All you ever wanted to know about the Fright Night Remake!

The original Fright Night (1985) was the horror film responsible for getting me to fall in love with horror movies. Well, it was Fright Night and the Nightmare on Elm Street Movies. But, before Fright Night, I used to be afraid of horror movies. I mean, I would be terrified of them to the point where I had nightmares! Or to the point that I couldn’t sleep right. So much so that when I saw the original Salem’s Lot on television (I must have been around 4 or five) for the longest time I had this incredible fear of seeing a vampire kid hovering outside my bed room window!

But it was with Fright Night (which I saw around the tender age of 11) that I learned to have fun with horror movies! It was all about those awesome make up effects! Yeah it was scary, but it was also fun. I also enjoyed the main characters. The nerdy and naïve Charlie Brewster befriending Peter Vincent, an aging actor living on memories of his glory days when he would kill vampires and monsters in films. I liked the friendship they created, I liked that Charlie’s friends and girlfriend are worried about him, and I just liked the chemistry between all of them.

Chris Sarandon was the perfect Jerry Dandridge. Deceptively charming all through out the film, until he grows some fangs and nails, then he becomes Charlie’s vampire neighbor. Nobody believes Charlie, not his mother, not his best friend, and not his girl. Everyone thinks he has a couple of screws loose from watching so many horror films late at night instead of studying his Trig.

In my opinion, the film is very well constructed, it moves along at just the right pace, it is never boring. The filmmakers also made a lot with very little. I remember reading an article on Fangoria magazine saying that Tom Holland (the original films director) had made “chicken salad out of chicken shit” in reference to the films budget which was a mere 9 million dollars, not really a whole lot when it comes to Hollywood films. But damn, for nine million bucks, they got away with a film that is very atmospheric and at times very funny. They got away with a film that has likable characters and excellent make up effects. The make up effects crew in charge of the look of the vampires and the creature effects are make up effects guys and gals that are not really that well known, but damn did they do a great job. Especially when it comes to a flying bat, a werewolf transformation and the make up effects of the vampires! I’ve always loved the way Amy looks when she is turned into a vampire. It’s the kind of make up effects that makes you wonder how it was done. The film went on to become one of the most memorable vampire flicks from the 80's. It is always mentioned as one of the best from that decade, along with The Lost Boys and Near Dark.

So now here comes this remake, which I’m kind of happy about, but at the same time kind of worried about. As expected, they have changed things around a bit. For example, they amped up the films budget considerably! And the cast is actually looking pretty good. I’m going to go through all the info I have so far on this new movie, just so you guys can get an idea of what to expect from it.

The remakes director Craig Gillespie

First things first: the remakes director is one Craig Gillespie. Not exactly a house hold name, but he has been responsible for two films that I have seen: Mr. Woodcock (2007) which felt like an attempt of Gillespie’s to do a money making commercial film. Mr. Woodcock barely made its budget back. Gillespie is also responsible for Lars and the Real Girl (2007) a film that was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay, but failed to win that year. Still, the film was nominated for and won many other awards. What worries me about Gillespie is that he isn’t exactly well known for making horror films. In fact this will be his first. Also, he is not a director who is known for working on fx heavy films either, and if this remake sticks to the original, then it should be an effects heavy film. So these facts have me on the fence as far as the director of this remake goes. But I’m giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, Gillespie will probably have the best special effects houses at his disposal. After all, the film is being produced by Dreamworks, they aren’t exactly known for meager budgets. Speaking of budgets, Gillespie will have 17 million at his disposal to make this film. That’s a whole 8 million dollars more than the original. Let’s hope that will be enough for a good remake.

The writer of this remake will be Marti Noxon. I know, I know, you probably never heard of her either. But that’s probably because this is her first stab at writing a screenplay for a feature film. She’s worked a lot on tv though. She’s written for Mad Men, Gray’s Anatomy, Still Life and many more. But what probably got her this gig was the fact that she’d written many episodes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I enjoyed a couple of episodes of Angel (actually I got hooked on it!) so I’m hoping she will do a good job with this remake.

