Rashid Irani's review: Fright Night

This could have been a toothsome twist on a cultish horror-comedy. Instead, the sluggish remake of the 1985 horror flick lacks bite. The screenplay has scant regard for such traditional elements of the genre as tension or suspense.

A distress call

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Fright Night

Direction: Craig Gillespie

Actors: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin

Rating: **

This could have been a toothsome twist on a cultish horror-comedy. Instead, the sluggish remake of the 1985 horror flick lacks bite.

The regurgitated plot merely serves as a pretext to smother the viewer with gruesome make-up effects and dollops of gratuitous gore.

Set in a quiet, suburban neighbourhood of Las Vegas, the story zeroes in on a meddlesome teenager (Yelchin). He can’t seem to convince his mother (Toni Collette, wasted in an underwritten role) or girlfriend (Imogen Poots) that their new neighbour (Farrell) is not a handsome lady-killer but a blood-sucking vampire.

The screenplay has scant regard for such traditional elements of the genre as tension or suspense. As for the action, it runs the gamut from routine to giddily over-the-top.

The cast cannot rise above the been-there-suffered-that material. In the role of the reluctant vampire-slayer, David Tenant is unintentionally funny.