I was happy to see the new trailer for “Fright Night” in my inbox this morning. I had the pleasure of visiting the set a few months back (details still under embargo) and have been very curious about where the film was going to be going as far as tone. It’s a trade-off that studios make when they make a re-make. They get built in name recognition (among a certain age group) and probably in their minds a “tested” concept, in exchange for the inevitable comparisons to the original. The more beloved the original, the higher the risk of fans going b.s. crazy if they get it wrong.
Fitting smack-dab into the aforementioned age demographic for “Fright Night,” I saw it once or twice back in the day, but I remember it fondly. I have met people, however, who LOVE this movie and have seen hundreds of times. It’s combination of humor, teen angst, and some quality scares hits all the right buttons for many folks. I assume that they look upon this remake with the same (valid) trepidation that I had for the “Rollerball” remake… shudder.
This new version takes place in Las Vegas, stars Anton Yelchin in the Charley Brewster Role and a steamy tank-top clad Colin Farrel in the “Jerry the Vampire” role first played by a sweater clad Chris Sarandon. The tone of the trailer is much less ‘jokey’ than the original, but it is not entirely devoid of humor.
Check out the trailer embedded above and let us know what you think. Harmless? Blasphemy? Harmless blasphemy?
“Fright Night” hits theaters in 3D on August 19th 2011