Farrell as Jerry Danridge
 Toni Collette as Jane Brewster
 David Tennant as Peter Vincent
 Imogen Poots as Amy
 Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Evil Ed Thompson
 Dave Franco as Mark
 Reid Ewing as Ben
 Will Denton as Adam
 Sandra Vergara as Ginger
 Emily Montague as Doris
 Chris Sarandon as Jay Dee
 Grace Phipps as Bee
 Chelsea Tavares as Cara
 Lisa Loeb as Victoria
 Brian Huskey as Rick