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FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) - REVIEW

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Yes the Fright Night remake was surprisingly decent. But what of the original? Released a couple of years before The Lost Boys , it already took a more tongue-in-cheek, nostalgic approach to vampire films and put a geeky character in the middle of a full-blown nightmare. "Fright Night" refers to a TV show within the film in which an ageing actor playing a vampire hunter (a perfect Roddy McDowall) introduces classic horror films Vampira-style. McDowall's Peter Vincent is an obvious homage to iconic actor Peter Cushing, known for playing vampire hunter Van Helsing in countless Hammer films. His character is dragged kicking and screaming into a real life vampire problem and his disbelief at the events unfolding before him is tons of fun throughout. The film sees a vampire amusingly called Jerry (Chris Sarandon) move in next door to some high school kid (William Ragsdale) who soon becomes aware of what his neighbour really is and, of course, becomes his primary targe

FRIGHT NIGHT - REVIEW

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Good vampire movies are hard to come by these days so when a vamp flick remake comes along, it's near impossible to get interested. Chances are, no pun intended, it'll suck. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found myself sitting there loving every bit of this ridiculously fun Fright Night remake. It wasn't meant to work, goshdarnit! And yet... it really does. Even the 3D adds a certain welcome trashiness to the whole thing making it a good old-fashioned slasher (with pointy fangs) the likes of which John Carpenter and Wes Craven probably wish they could still do. What tends to often kill that type of movie is its whiny teen cast but here we're given a likeable bunch you actually don't necessarily want to see get munched on and/or torn to shreds. Anton Yelchin makes a decent weasely hero while Christopher Mintz-Plasse does his McLovin schtick with added (and welcome) paranoia. Fine support is also given by Imogen Poots and James Franco's bro Dave, who m