Review of Fright Night (2011) by Shiira — 15 Sep 2011

The comeback for vampires as a bankable horror sub-genre of film was still in its incubation stage when "Fright Night" snuck into theaters during the slasher pic's heyday back in the mid-eighties.

With tactless anti-heroes such as Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger upping the gore factor with each subsequent sequel for their respective franchises, how could the relatively subtle bloodletting induced by the fang bite of a debonair gentleman compete with arterial spray? "The kids today, Peter Vincent, the host of a local TV "creature feature" show complained, "don't have the patience for vampires.

They want to see some mad slasher running around and chopping off heads." Charley, however, had a taste for the vintage stuff, albeit not a goth, he knew that Bela Lugosi was dead, which automatically made him an outsider like British Invasion rock aficionado Max Fleischer, whose eclectic interests helped fill the void of being without female companionship in "Rushmore".

Likewise, the losers in "Weird Science", old school horror buffs both, not coincidentally, are invisible at their high school, but at least they use their geeky fandom to good use by building themselves the perfect woman, based on their viewing of "Frankenstein".

With Lisa's help, they come of age, where the "monster" corrupts Gary and Wyatt, who gawk nervously at the buck naked sex goddess, unsure of how one goes about losing their virginity. Conversely, or so it seems, Charley appears all raring to bust his cherry, hers too.

Amy, his girlfriend, whom he has on the floor in the opening scene, the two going at it hot and heavy, in which Charley reappropriates the televised monster flick as background noise, the coverage they need to absorb the impassioned cries of their potential lovemaking.

As usually is the case, judging by Charley's incensed reaction, the girl puts a halt to their amorous doings from going any further, leaving him, once again, with, presumably, blue balls. But how blue are those balls, in actuality? This time, Amy agrees with Charlie's protestations, and makes herself available on his bed, just what he was, only moments ago, clamoring for.

The moment passes. Now his attention is drawn to the neighbors next-door, carrying a coffin, like life imitating art(or an outward projection of his cinephilia), yet what could be more important to a young man than life imitating a porno.

Some moments don't pass. "Premature Burial", like all films made during the Production Code era, was virtually free of sex and nudity. Why would a red-blooded male teen want to watch that? It should come as no surprise, then, that Charlie would rather stare out the window than ogle a half-naked nubile, since unlike other guys his age, the titillation factor in catching a glimpse of breast before the homicidal maniac stabs his sexually active sister to death(from "Halloween"), holds no interest for him.

On a subtextual level, the coffin is not what enraptures Charlie; it's the prospect that the two men are lovers. Drawn to them, on another night when Amy isn't around, he goes outside to investigate, spying on his neighbors from behind the bushes.

When Mrs. Brewster call out for her son, she blows his cover(as both a voyeur and heterosexual), whereupon detection, Jerry rolls a half-eaten red apple towards Charlie, as if enticing him to take a bite(read: to sin).

Exactly what does the slightly effeminate "Evil" mean, when he asks his friend, "Did she find out how you really are?" But nevertheless, Charlie has outgrown Ed, a latent fact which the new "Fright Night" brings to its inevitable fruition, accurately predicting that their friendship would have eventually dissolved had his the evil one not "died".

Reaffirming his own masculinity, Charley equates vampire fixation with liking Stephanie Meyer novels, provoking Ed to respond: "I'm seriously angry that you think I read 'Twilight'," while they investigate the disappearance of a mutual confidant.

But Charlie, in a shrewd move on the film's part, isn't a fan like his eighties counterpart, even though it's now socially acceptable to be into vampires...if you're a girl. "Fright Night" aims to remind people that these nocturnal creatures have more in common with the shark from "Jaws" than Edward Cullen.

Vampires don't glitter prettily in the sun, they burst into flames. This time around, Jerry eats green apples, and doesn't share his forbidden fruit with Charlie. This time around, Charlie discovers vampires, then he ignores Amy.

The gratuitous action that dominates the third act, smacks of overcompensation for a perceived feminine genre, mirroring Charlie's own exaggerated machismo by dating a sexpot. Could there be an even more incriminating photo on Ed's phone? More than a series of vampire murders, "Fright Night" is about a murdered friendship, two people who are in very different places in their lives, suggesting a prequel to "Chuck & Buck".