It took over twenty-years, but this generation of horror fans finally have a cult product that they can call their own. Even though it comes in the form of a respectful remake.

Fright Night, the 105 minute remake of the 1985 classic, is pitch-perfect in so many ways. And that’s coming from someone who has seen his childhood violated twice this summer (Transformers: Dark of the Moon & The Smurfs). Thankfully, things didn’t come in threes as they say, for this is one of those rare times where a film from yester-year can actually benefit from movie-magic upgrades as long as the filmmakers are honorable to the theme of the original.

Set in a developing Las Vegas suburb – which is to say, a handful of homes in the desert – Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is a high school senior who lives with his milf-of-a-mother Jane (Toni Collette). Just like the original, daddy is not in the picture. Charley was once a dweeb with no shame until he started dating Amy (Imogen Poots – rough name) leading him to become neglectful of his fellow geek brethren. Specifically, his long-time best friend Evil (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

Evil attempts to reach out to Charley when several of his classmates have gone missing. Charley is showing very little interest though, until Evil spastically tells him that a vampire is the source of the problem. A vampire, who just happens to be Charley’s next door neighbor, Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell). Charley eventually dismisses his former best friend’s theories and ends up meeting Jerry while the guy is flirting with his mom. He doesn’t make any assumptions, until he starts to pick-up on some quirks Jerry begins to show around him at night, based on what he knows from vampire lore.

Sensing that Charley may be on to him, Jerry decides to have a bit of fun with his prey and begins to torment Charley, and his friends, in order to keep his deadly secret. Without anyone to turn to, the only chance he has to is to seek out a famous magician in Peter Vincent (David Tennant looking like Criss Angel and Russell Brand had a baby), who apparently is the go-to guy on the legend of vampires.

If you’ve seen the original, the remake is mindful of the storytelling pattern and tone set forth. Now remember, this is a movie review and not a movie compare; so of course the special effects are wielded a bit more and the story does place the characters in a few different scenarios. These liberties taken are all vast improvements though (well, some of the CGI blood looks silly); especially the car chase sequence out on a desert highway that ushers in a killer cameo.

Now if this is one’s first introduction to Fright Night, this is a horror picture that is both campy & serious at the same time (not as dumb as Jennifer‘s Body though). For once, this tends to stay on the more serious side but it does institute a nodding homage to the original’s cheesiness. Naturally, there are the horror movie telegraphs and convenient storytelling moments (ex. Peter Vincent’s sudden change-of-heart) to make this sucker (no pun) hum along. That said, the only real complaint is how terrible the shots at night came across in 3D. The action of the camera is just fine, yet the gray coloring blends everything together. One would have to assume they were going for a realistic version of what night would look like in the desert. Nice thought…but it looked like crap in a few sequences. All things considered though, the 3D wasn’t too bad when blood splattered and vampires smoldered.

Standing ovation for Colin Farrell by the way! He is one of the coolest vampires to grace the screen in this atmosphere since Stephen Dorff in Blade. And speaking of vampire flicks, Fright Night 2011 should be this generations’ Lost Boys. It’s fun, tense and the cast plays it straight while the script timely injects comedic lines when appropriate, as it never digs into the established tone. In other words, the thrilling elements coexist nicely with the playful ones.

Overall, Fright Night is a killer vampire flick and an all-around loyal horror movie. Based on the theme of the original – along with the current filmmakers and performers knowing what kind of product they’re creating – it doesn’t try to outdo the source material, but it does sharpen the original’s fangs.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Read similar posts to Review: Fright Night on Filmonic

The first trailer for the remake of the 1985 cult classic Fright Night has appeared online, and it looks pretty good. This movie stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, Imogen Poots and Toni Collett, and is directed by Craig Gillespie who will soon be taking on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for Lionsgate.

Watch the trailer below:

Senior Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all—he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right—and everyone, including Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.

Fright Night hits August 13th, 2011.

Read similar posts to Fright Night trailer on Filmonic

Deadline are reporting that Sony is edging closer to finding its new Peter Parker, having viewed the screen tests of most of the young actors they are seriously considering.

Jamie Bell, Logan Lerman, Anton Yelchin, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Garfield and Alden Ehrenreich are all said to be in contention. Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) may have ruled himself out as he is expected to attend London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art later this year.

Out of the names above i’d go for either Jame Bell or Anton Yelchin, but that’s mainly because i’m familiar with them. For all we know relative unknowns Andrew Garfield and Alden Ehrenreich could have knocked their screen tests out of the park.

Sony wants to lock in its Spider-Man soon so that supporting roles can be cast around him. Production will begin before the end of the year with a July 3, 2012 release date set. The script by Jamie Vanderbilt is still being worked on, and (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb is gearing up for a 3D shoot.

