Fright Night (2011)

If you have seen the original Fright Night, which was very well received back in 1985, you might look upon this modern remake differently, I hadn't seen it prior to watching this new version so I didn't go in to it with any preconceptions.

Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the Star Trek reboot & soon to be seen in Odd Thomas) plays Charley Brewster, a teenager who is a bit of a nerd and has recently been accepted into a group of "cool" kids. Ed played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse used to be good friends with Charley, but they have drifted apart as Charley has been distancing himself from his former geekery.

Weird stuff begins to happen in their neighbourhood, the boys' schoolmates start disappearing, and someone has moved into the previously vacant house next door to Charley and his mother, there are plenty of signs of someone taking residence, but no one in the street has met the mysterious neighbour.

Ed is convinced that a vampire is hunting down the kids in the neighbourhood and killing them off, which Charley initially laughs off, but he starts to take this theory more seriously when Ed goes missing.

David Tennant as Peter Vincent

Fearing the worst, Charley and his girlfriend attempt to enlist the help of Peter Vincent played by David Tennant, who has a magic show in nearby Las Vegas in which he theatrically dispatches sexy lady vampires. And as it turns out, Charley's problems are closer to home than he first realised....

After the trend for gross out "torture porn" horror movies such as the Saw series, I'm glad to see a return to what I would call "shock horror" (see also The Woman In Black) with plenty of moments that make you jump out of your seat, that's not to say there isn't a fair amount of blood flying around, but not so much that it makes you feel physically ill.

Anton Yelchin is very good, even though he acts like a bit of a dick to Ed (who in fairness is sometimes a bit obnoxious himself), you end up rooting for him. I didn't have a strong opinion either way about Colin Farrell before watching the film, but he was very charming, and suitably creepy as Jerry Dandridge, the neighbour from hell.

For me, the stand out performance was that of David Tennant as potty mouthed Peter Vincent, for those of you acquainted with his portayal of Giacomo Cassanova, it's not a million miles away from that, and he certainly gets the best of the one liners.

There's a good deal of humour in the film, which in my opinion, makes it all the more enjoyable, a real modern day gothic treat.

Being Human Series One

What took me so long to discover this great series?

Maybe I didn't expect much seeing as it's broadcast in the UK on BBC Three, the home of mind numbingly dull lowest common denominator cack, with the exception of Torchwood & Mongrels.

For those, like me, who didn't catch the show when it first started, Being Human is about three housemates: George (played by Russell Tovey), Mitchell (played by Aidan Turner) and Annie (played by Leonora Crichlow).

These three aren't your average housemates though; George is a werewolf, Mitchell is a vampire and Annie is a ghost.

They are all trying to live out their day to day lives (especially hard for a ghost) as though they're regular humans. Mitchell decides to go on the wagon where blood is concerned, George struggles to control his transformations and Annie needs to come to terms with her death, so that she can finally rest in peace.

I think it's good that this series was set in Bristol as London and the likes of Manchester get used all the time, and I think it helps ground the show in reality, despite the unreal goings on.

Although this is a drama programme there are plenty of funny moments, which make this programme all the more enjoyable.

The cast are superb, helped by a script written by Toby Whithouse, the characters are flawed yet likeable and the storyline for this first series keeps you coming back to see what happens next, like the TV equivalent of a good book that you can't put down.

Bring on series two!