“Poof! goes a vampire, and also David Tennant’s career”
Sometimes it seems the rarest thing in Hollywood is a new idea. No-one will have missed the upward trend in film sequels following sequels, rebooted TV classics, and perhaps worse: remakes of the classic films we enjoyed as kids. At last count, there are at least twelve remake/reboot projects on the cards in the next two years alone slated to hit your TV or cinema screen. Who can keep track?
Welcome to Remake Mondays, a new feature that (powers that 2ov willing) will take a weekly look at a remake/reboot currently being waved at audiences. I’ll feature the remake, and also what footage/content I can from the original, and then leave the helpless victim for you all to tear apart or cuddle up to in the comments. So, let’s get started:
Who here can remember the first film that scared them sh*tless? I can. It was 1990, and Mnet were screening the 1985 camp horror classic, Fright Night, early one Saturday morning, locked down securely under the then 2-21 rating. Undeterred, I stayed up ‘til 2am, snuck the TV on as quietly as possible, and watched the tawdry tale of troubled teen Charlie Brewster who had to deal with girl troubles, family strife and oh, the bloodthirsty vampire that moved in to the house next door.
Needless to say, a sleepless week followed for young Matt McDonald. Scared. Sh*tless. Here’s the trailer for the 1985 original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MAL5VJVezQ
Fast forward twenty six years, and Dreamworks has released a remake of Fright Night featuring a host of sort-of big names- you’ve got Star Trek alum Anton Yelchin as troubled teen Charlie Brewster; Aussie actress Toni Collette playing his mom, and Colin Farrell (possibly the biggest could’ve-been on display here) trying to revive his career as the neck-biter next door.
The key role in both films is not teen, mom, nor Count Colin, but Peter Vincent, the hack television vampire hunter whom Charlie recruits to try and help him de-vamp the house next door. The role was played to camp-factor ten by veteran actor Roddy McDowell in the original, and in the most promising point of the remake I can discern, is taken by ex-Doctor Who David Tennant for the 2011 version.
Here’s the trailer for the 2011 version:
My verdict: Fright Night [2011] dispenses with the camp appeal of the original, and tries to trade on the names on the cast list. Problem is, it joins the end of a long queue of TV and movie vampire flicks currently doing the rounds, and as such, may only stand out as the sly homage to the genre it is in twenty years time, just like its predecessor did.