So, what’s the cast looking like? What I’m going to do is I’ll post a pick of the actor who portrayed the character on the first film, and then I’ll show a pic of the actor playing the same character on the remake, so you’ll get an idea of what to expect, cast wise.

William Ragsdale in Fright Night (1985)

Charlie Brewster: On the original Charlie Brewster was played by William Ragsdale. His character is a nerdy teenager who has just discovered that his next door neighbor is a vampire. He tries to convince everyone of what’s happening, but nobody believes him. That probably has a lot to do with the vampire charming the pants out of everyone, even his mother! But the vampire isn’t that charming at all. He has turned Charlie’s best friend into a vampire and has fallen in love and kidnapped Charlie’s girlfriend as well. What is Charlie to do? Will he ever get his best friend or his girlfriend back? And who’s going to help him?

The new Charlie Brewster 

Who plays Charlie in the remake? Anton Yelchin, whom some of you might remember from starring in Terminator Salvation (2009) Most recently he played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot. I think he is perfect for the role; Yelchin seems fragile, nerdy and vulnerable, perfect traits for a Charlie Brewster.

Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent on the original Fright Night

Peter Vincent: On the original Fright Night Peter Vincent (the great vampire killer!) was played by Roddy McDowall. Peter Vincent is an aging actor on his last legs, he lives mostly remembering his glory days when he starred in old horror films. He survives by hosting a horror movie t.v. show. The show is called Fright Night. Unfortunately, the show has just been cancelled! So when Charlie and his friends offer Peter a couple of bucks in order to kill their vampire neighbor, he accepts. He thinks its all part of a prank, but he soon discovers that it’s all too true. Their neighbor really is a vampire! Peter Vincent is used to killing vampires in his films, but he must know face vampires for real! Will he have the courage to do it?

The new Peter Vincent

Who plays Peter in the remake? David Tenant, some of you might recognize him from the new Dr. Who television series. This is one of the characters that has suffered the most changes. Instead of being an aging television host, on this remake Peter Vincent is actually an illusionist! Vegas style! Something along the lines of David Copperfield or David Blane. Actually, he’s more of a Chris Angel because his magic show is called “Fright Night” and his illusions are based on old horror movies. So that’s a cool element to it. Also, as you can see, Peter Vincent is no longer an old man living on memories of his former glory.

Chris Sarandon in one of his most memorable roles as Jerry Dandridge

Jerry Dandridge: This is the main villain of the film. Sarandon played Dandridge as a man who is irresistible to women. One look from his hypnotic eyes and that’s all it takes, they are immediately in his power. He has just moved into the neighborhood and his main purpose is to suck the town dry! (Not that it would be much of a loss..) Problem comes when Charlie Brewster (his next door neighbor) discovers that he is a vampire. He doesn’t see it as much of a threat, cause who’s going to believe a nerdy teenager? Especially when his story involves vampires? Nobody that’s who! Dandridge than falls in love with Charlie’s girlfriend and kidnaps her. Will he manage to turn her into his lover? And into a vampire as well?

Jerry Dandridge (2011)

Who’s playing Jerry Dandridge on the Remake? Collin Farrell. I think Farrell has what it takes to make a great Jerry Dandridge. I am actually most curious to see how this character turns out in this remake. It’s the one character who can make or break the film, lets hope he nails it.

Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson in Fright Night (1985)

Amy Peterson: This character was played by Amanda Bearse on the original film. She is the girl starving for more attention from his boyfriend, who seems to only think about horror movies and vampires. She thinks Charlie is going a little coo-coo in the head from watching so many horror movies. She is actually the one who pays Peter Vincent to convince Charlie that there are no such things as vampires. Too bad she is dead wrong! Dandridge falls head over heals for her, because she actually reminds him of a love of his from eons ago. Will Dandridge manage to turn Amy into a vampire? Will Charlie rescuer her in time? Survey says: No chance in hell!

