Click here for the review of Fright Night

SPOILERS must be tagged with the "SPOILER" tag!

So basically, this is another pointless remake of an obscure horror film that few people would remember at this point, with added sin of the 3D cash grab. Yawn.

Another week, another gratuitous Hollywood remake. Why bother to remake a movie if you're not going to be totally faithful to it? It seems Hollywood just picks an old screenplay, makes changes and then puts it out. It seems like the brand name is the selling point than the movie itself. Also, for some remakes you just can't recreate the experience of the original film. Some movies are just a product of their time. No fancy CGI or camera tricks can make it feel new.

So is a review of the original in the cards anytime soon, especially since you clearly seem to appreciate it?

As far as remakes go, it definitely looks better then garbage like The Stepfather. Though it's still not something i'd go out of my way to see in theaters, looks like a decent rental though.

got a good review in variety, saying it was funnier & scarier than the original

I'm a fan of the original, definitely a product of its time but its fun and has some great make-up work. Was just going to wait for the Blu release but i’ll see it when released here next month provided it isn’t a 3D only showing because a few of critics/twitter folk I trust (more-so than James in the past 6months or so) said it was a pretty good time.

This I have no intention of going naywhere near. The original isn't on my list of all-time favorite horror films with Halloween, Dawn Of The Dead and The Evil Dead. But it was good as it was. Roddy McDowall was great as Peter Vincent (the name an obvious reference to Cushing and Price). So this is bad enough. But Hollywood is also working on a remake of The Evil Dead. They're not going to stop until every horror film ever made has been re-made.

I think we should take a moment to acknowledge that JB's post count reached 1985 just as he announces the Fright Night remake; the original came out in 1985.

Coincidence? I think not...

Well the thing is, people are actually looking forward to the Evil dead remake saince Raimi himself is officiall on board with it. BTW, here's a slightly more positive review of this film.

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=1449

And here's a review from a critic who didn't like it at all

I'll probably check out the original seeing as a remake is out. Any opinions on the original's sequel?

And surpringly enough, Ebert liked it as well.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110817/REVIEWS/110819985/1023

I actually have the sequel but never got around to watching it, but the general consensus is that it's too much of a carbon copy of the first film.

The original Fright Night has always had a special place in my heart, ever since I was 15 (I'm now 38) and the very existence of this remake angers me... all the moreso every time I see the trailers and TV spots.

I haven't seen the remake (and I'm not sure I will), but it's obvious from the trailers that this is nothing more than a cash-grab, made by profiteers (not filmmakers) who have no love or reverence for the original source material. One needn't see the film to know they've taken everything that made the original so great and threw it out with the bathwater, needlessly butchering yet another beloved classic.

Fright Night is obscure?

At least the poster looks cool! I might still check this out. The trailer looks like it might be, at least, entertaining. It's been a long time since I've watched Fright Night. Onward to Netflix...

I'd challenge anyone to do a survey of adults over the age of 35 years who aren't horror film fans to see how many of them know and/or remember this film, much less saw it. I did see it when I was a young'un, but it wasn't particularly good IMO. I can't imagine that the mainstream filmgoing audience would know of this film unless they are horror film affectionados.

At the very least a new audience will be had for the original. The current shipping status is "very long wait".

I worked in a video store in '03/04. Fright Night didn't fly off the shelf like Office Space or The Breakfast Club but it didn't collect dust either.

I'm 49, I don't consider myself a fan of horror films, and I certainly remember the movie. Don't know how representative of the over 35 crowd I am, but I'd certainly expect more people in that group to be aware of it than the under 35 demographic.

I've never even HEARD of the original but your review has convinced me to seek it out in place of the remake

I'm afraid I'd never agree with English language remakes of foreign movies. Perhaps taking a story and changing characters, title, etc so that it's actually not the same movie (this would encourage things to actually be done differently) but still meh about it. As for remaking an old movie, I feel the only real point is if the original has something badly wrong with it or if it's something rather obscure that people will otherwise never appreciate. Even bad adaptations of their source material could be excused (The Godfather, whilst a good movie, takes many liberties with it's source).

As it should, have you read The Godfather book? Babies being thrown in incinerators, Sonny's comically huge dick, Sonny's mistress having vaginal reconstruction surgery, Fredo actually being described as tough...decent book but all the good parts are in the movie and I do mean ALL the good parts.

Sure, I did read it. It was a fantastic book.