The original Fright Night is a beloved classic horror film and one that took me entirely too long to finally get around to watching because it’s so iconic I had just assumed that I had already seen it. Looking at the cast list for the remake, it seems like the plan was to try to brute force the movie by filling it with more star power to overcome any objections fans might have. How can you be angry at us for remaking the movie when we made David Tennant be the new Peter Vincent? You like Doctor Who right? Look, Collin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette, Dave Franco, Imogen Poots! These are all names you have heard!

In a little sub-burb of Las Vegas, Charley Brewster is finally starting to get everything he has wanted. He is accepted by the cool kids, he has a motorcycle that almost works, and he is dating the beautiful Amy Peterson. When his geeky former friend Ed tries to convince him his new neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire and all the people in the neighborhood that are gone didn’t move but were eaten; Charley blows him off to cling to the good life he has. When Ed goes missing, though, Charley looks into the evidence he had and becomes convinced that he was right. The only expert he can think to turn to against the undead is Peter Vincent, a Criss Angel style Vegas magician that is the foremost expert on all things supernatural. Will Charley be able to convince him he isn’t crazy and find help before Jerry decides to turn him and everyone he loves into his latest victims?

While I can sort of understand why they made the changes that they made to the story in this version, most of them are not for the better. It feels like they wanted to make all the characters “cooler” in this version. We move away from Iowa and go right to the Vegas strip for the glitz and glamor. Instead of an absolute failure of an actor and a fraud, Peter Vincent is a millionaire magician and an actual expert on vampire lore (though still a coward). Jerry is a sexy, gigolo type instead of a dapper gentleman and Billy the handyman is entirely gone so nobody might think he’s gay (god forbid). Amy gets sexed up and can fight now. Even Ed is more aggressive and assertive. Unfortunately, all this accomplishes is making the movie lose the heart and warmth that really caused the original to be such a classic.

While you might think turning Peter Vincent into a Criss Angel type would be the worst thing, Tennant makes it work with his usual charm and comedy. The actual biggest sin the movie commits is the complete assassination of beloved character “Evil” Ed. For one, the character is barely in it now though that might be for the best given that they removed everything that made him so great. The emotional depth and sadness that the character had in his turning and death are completely gone and in its place is nothing. The character isn’t fun and weirdly compelling anymore, he’s just kind of mean and annoying. While I like that the movie manages to include the mom in on the secret and makes Charley not be unbearably idiotic, the rest of it feels like it’s trying too hard to be badass and misses the point.

If you watched this and had never seen the original, you might enjoy it well enough as a throw away vampire flick with nothing much special to it.

Score: 3 out of 5