"Fright Night"

[famousmortimer]

I think you were excessively hard on it (although with you talking about homosexual subtext, possibly the wrong word to use). Yes, it uses a common plot (only one kid sees the true horror, and looks like an idiot while he tries to convince people he's right). But it's well handled, never too gimmicky, no reliance on tons of gore either.

I might suggest this stems from your obvious dislike for vampire films, more than the actual qualities of this one. It's the film of all three men's lives (with the possible exception of McDowall), it's funny, Sarandon makes a decent villain and just because some horror geek fails to have sex when he sees a coffin being dragged into the house next door doesn't mean it's a bad film. He makes up for it, if memory serves.

So I'd like to see a review of it from someone who isn't prejudiced against vampire films before they start watching and see what they think.

[Head Mutant]

I am sorry I offended your Dark Masters so. I shall make it up to them with the blood of a thousand virgins, mixed with a pinch of cinnamon.

P.S. - It sucked on its own merits, vampires or no.

[famousmortimer]

Way to completely ignore even mild criticism! When the first sentence of a review mentions your dislike for a particular genre, what other inference can be drawn from a predictably negative review? Are you one of those people who , while sat next to someone eating something you dislike, say "I can't understand why anyone would like this, why are you eating something like that, I can't imagine you enjoying it in the slightest"?

I can see I'm banging my head against a brick wall with such insightful retorts and biting sarcasm as you gave. In reply to someone who takes the time to come here, read the reviews and think about what's written, it's absolutely pathetic.

[Head Mutant]

You know what? You're right. That was a bit of a snarky dismissal, which I could chalk up to a mixture of being sick and extremely stressed this week, but no excuses. I'm sorry.

I always believe in full disclosure in reviews when it comes to personal preference, so that the readers can get an idea of the slant of whether or not the review will pertain to them. I felt I was up front about my growing dislike of the vampire genre, but what may or may not have been clear was that I'd given a lot of vamp movies a shot before coming to this conclusion. I liked The Lost Boys, but I've been daring vampire movies elsewhere to impress me, I've given them the chance to do so, and they fail (in fairness, so do many other horror staples -- there are always more stinky zombie movies than great ones, and so on.). If I truly was baised against vampire movies, I'd simply stop watching them. There's plenty of other movies to tackle.

As for Fright Night, I really had hoped it would be a better horror/comedy blend a la Lost Boys, but I stand by what I said. It felt lackluster in its execution and failed at either being scary or funny.

Of course, you're within your rights to ask for a second opinion or offer your own, as that's what we try to base MRFH around.

[Spiderdancer]

Another eighties vampire flick? Hmmm. Maybe I should watch this one. I wasn't that impressed by Lost Boys (after watching it recently on the strength of Justin's review). I like my vampires a weensy bit more gothy.

[Ellielator]

I watched pieces of this movie (I'm a DVD weirdo who sometimes re-watches movies in pieces, completely out of sequence) the other day, and I just can't agree with Justin's prognosis for this film at all. I think it has some amazing layers to it. Part of it feels like a nostalgic, throwback, devotee sort of thing. Like how a ton of '80s movies were doing the same thing with sci-fi - you know what I mean. For instance, look at how old fashioned the relationship between Charley and Amy is. It's not supposed to be realistic for the '80s. But then, it becomes an interesting character-driven thing and shades of eroticism and some truly bizarre competition-conflict type stuff really propels the film along. Not to mention the special effects were amazing. But, I can see where this film may have had a few flaws. Who can be afraid of Jerry Dandrich when he starts acting like a big Ham? ("Welcome... to... FudRRRRRR...IGHT... NIGHT-UH! ... For realllllllll...") And all that stuff about Peter Vincent being a scaredy cat was not very interesting.

[StarOpal]

Well you see, Ellielator, Justin's first puppy was killed in a freak Fright Night accident. That and he also has a rather unfortunate case of fang envy of vampires in general.

*shakes head* It's tragic, really.

[Head Mutant]

Two! Two hecklers! A-ha-ha-ha!

[Ellielator]

So you're Justin, the author of that (and many other) Mutant Reviews?

And are you saying you really like The Lost Boys, you prefer it?

[pfrsue]

ellielator said:

So you're Justin, the author of that (and many other) Mutant Reviews?

That's him all right. You should ask for his autograph. He has lovely penmanship!

[Ellielator]

I'd... go out of my way to read more of his reviews, but I'm one of those weirdoes who would sort of prefer their reviewers to look at movies from a place of love. This guy's too cyncial most of the time.

[Head Mutant]

So I have to like every single movie I review in order for you to read them?

Man, you're in for a world of disappointment — I don't know anyone like this. Including you, since you didn't look at Haute Tension from a place of love.

[pfrsue]

Ellielator, have you stumbled across the FAQ page yet? It might explain to you a little better about what sort of place MRFH is.

mutantreviewers.com/rwhatis.html

[Ellielator]

admin said:

So I have to like every single movie I review in order for you to read them?

Man, you're in for a world of disappointment — I don't know anyone like this. Including you, since you didn't look at Haute Tension from a place of love.

Boy, did you misread me. Did I say you have to love every movie? I'm saying, it doesn't look like there's any love for anything inside you. You seem like a near-completely hollow person. And as far as Haute Tension, that film is an attack on cinema itself. It reeks. Purely and entirely. Why take out your hostility on a completely harmless film like "Fright Night," which yeah you could dismiss on the concept of cheesiness because it is one of those throwback type things? And you never told us whether you were defending The Lost Boys or not. Talk about a movie with homosexual subtext! Haute Tension is the kind of movie so bad, it makes me wonder about people who watch movies these days. How low do standards have to be?

[Spiderdancer]

ellielator said:

admin said:

Boy, did you misread me. Did I say you have to love every movie? I'm saying, it doesn't look like there's any love for anything inside you. You seem like a near-completely hollow person.

Whoa, there. Isn't that a pretty sharp judgment to make on somebody you've never even talked to on the phone? Enjoying the mocking of movies which are, for the most part, not of the world's highest quality does not equal lacking any love for anything.

I spend lots of joyous hours absolutely shredding some movies that are, in fact, my favorites (such as Doom and Versus). So do lots of other people here. That's the kind of site we are. Feel free to disagree on the goodness or badness of a particular film - people do it all the time; Lissa and I don't exactly see eye to eye on Serenity, for instance - but don't go putting down our Fearless Leader for doing exactly what makes his work good in the first place.

We do write some positive reviews, and so occasionally does Justin (check out his review of PCU), but face facts: positive reviews are not as funny. It's more fun for us and others to review films that we love to hate. That's part of the essence of cult.