The new Amy? Sure! Why the hell not!

Who Plays Amy in the remake? Imogen Poots. I haven’t heard much of Imogen Poots, but that’s just because she’s an up and coming actress. She’s got the looks though, and she’s definitely a one up on Amanda Bearse. Poot’s has some experience in horror films, she was seen a couple of years ago in the excellent zombie film 28 Weeks Later (2007).

‘Evil’ Ed Thompson: Evil was played on the original by Stephen Geoffrey's. Geoffrey's portrayal of Evil Ed is actually one of the more memorable things about the original. He played the character in a very wacky, evil and crazy fashion. At first he is Charlie Brewster’s best friend. He is also a very knowledgeable dude when it comes to horror movies and vampires. He is kind of nerdy, and gets picked on in school a lot. He thinks Charlie has gone crazy with all these vampire stories, so he takes it all as a joke. “There are no such things as vampires you fruit cake!” he says at one point. He genuinely believes that, until he comes face to face with Jerry Dandridge himself! Will ‘Evil’ crossover to the dark side of the force? Survey says: Yes siree!

  Evil Ed will get some McLovin

Who Plays ‘Evil’ on the remake? Christopher Mintz Plasse. Yeah, McLovin is playing Evil. I mean, he isn’t my favorite choice, but he is appropriately geeky looking which goes with the character. That’s about all I can say about Mintz playing evil, I just hope he can do the character justice. I don’t see Mintz being that menacing as a vampire, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Charlies spaced out mom, not entirely in tune with whats going on in the universe

Judy Brewster (Charlies Mom): On the original, this character was played by an actress known as Dorothy Fielding. This character isn’t all that important on the original, she appears only a few times, but her portrayal is that of a ditzy mom who is never really aware of anything that’s going on. She is living in the clouds, and when Charlie tells her that her next door neighbor is a vampire all she does is offer Charlie some hot cocoa. Jerry Dandridge woos her, so he can get closer to Charlie, cause he knows that Charlie knows.

Charlies new mom

Who plays Judy Brewster on the remake? Toni Collete. Some of you might remember Toni Collete as the mom in Little Miss Sunshine. I wonder if they’ll beef up this character for the remake or leave her as a secondary one? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Finally, we have a new character in the film! This new character does not appear in the original at all, it was completely made up for the remake. The character’s name is ‘Virgin’ and she will be played by Sandra Vergara. She is going to be playing Peter Vincent’s assistant magician in his magic show. All I can says is YOWZA!

Peter Vincent sure is moving on up with an assitant like this!

So that’s it my friends, that’s all the info I have on this new remake. How do you feel about it? Is it sounding like something you’d want to see? For your info, this movie is going to be premiering on Oct 17 2011, perfect movie for seeing on Halloween! Actually, I always play the original on Halloween, people seem to always stay stuck to the screen whenever a vampire shows up. Lets hope this new remake lives up to the awesomeness of the original. I leave you with the first pic of Dave Tennant as Peter Vincent. What do you guys think? Comment below and let me know!

Kick Ass (2010)

Title: Kick Ass (2010)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writer: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Cast: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz Plasse

Review:

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about me: I used to be hardcore comic book collector. I bought and collected comics on a weekly basis! The latest issue, the latest special edition cover, the first appearance of this and that character. But I stopped at one point. I guess, I kind of lost interest because honestly, there are a lot of shitty comics being made out there, its just like the movie world in many ways. I outgrew some of the stories that were being printed in some of favorite comic books. And if the art work wasn’t exceptional, I just didn’t give a crap. Art was #1 for me when it came to reading comics. I like the good stuff. So now I just by the collected editions and graphic novels, and I only buy graphic novels from artists and writers that are worth a damn. As a result I have a massive collection of comics in boxes, gathering dust waiting for the day when they will all suddenly sky rocket in value. Things are starting to look up, that first appearance of War Machine (Iron Man #282 ) is probably going to be going up in price once Iron Man 2 is out. But my love for comics has never died out. I just don’t buy comics on a weekly basis like I used to. But I know the excitement and joy of buying the latest issue of a comic you’ve been reading for a while. And that thrill of having that special edition that everyone else wants. Kick-Ass is a film whose storyline develops within this universe of comic book collectors and geeks. The kind of guys who love to hang out for hours and hours in a comic shop just talking comics.

