Today’s ‘next available movie’ was Fright Night. I will admit that going in I was expecting an utterly mindless slasher flick. When it was over, I’d watched a nearly mindless slasher flick but it had its up sides. This trip was my first to the newly restyled theatre at Michigan road and 86th redubbed “The Movie Buff Theater.” I’m not sure I see any real elements of movie buffness in evidence but it was at least semi-clean and utterly quiet. When I questioned the cashier about the utter desolation she acted as if she had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently such things are typical. I should also say that I went into this movie with absolutely no foreknowledge. I’d heard of it from movie listings but hadn’t seen a preview or in fact heard any word that I remembered so I was utterly clueless at the onset.
The Previews
The Movie Buff theatre is certainly no frills in that before the movie starts there is… silence, utter and complete. Awaiting a movie which ones assumes to be suspenseful it does create a certain amount of tension. It’s unclear whether the movie will fade in gradually or crash into presence on the screen like a semi-truck full of cymbals getting into a wreck on the interstate. When finally the previews did begin, they certainly didn’t skimp. For the third time I saw a preview for the “50/50” movie. Long story short, guy is diagnosed with cancer lives out the last days of his life… maybe? I’d say it qualifies for the list of movies not to avoid like the plague but it would be one to take a date to. (A date who doesn’t mind occasional scribbling in a notebook.) Next up was “The Woman in Black” a very gothic-looking horror movie about a gent trapped in an isolated and apparently haunted house. I’d say that one deserves an intentional look though it’s not for the easily creeped out. The sci-fi movie “In Time” has a title that doesn’t really do it justice and I think it’ll eventually suffer for that defect. This futuristic yarn is at heart a crime drama but with the twist that in the future the only real currency of exchange is time itself. When your “bank clock” runs down…. Well, you drop dead. Interesting concept I’d say. Next up we have one of those previews that leaves one wondering what the movie’s actually about. “Killer Elite” has something to do with shooting people. More than that I couldn’t really tell you. Lastly and mercifully we had “Real Steel,” the movie about an old down-and-out robotic boxer who finds new inspiration at the hands of a child-hero. This movie is guaranteed to annoy me if it comes up in a “next available movie” review. Kid heroes piss me off.
The Movie
The first five minutes of this movie are so sudden and so gory that I honestly expected the director to pop up and yell, “Cut!” With no pre-amble or setup whatsoever a family of three is devoured by some monstrous beast. After the devouring, we pan out typical Hollywood style to show the whole neighborhood full of cookie-cutter houses… that are… well… JUST LIKE THE NEIGHBORHOOD YOU LIVE IN! OH SPOOKY! Well, not really, but it’s a pretty typical movie device.
So to set the scene we have Charley, a recently rehabilitated geek who has abandoned his old posse to hang out with the cool kids. That is, until Ed, one of his recently abandoned buddies, contacts him to say that one of their mutual friends has been killed by a vampire. As it turns out, this vampire just happens to be Charley’s hulky new neighbor who is putting the moves on Charley’s mom. After some amount of negotiation and blackmail, the duo find themselves vampire hunting.
Unfortunately, before they can really make much headway, Ed runs into “Jerry the Vampire” (as the movie points out repeatedly, what the hell kind of name is Jerry for a vampire?) and is taken in typical vampire style to the dark side. It’s not long, however, before Jerry learns that Charley too knows the truth and quickly Charley and his family become targets. A lot of gratuitous violence ensues which everyone survives just fine (conveniently).
After this wake-up call that he just might not be able to destroy the undead all on his own, Charley decides to enlist the help of Peter Vincent, famous Las Vegas act specializing in on-stage fake vampire killing. This relationship goes through the standard stages of any such movie relationship:
Stage 1: Oh, it’s all an act kid.
Stage 2: It’s all an act kid, but my family WAS killed by vampires.
Stage 3: It’s not just an act kid, but I’m too chickenshit to help.
And finally, Stage 4: Oh hell, let’s go kill some vampires!
So now having a reluctant ally to assist, Charley and Peter head off armed with Peter’s collection of vampire killing goodies (wooden stake guns, holy water and a wooden stake blessed by St. Michael that will revert all the vampires victims back to non-vampire form). In typical movie fashion, some drama happens, things look hopeless for a brief period and then all the vampires end up dead. Happy ending ensues. Nothing very surprising about any of that.
At its heart this is a typical suburban vampire tale to help inspire you to keep a little closer eye on what the neighbors are doing out in their back yards late at night. It has all the standard plot devices and processes from holy water to the standard vampire speech: “I’m doing you a favor making you undead. You can live forever!” So in that respect it was as cookie cutter as the houses depicted in the opening scene.
I will say though that it touched a bit on some interesting and newish points. Our vampire antagonist thought ahead and actually had small rooms built into his house to act as ‘meat lockers’ so he could keep his victims in captivity as he periodically fed on them. This is a practical matter not often touched on. Further, rather than being a single individual of an undead form, this vampire is one of a species. It is infrequent (ok, less than 50% of the time at least that the vampire is looked upon as a biological entity rather than a mere result of satanic influence. So while the standard vampire lore was still in place, the story did go in somewhat non-standard directions.
The best thing about the movie, however, was the casting. While the story itself was somewhat lame, Colin Farrell made a wonderfully menacing member of the undead empire and David Tennant of Dr. Who fame did a spot on portrayal of a Las Vegas showman who was at once less than he appeared and more than we expected. To me Tennant saved this movie from utter oblivion. So it earns five stars out of a possible ten. It loses stars for its lack of originality and needless use of violence but as usual the actors save the day.
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