As slasher films reclaim their stake in the horror genre, creature feature love has recently been ignored and lost some of its popularity. Remakes of Scream and The Purge have proven fans are obsessed with watching people kill people, but what about grotesque creatures that go bump in the night? The 2011 remake of Fright Night, featuring Colin Farrell as the main antagonist and terrifying creature, is now streaming on Hulu and deserves to officially stake its claim in the cult classic horror category.
Stranger Things has remained an avid participant in keeping creatures in horror, especially after recently revealing its scariest foe yet in Season 4's trailer. There have been a few other creature films as well, like the 2013 remake of Evil Dead, Overlord and The Tomorrow War, which showcased an army of creatures that the protagonists must defeat. As for Fright Night, the premise gives the viewers a taste of the more classic storytelling tropes, such as Nightmare on Elm Street or even Halloween, which involve the scary presence residing in the same neighborhood as the teen protagonist(s). This fact adds a nostalgic element to the film and should be recognized for the piece of art it truly is.
Colin Farrell has had a strong history of well-played villains, including his most recent role in The Batman as Penguin, and he knocks this role completely out of the park as well. Not only does Farrell give off a sinister vibe throughout Fright Night, but he's also able to take the villain from simply creepy to absolutely terrifying. He usually takes his villain roles seriously, and that remains true in this particular film. Jerry is not just a good-looking vampire, as the trend has recently become, but he also can shift into a Dracula-type creature of the night, scaring the pants right off of Charley, his friends and the audience.
There are also plenty of humorous parts in the movie, which makes Fright Night itself unique. David Tennant (known as the 10th Doctor in Doctor Who) played a character who was similar to the real-life David Blaine named Peter Vincent. Charley travels a long way to talk to Peter and recruit his help to take down Jerry the vampire, and Peter becomes the comedic relief of the movie. After witnessing some super scary moments, with Jerry fully transforming into something much worse than Charley could have ever imagined, he needs Peter's help and has no one else he can ask.
At first, Peter refuses to help, brushing the entire thing off as a joke. He displays himself as a tired rockstar, jaded by the world in a very humorous way. But once he's finally convinced, he becomes the hilariously skittish sidekick for Charley, who has no other choice but to take on Jerry, or the world will quickly be overtaken by vampires. Although Peter is reluctant to help, he's able to supply them with heavy weaponry as they descend into the basement, where Jerry keeps his victims, and they work together to free everyone Jerry turned.
The ending might be a bit more cheery than in other horror movies, but overcoming the villain is the main point of horror, and Charley doesn't need to go through more than he already has to give the audience a good story. With teamwork, terrifying creatures and high stakes, Fright Night ends up being a great movie night pick with friends. Colin Farrell works his on-screen magic to somehow both hypnotize and terrify viewers in one fell swoop.