Reading comics in a comic shop, comic book geek heaven

Kick-Ass is a film based on a comic book written by Mark Millar and drawn by the great John Romita Jr.; a comic book artist that I have always admired. His artwork has always had a style that I really enjoy. Romita Jr. has been working for Marvel Comics for years now, doing memorable runs on various Marvel comics. Amongst them The Amazing Spider-Man. But with Kick-Ass, Millar and Romita Jr. decided to take a stab at creating their own super-hero. This comic was released Marvel Comics Icon Imprint, a division of Marvel that produces creator owned titles. This means that Marvel prefers to produce comics which are still owned by their creators, as opposed to having these great artists and writers run off and self publish their own comics somewhere else. Kind of like what Todd McFarlane did with Spawn and Rob Liefeld did with Youngblood in the 90s. These two guys worked for Marvel Comics and then quit, and went out on their own to print their own damn comics and subsequently, make millions while at it.

Issue #2 of Kick Ass. Prices have sky rocketed on back issues of this series!

Millar and Romita Jr. did their own take on a teenage superhero, and I got to hand it to them, they came up with something that is equal times familiar and equal times refreshingly original. I’m speaking only from what I saw in the film, because I have not had the pleasure of reading these comics. You can rest assured I will be searching out for that Kick Ass graphic novel as soon as I can!

Story for Kick-Ass concerns teenager Dave Lizewski, a dude who is fed up with being mugged and harassed by petty criminals. One day he decides he is going to make himself a superhero costume and go out and fight crime himself! The logic behind his actions is, why, if we watch so many super hero movies and read so many comics, does nobody ever actually dress up like a super hero and confront evil? The answer to that question is quickly handed to him when he confronts a pair of criminals trying to steal a car. He gets his ass handed to him for trying to stop them. But he doesn’t give up! After a quick recuperation period, he goes right back to the streets to fight crime. When his heroic escapades reach You Tube, he becomes an overnight sensation! He opens a MySpace page and suddenly requests for help start pouring in! Can Dave take on the responsibilities of being a hero? Or will it all prove to be a little too much for him?

Essentially, in its first few frames, this film feels a lot like Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie. A nerdy teen (with glasses of course) decides he wants to be a superhero. He designs his own super suit on a little notebook, he goes to the roof tops to try and jump from one building to the other, he has a girl he likes but doesn’t dare tell her. He is poor. He lives with parents apparently oblivious to his super hero exploits. These similarities don’t surprise me since Romita has been working for marvel comics for years, and he himself has worked on a long run of Amazing Spider Man. But this movie takes one turn that makes everything else after that initial set-up completely original. It’s when our hero suddenly confronts brutal reality and gets his ass kicked by the criminals. His first adventure as a hero is a pretty brutal one! And that’s when the movie took me completely by surprise! I was like “no way did that just happen!” So the movie got me on its good side for surprising me like that.

What is most surprising about this movie is the blood and violence. The edginess it has, the profanity. The shits, fucks and cunts fly out of these kids’ mouths like there’s no tomorrow. Normally, this kind of super hero movie plays it really safe, I mean, just look at how squeaky clean the Spider Man movies are! There is not an ounce of blood in them. The violence is cartoonish, you never feel like the characters are in any real danger. But with Kick-Ass, characters bleed, they hurt, they end up in the hospital. They ache and pain.