Read similar posts to Sony to cast their Spider-Man soon on Filmonic

According to The L.A Times Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) and Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Terminator Salvation) are on Sony’s list to play Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot, bringing the total number of potential Parkers to 7.

Jamie Bell, Alden Ehrenreich, Frank Dillane, Andrew Garfield and Josh Hutcherson are all apparently in contention, and last week we heard that Jamie Bell may have landed the role, however it seems Sony still hasn’t chosen yet.

Aaron Johnson isn’t a very inspired choice seeing as though he’s just been seen playing a geeky teenager in Kick-Ass, although he would probably do well in the role. I quite like the idea of Anton Yelchin. He’s just turned 21 but he could still pass as a convincing high school Peter Parker. The only problem with Anton is that the Star Trek sequel is expected to start filming early next year which may conflict with the Spider-Man schedule.

On the one hand I want Sony to choose the best actor for the job, which will take time, however on the other all this speculation fun can only last for so long before it gets tiresome.

Who do you want to play Spider-Man? Would you actually prefer an unknown?

Read similar posts to Aaron Johnson and Anton Yelchin on Spider-Man shortlist on Filmonic

Warner Bros have released a 5 minute featurette which shows a scene involving Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) taking on The Harvester, or as director McG puts it “The Harvester attacking humanity”. After the clip we go behind the scenes and see how they filmed it. I usually don’t post clips because I think you should watch the film in it’s entirety, rather than watching 20 minutes worth of the film beforehand in clip format, however this is cool and it is sponsored by Pizza Hut. I like pizza.

Read similar posts to Anton Yelchin and Sam Worthington vs. The Harvester on Filmonic

MTV have got an exclusive banner from J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie. I have one comment on this. What on earth have they done to Simon Pegg?! Everybody else looks normal apart from him. Bad photoshop work Paramount!

The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte, and Jimmy Bennett.

Read similar posts to New Star Trek Banner on Filmonic

The wait is over and we now have a second trailer for Terminator Salvation. It didn’t get me as pumped as I hoped, but it is cool nonetheless. Lots of action, lots of explosion and most importantly, lots of Terminators! Watch it below!

Terminator Salvation stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard and Common.

Read similar posts to Terminator Salvation Trailer! on Filmonic

After a rather long silence the Star Trek marketing has stepped up a gear today, with the release of some new images. They all popped up on different sites and the first image gives us our first look at the crew.

From left to right: Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Lt. Montgomery Scott, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura.

From JoBlo we have our first look at Nero, played by Eric Bana.

Below is AICN’s photo of Zachary Quinto as Spock.

TrekMovie got a first look at the USS Kelvin, a Federation starship from the generation before the Enterprise.

MTV has our first look at the bridge of the starship.

IGN got an image of Chris Pine as James T. Kirk coming out of, what may be, the NCC-1701 escape pod.

I will update with more images as they come!

Read similar posts to New Star Trek Images! on Filmonic

Yet more Comic Con goodness has arrived online. This time we get to see director McG, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard and Common answer questions about the upcoming movie and their characters.

We also have a new poster with a rather mean looking Terminator who could probably do with a dentist.

Read similar posts to Terminator Salvation Comic Con Panel And Poster! on Filmonic

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins director McG has kicked-off a production blog on the official website with a reassuring message, along with some cool concept art showing post-judgment day Los Angeles. Click to get a closer look!

We’ve officially started principal photography on Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. Like you guys, I’ve been a long-time fan of the series and I understand your passion for the Terminator movies — and it’s my full intention to deliver a film that lives up to the previous three installments. I’ve spent time with James Cameron, spoken to Arnold Schwarzenegger, gone over the story with Jonah Nolan, and enlisted Stan Winston.

Everything we’re shooting is designed to be tactile and real, you’ll be seeing a whole set of inspired designs you’ve never seen before, and best of all you’ll finally get to see some of the post-judgment day future that was only hinted at in the previous movies.

John Connor will be pushed to the brink. And for me, Christian Bale embodies Connor’s strength and tenacity perfectly. And after visiting Sam Worthington on the set of Avatar, I know he’s perfect for his role.

As you know, Anton Yelchin is playing Kyle Reese, and his prep has been unbelievable. The guy’s been watching all three Terminators incessantly and he’s definitely going to capture the essence of the character Michael Biehn created in Cameron’s first film.

We started principal photography with a sequence at Griffith Observatory. I’ve already seen a cut of it — Anton and Sam are excellent. I’ll have more on that soon, and can’t wait to share some of what we’re doing with you all. Stay tuned for more.

McG

Read similar posts to Terminator Salvation Concept Art! on Filmonic