Now Playing: Fright Night (2011)

In an unusual turn of events, I found myself going to the theater yet again this weekend, this time to see the new Fright Night. While it's being shown in 3D in many places, I saw it in 2D. Because of this I can't speak to the fact of how the 3D was implemented, but at least I can tell you about what I experienced. You see the film was planned to be a 3D movie from the start, and a lot of work went into setting up scenes to show it off. So were there any pointless scenes designed only for 3D that interfered with the 2D experience? That and more after the jump.


Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is just an average kid in an average high school with a well above average girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots). He lives alone with his mom and he minds his own business. He's just a good kid who doesn't cause trouble. It's no surprise then that trouble finds him and it's suddenly up to him to save the day. Kids and family members have been going missing around town, but no one seems to notice because so many people in the area work at night and sleep in the day, or only live there for a very short time. Charlie's old friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) pulls him aside one day and reveals that he believes the new neighbour Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire! But of course vampires can't be real, can they?

Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, & Anton Yelchin in Fright Night

I should clarify that I've never seen the original Fright Night, although I do remember seeing the VHS tape plenty of times at the rental store as a kid and being captivated by the face in the clouds. I really want to go back and watch it, especially since this remake turned out to be really fun!

When the movie started, I had a dreaded feeling that I had just paid for a ticket to just another teen monster movie. It's filled with annoying high school kid characters and the humour was silly and stupid instead of actually funny. I distinctly remembering thinking to myself "This is stupid, I really don't like this". However, at some point just before the halfway point of the film, the tone takes a sudden shift, and it becomes a much darker movie, and the comedy seems to take a noticeable turn for the better.

Colin Farrell makes a really good vampire

I noticed something kinda fun while trying to pinpoint where the film makes this transition from goofy teen movie to funny horror film. Basically, at the start Charlie thinks the idea of his neighbour being a vampire is completely absurd. Then as he starts to suspect and finds the proof, the movie's tone shifts. The tone of the film matches Charlie's mental impression of vampires to a tee. When he thinks they're stupid, the movie is stupid. When he realizes they're real and serious, the movie takes on a much more serious tone.

One thing I wasn't expecting at all though, was the "vampire expert" to be a Las Vegas magician named Peter Vincent. When I first saw him, there was something about him that seemed familiar. Then I suddenly realized and I turned to my friend and whispered "It's Doctor Who!" Sure enough, the eccentric Peter Vincent is played by David Tennet. He doesn't look anything like the Doctor when you first see him, but it soon becomes obvious and I firmly believe it's his presence for a large portion of the last half of the movie that made the comedy work so much better.

The nearly unrecognizable David Tennet as Peter Vincent

So now we come to the point where we talk 3D. While I didn't see it in 3D as I mentioned, I can still tell you I noticed quite a few scenes and moments that were clearly made for a 3D viewing. Things being thrown at the screen, objects exploding and such. Another thing that I think would have worked quite well in 3D were all the scenes that had dust and ashes floating in the air. Something that I'm not sure would have work well though was the fact that Fright Night was incredibly dark! It was already so dark that I had a hard time making out some scenes, I'm afraid to think what that might look like from behind some 3D shades. On the other hand, most movies boost the brightness of a 3D movie to compensate for the glasses. It makes me wonder if I had seen it in the 3D, would I now be complaining that it was too dark, when in actuality it could be the same darkness as a 2D show, but now I'd be blaming some glasses. I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thought of the 3D if you saw it that way.

So to put the lid on this coffin, so to say, I would definitely recommend seeing this. Sure it started off slow and like a dumb teen movie, I'm of the opinion now that it's like that to help contrast how bad it gets later in the movie. By the halfway point I was already quite enjoying all it had to offer, and by the end I was really into it. Give it a shot, and let me know how you saw this, in 3D or not.