Fright Night 2011

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Farrell is all darting eyes, facial ticks and macho confidence. He never goes over the top, he's not a showy actor, but he's clearly relishing his role and eating it up with abandon. He makes this a Night to remember. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Gillespie's movie is light and enjoyably foul, and part of the pleasure of watching is the evident pleasure everyone involved had in making it. Read more

Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly: Colin Farrell's performance as Jerry is the pulsing, stakeable heart of the movie. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...it delivers its knowingly unrefined thrills in a smart, engaging and not unpleasantly ruthless way, and never lets its cheekiness get in the way of its creepiness. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The old "Fright Night" was both self-aware and effectively scary, and if this one seems to prefer gruesome digital effects to old-fashioned bump-in-the-night spookiness, it still succeeds in keeping the audience both tickled and anxious. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Director Craig Gillespie and writer Marti Noxon locate a fertile vein of goofy-scary fun. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: This "Fright Night" is strictly for horror-movie fans; it's never clever enough to move above its essential silliness. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: The film's greatest pleasures come from Noxon's script -- which puts the sexual chaos created by Farrell's attractive bloodsucker front and center -- and from the performances. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Farrell is so good at playing characters with a lack of morals or decency that Jerry is a perfect role for him. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: At least this new version stays true to its origins by having a bit of cheeky fun, and the way it contemporizes the story is really rather clever. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This remake is good fun, aided in no small degree by Colin Farrell's strutting, dead-eyed performance as the bloodsucker and Christopher Mintz-Plasse's early appearance as a geeky classmate of the hero's. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: A remarkably confident remake that boasts its own pleasures more often than not. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: This decent remake of the '80s vampire favorite should satiate horror fans. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: There's an irrelevance to the movie that the filmmakers, hard as they try, can't quite shake -- something awfully square about the picture: It would have played a lot better a decade ago. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Knowingly blends Eighties cheese with Nineties snark -- a combination that works better than it sounds. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Feeble comic one-liners and slow pacing combine for a routine fangfest in this remake of the 1985 film. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Closing in on a two-hour running time, Fright Night can feel eternal. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Aside from some cosmetic changes, little of what this Fright Night offers elevates it above the classification of "unnecessary." Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: As vampire movies go, "Fright Night" is a pretty good one. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Voila! Black magic. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Farrell looks like he's having the time of his 400-year-old life. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: "Fright Night" isn't quite a classic vampire movie, but it's refreshingly straightforward and self-deprecating. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Fright Night" is the best thing to happen to horror movies since red food coloring and Karo syrup. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It honors the original throughout, including a memorable nightclub scene and a surprise cameo that's a huge crowd-pleaser, while at the same time giving updates to make it fresher and better than ever. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The new Dreamworks/Disney teen horror comedy, Fright Night, falls into the better-than-expected category. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The new Fright Night is actually an improvement in many ways -- it's good enough, and entertaining enough, and scary enough. It's just that by Labor Day, you'll probably forget you even saw it. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: A boring revamp, with dull 3D effects, insipid teenage protagonists and only sporadically scary outbursts of neck-biting, crucifix-wielding and staking through the heart. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Gillespie just wants to alternately amuse and frighten you and, to a large extent, he succeeds. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Fright has matured nicely over the quarter-century. While remaining sharp-tongued, the film knows its place on the teen landscape. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: A cleverly balanced mix of scares and laughs that is funnier and more terrifying than the 1985 original on which it's based. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: It improves on the premise it has been handed, producing a modernized version of a decades-old story that's superior to its predecessor in virtually every aspect. Read more