Hit Girl, comic book version

One thing I always hated about comic book movies is the fear to show the “good guys” killing. This is normally a big no-no in comic book films because the target audience is almost always kids. That’s how Hollywood executives think. Comic book movie? Make it squeaky clean, and aim it at the kids. Look at Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. How ‘safe’ were those movies? Super safe that’s how safe! Villains end up killing themselves most of the time, hero’s don’t kill the villains themselves. I’m guessing the logic behind that is that they are the good guys. They shouldn’t be doing any killing whatsoever. But not on Kick-Ass! Take the character of Hit Girl for example, she is twelve years old, her father is a vigilante called Big Daddy, a Batman of sorts. They both go villain hunting, and when villains are confronted, they get maimed in really gruesome ways. Hit Girl is a character that has gotten a lot of heat because she goes around with her daddy killing bad guys.

I see why this can be seen as ‘controversial’. Of course having a 12 year old girl chopping of arms and legs with a sword is controversial, but this is just a movie, not to be taken seriously. I had a blast, seeing this deadly little girl kicking so much ass. It was a complete thrill, simply because that’s not the type of thing we are used to seeing a twelve year old girl do. So it’s shocking that way. Hit Girl goes around on a first person shooting spree that was so freaking awesome! And in night vision no less! Anyhow; I think this controversy can only do the movie good. People will probably go see the movie just to see what the big deal is all about. I have to give kudos to this movie for being so ballsy. That edge is what makes this film interesting. Call it controversial or whatever you want, Hit Girl kicks ass! She handles guns, knives and swords like a real expert!

I did find something strange about it. The movie is called Kick Ass, yet you don’t really feel like it’s his journey. You kind of get the feeling that this movie should have been called “The Adventures of Hit Girl and Big Daddy, and their side kick Kick-Ass” Yeah, we do see Dave’s trip towards becoming a true hero, we do see him go from Zero to Hero, but I have to say that Hit Girl stole the show. I’m not bringing down Aaron Johnsons performance as Kick-Ass. I think he played nerdy and vulnerable very well, but the truth is the truth, the focus of the film is on Hit Girl and Big Daddy, Kick-Ass is just coming along for the ride, learning the ropes of becoming a hero.

The Nic Cage factor is underplayed here, by that I mean he doesnt get that much screen time because the movie focuses mostly on all the other characters. Cage plays Hit-Girl’s dad, Big Daddy. A Batman like character who has a burning rage for criminals. The idea that he has raised Hit-Girl in the ways of death and destruction is kind of crazy. Yeah, he is a hero, but he has essentially sabotaged Hit-Girls chance at a normal life, at a childhood. This wasn’t a big problem for me because this is one big comic book fantasy, its not reality, plus I found it funny and shocking at the same time, so I went with it. Plus, the villains in this movie were real villains; they deserved to get their asses kicked by Big Daddy and Hit Girl. Cage plays Big Daddy like a time bomb that’s just about to explode at any given second. You know how Cage can get when he gets into whacko mode.

One thing that I thought was peculiar was the inclusion of music from two of Danny Boyle’s films: 28 Days Later and Sunshine. I love both of those soundtracks, but couldn’t understand why this film couldn’t get its own musical score. But the music did fit in perfectly with the scenes. Speaking of the films director, Mathew Vaughn made the film interesting with his stylistic direction. The film plays with that idea that since this is a comic book movie, the colors should be vibrant and jump of the screen. I think he achieved it. The film also has some awesome shots like the first person shooter sequence in night vision.

All in all, Kick Ass was rather refreshing actually. While it doesn’t bring us anything remarkably original or anything (its similarities with Spider Man are many) the violence and cussing and Hit Girl made the movie that much more entertaining. Its characters do stuff normal superheroes would never be caught dead doing, like killing. If you don’t mind cartoonish violence and profanity doesn’t phase you, then you should be okay.

Rating: 4 out of 5