Fridae

With this movie and Horrible Bosses, Colin Farrell proves himself pretty much the consummate comedian when he plays out of the loop. Remaking a fun little horror comedy of the same name and plot from the 1980s, Farrell finds himself as the villainous Jerry, a not-so-friendly neighbourhood vampire haunting a Las Vegas suburb dressed in a wifebeater and preying on the local nightlife. He probably would make the Cullens from Twilight screw their faces up over his poor taste in interior decoration and crude feeding methods, even if they might express a certain admiration over his location of choice. After all, everyone works nights and sleeps days in Vegas, and nightlife is just about the only life there is.

The movie wastes no time in establishing what Jerry is and cuts to the jugular, so to speak. The hero of the movie is after all, not Jerry but Charlie (Anton Yelchin), a local teenager and son of a single mother who’s abandoned his geeky past to join the cool crowd. Charlie’s geek ex-friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has seen through Jerry’s disguise, but finds that no one would believe him. Out of their past friendship, Charlie gets in on Ed’s escapade, only to find the fate of his entire suburb rests in his hands before Jerry  either devours everyone, or converts them to join his army of undead. Seeking out the hilariously over the top Vegas magician Peter Vincent (played by David Tennant, and named after Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, venerable horror stars both), Charlie finds his other few allies in Mom (Toni Collette) and girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots, unrecognisable from her previous turn as a vapid, vain socialite in Jane Eyre).

The 80s Fright Night when seen today is almost a precursor to the Scream films, with its horror host hero (Peter Vincent as played by Roddy McDowall) and its slew of genre tropes, it was one of the first films to stand teen horror on its head and pay a loving tribute to the campy, atmospheric horror films of Hammer Studios. Thirty years later, and with enough horror spoofs and parodies that modern audiences have beheld, this Fright Night gets back to the basics with good old-fashioned storytelling. The greater conflict that Charlie faces with vampire Jerry is at the same time, a battle against the shadow of an absent father figure (who one can imagine, might have been a wifebeater-dressed wastrel not unlike Jerry) that has haunted him all his life, as well as a battle with the acceptance of his nerd identity in the cut-throat world of high school cliques. The movie’s stroke of genius is in turning his character arc from one of teen jerk to quivering nerd rather than the other way round, when finally humbled by fear.

Farrell makes his Jerry is a show-stealing presence: his persona is a caricature of a blue-collar jerk, complete with a construction worker disguise, but Farrell plays it with a distinct awkwardness and discomfort, almost as though he’s trying to blend in with his prey but failing, and knows it.  He drives this winning horror comedy: the beating, stake-proof heart of its ghoulish fun.