A Review of "Fright Night", Starring Doctor Who's David Tennant, by McFanGirl (SPOILER-FREE)

Fright Night, which stars Doctor Who's very own David Tennant, is on every Whovian's "Watch It on DVD or Netflix" list. But is it worth going out to see in theaters?

McFanGirl, or @timegeek on Twitter, unofficially represents every single David Tennant fangirl on the Internet. Probably. On August 10th she arrived at an advance screening of the film, and after several mishaps—which can be read here—the summer's latest horror movie began.

Here is the review, republished with McFanGirl's permission. It has been slightly edited, but obviously not in any way that impedes her voice and impressions. Enjoy.

Fright Night hits the ground running. There's no other way to put it. After the opening credits/logos/etc. you are thrust into the movie completely unprepared, and it opens quite shockingly. It becomes clear within the first minute or so that this movie is not for the blood-queasy, but then what did you expect from a vampire flick?

Right from the first scene you could tell the sound effects and music departments had put everything they had into the film. Both did an outstanding job from beginning to end, and when I say "end" I'm including the closing credits!

The script is so well-written that I never felt like there was a time during the movie that I didn't know the characters; getting to know them was very organic, and I really liked that.

(Note: Keep in mind that I have seen the original 1985 film several times, so it's possible this has a lot to do with it.)

I never felt like I was being told who these characters were, but that I was slowly finding out for myself who they were, including their strengths and weaknesses. Hats off to screenwriter Marti Noxon for being able to provide that for each major character without overdoing it and making it feel staged!

The casting was perfect! Every single actor was a spot-on choice for his/her character. It never felt like anyone was trying too hard or not hard enough. The characters that were meant to have conflict within themselves were portrayed very believably. I was very impressed with the actors individually and the ensemble as a whole.

And one of those actors was, of course, Mr. David Tennant who played the role of Peter Vincent. Very early on in the film we are introduced to Peter Vincent's name and image; it is brought up a number of times before we actually meet him in person, which adds to the mystery surrounding who he really is.

When we finally do meet Mr. Vincent, we learn he is the true humor of the film. Line after line (more like profanity after profanity!) he lights up the screen with nothing but a word or two and his acting craft. But it's not all fun and games for Peter Vincent. As the movie progresses, Vincent's thoughts and emotions evolve, and you do get to see some emotional depth from David Tennant.

The burning question in every fangirl's mind: Was David Tennant hot? Yes, he was hot. Although I will be perfectly honest — I enjoyed the movie so much as a whole that save for a couple of very lovely shots, I wasn't really focusing on the Tennant hotness factor. I'm sure the second or third time I see the movie I'll be changing my tune in much the same way I did after repeated viewings of "The Waters of Mars" and The End of Time.

Overall, a pretty solid remake of Fright Night. Hands down, the best remake I've ever seen. Noxon took an old story and changed it just enough to make it feel fresh again, while director Craig Gillespie immersed the audience in the film far more than the original ever did. A surprisingly good movie all-around; I'll definitely be seeing it again come opening day!

After the viewing, McFanGirl gave some of her thoughts to a representative from Dreamworks, which is the studio owning Fright Night.

What I Said:

Upon the movie ending, I lined up behind the focus group to offer my opinion. I started off by telling the rep. they had managed to basically keep Tom Holland's story intact (save for one major difference) but had completely updated it. They had somehow made it less cheesy but funnier! Oddly enough, he said he had never seen the original film! (Wasn't that a requirement for the job?)

I went on to name Anton Yelchin and David Tennant as stand-outs from the film pointing out that Tennant had been hilarious. I also added that the cast as a whole worked perfectly off each other and that nothing ever felt forced. I told him I was very pleased with the remake and he asked if I was walking away more or less thrilled by the final product than I had with the original film. I told the rep. the movie was far better than I had expected and that it was a definite improvement over the original.

What I Overheard:

I didn’t hear any screaming (it wasn’t that kind of horror movie) but I did hear plenty of laughs. It got kicked up a notch when David Tennant finally showed up and had everyone laughing at just about every funny line he delivered. It was clear that is was Tennant and Christopher Mintz-Plass's characters that provided the most humor in the film; those were the moments when the audience was most involved both laughing and whispering.

When the film was over, I overheard several people immediately behind me and several rows back making comments about how the movie was far better than they had expected and how it had been a fun movie to watch. One person even remarked that "it was very, very good!"

Sadly, not everyone thought it was great. The two guys in front of me in the line both told the rep. that “the Peter Vincent guy” (David Tennant) hadn’t added anything to the movie and that it might as well have been Russell Brand in the role when that’s who they were trying to hint at (Russell Brand? Really? Have they never heard of or seen Criss Angel?).

Both of them also thought Colin Farrell had done a great job, although the first guy thought the movie was okay but nothing special overall. The second guy, however, thought they had done a good job updating the film and said he had enjoyed it far more than the original, which was very outdated.

Even though there were mixed reactions, I’d say they were leaning heavily towards the well-received end. Now if only I had a TARDIS and a memory-wiping device, I could get the Dreamworks guy to forget what those two twerps said about Tennant. Grrrr!

Thanks again to McFanGirl for her thoughts about Fright Night! It looks like a definite must-see, even if fans decide to wait until it comes out on DVD.