I don’t want to hate the remake of Fright Night. I don’t want to.
- Even though the idea of incorporating a Criss Angel-style ‘magician’ into the story in lieu of an old school horror host.
- Even though Christopher Mintz-Plasse is super wrong for the role of Evil Ed.
- Even though the time is wholly wrong for another vampire flick, especially in the wake of the extreme grace of Let the Right One In/Let Me In, which ought to be the definitive “vamp next door” flick until mid-decade.
- Even though Anton Yelchin as a lead fires missiles of doubt into my person.
I don’t want to hate it. I actually like the idea of Colin Farrell playing Chris Sarandon’s role in the remake. There’s also a good bit of pedigree here, what with Toni Collette lending her face to the film and a capable director (Lars and the Real Girl’s Craig Gillespie) in charge.
AOL/Moviefone/Cinematical/I Have No Idea debuted three stills from the movie the other day and they do nothing to make me feel any happier. Especially the shot to the right.
I just don’t think Mintz-Plasse has it. Especially in the wake of Stephen Geoffrey’s film-defining performance in the original. I just hope he doesn’t blow his wad here and be forced to blow his wad in gay porn like Mr. Geoffreys.
Where do you stand on the remake? Voice your opinion in the talkback below or right here.
10 comments
The script is not great, but better than I expected with lots of misdirections and surprises for those very familiar with the original. It goes limp in the end. The Criss Angel character is not as horrible as I thought he would be, though I agree with it being a bad switch for the original idea. And I have the same trepidations on casting. So, I’m cautiously optimistic. If Farrell kicks it, it could be a lot of fun.
The whole “Stephen Geoffreys/Gay Porn” thing deserves to be in every Fright Night article there is. Good stuff, Nick! I’m also kinda worried about this, only because it’s one of the 18 million unnecessary remakes being churned out by the Hollywood machine and represents everything wrong about the industry.
Still, here’s hoping this is decent.
What interests me the most is the Dr Who guy playing the Peter Vincent charactor I am actually looking forward to this one
I thought Yelchin might be a good fit for this part and it sounds like they are mixing it up enough that making Evil a completely different character from the first film might work (or would be a great idea, since Evil stole much of the film–a character you might be better off not to try and recreate). That said I don’t see a compelling reason for a remake. I do see why the horror show host idea would need to be changed, since this would be aimed at a younger generation that’s never seen a horror show host before. Hell, I think the species was pretty much extinct when the first film came out (which was the point). And on a side note, people complain that all Hollywood does now are remakes and sequels, but they’ve both been around since the early days of the industry. We just generally think of them as classics now and don’t always see them in that context.
I love Fright Night — it’s my all-time favorite vampire flick. The announcement of a remake made me wince and then the casting began. Like you said, Farrell as the vampire is the only interesting piece of casting to me, and that does not give me much hope for this movie. I kinda like using the Criss Angel-style magician in that it seems more relevant for today than those old school horror movie hosts (God, I miss those!) McLovin as this flick’s Evil Ed is just wrong.
I’ve got no problem with CMP as Evil Ed, but that image looks like he’s about to go CGI.
Anton Yelchin’s jittery charm fires missiles of anticipation into my mind.
I’m in the same boat, as Fright Night is a film I love dearly and don’t want to see remade, and I agree fully that Gillepsie’s an interesting choice for director and I’ll advocate Farrell in anything after In Bruges. But I love how every time Fright Night gets mentioned on this website, so does Stephen Geoffreys and his other career.
I’m really dreading the day a Night of the Creeps remake gets announced.
I love open conversation on shit like this….BUT, if it sucks….is anyone really gonna care let alone be surprised?
Now to completely negate what I just said: I am SERIOUSLY upset about the magician over horror host bull shit.
I’m thinking Mintz-Plasse may have the chops to pull off Evil Ed. We’ve seen him do ‘menacing’ in Kick-Ass & we’ve seen him do ‘snarky’ in everything else he’s appeared in. I’m thinking the challenge is gonna be how well he does (or doesn’t) do the ‘shattered, vulnerable, self-loathing’ piece that’s revealed when the character surrenders to the vampire. The Chris Angell switch sounds like a necessary device to avoid anachronism. Unfortunately, there are more of those magician d-bags in pop culture today than there are cable-access horror show hosts. Besides, the two are equally qualified as supernatural charlatans, no? PS – what up with the Billy Ragsdale hatin’? Dude commands a pretty convincing southern accent on Justified! Any casting rumors on who plays Charlie’s girlfriend? Cat Dennings anyone?
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