Daily Archives: 25 September, 2011
Fright Night is Irritatingly Funny
Fright Night 2011 Poster
No, I haven’t watched the 1985 original so there are no relevant comparisons possible. What it also means is, I had a pretty blank board for expectations as I entered the theatre on a boring Sunday afternoon. Well what I returned with was a very contrived perspective of a screenplay that had potentially, plenty of things going for it. But unfortunately fell flat while it was being executed. Not for the first time and certainly would not be the last.
The thing that ruined the movie for me was the vision the makers may have had when they went into production. Was it supposed to be a strictly jump scares only – popcorn time pass, homage to a classic or an absolute rib tickler on the lines of “Zombieland”? Its understood that sometimes trade marking a sub genre could be an accomplishment, alas in the case of “Fright Night” it was anything but that. What looked like a tensed start with serious undertones, turned very mediocre as the story progressed finally culminating into an almost laugh riot climax. The sad bit is that, there are a plenty of flicks out there which are so bad, that they are funny, although unintended. FN doesnt belong to that category either, sometimes making it a drab and a pain to watch. Some have compared it with “Disturbia” to which I vehemently disagree as well. Besides the basic theme of voyeurism, single mom and an anti social neighbour both the movies are very different. One of them being “Disturbia” a better product than “Fright Night”.
The 2 bright spots of an otherwise forgettable evening were Chritopher Mintz-Plasse and David Tennant. Both the roles unfortunately were ridiculously written, almost forced. A little bit of thought going into these sub plots would have made FN a very different, a much better movie.
Without giving too much away all I’d say is, watch “Fright Night” if there is absolutely nothing You have to do. But let me remind You, its not a sin to make movies like this. I mean how else would one enjoy / notice the little few gems that are thrown in very far in between.
Rating 2 / 5
Here’s a trailer if You haven’t seen it already !!!
P.S. My favourite vampire movie : Thrist by Chan Park Wok.
