Fright Night

Vampires are back — with Colin Farrell, and without all the teenage brooding — in Fright Night, which nevertheless ranks as the latest in the latest off the assembly line of pointless summer remakes.

It might be more watchable than that interminable Twilight series. But in the case of Fright Night, the slick visuals and amped-up gore can’t match the low-budget chills or campy humor of the 1985 original, which didn’t exactly set the bar high.

The story is set in the Las Vegas suburbs, where Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is suspicious of his strange new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell), who flirts with Charley’s single mother (Toni Collette) during the day but disappears at night.

Charley at first doesn’t believe his nerdy friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) that Jerry is a vampire, but finds evidence that makes him paranoid, much to the chagrin of his amorous girlfriend (Imogen Poots). But after Charley discovers the truth, his life and those of his friends and family become Jerry’s targets in his insatiable thirst for blood.

Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) and screenwriter Marti Noxon (I Am Number Four), who is a protege of Joss Whedon, fail to improve on Tom Holland’s source material, which seemed to better balance the comedic elements of the script.

In this version, most everybody seems to be taking the material too seriously except for Farrell (who likely had a blast wearing fangs before cashing a hefty paycheck). He brings a smart combination of genuine menace and sexual tension to the vampire character, trying to turn him into more than just a straight villain.

David Tennant provides much of the comic relief as a stage-show charlatan who uses vampire-hunting themes in his illusionist act and reluctantly joins Charley’s effort. And fans of the original will probably enjoy a cameo by Chris Sarandon, who played Jerry in the first film, as one of the victims.

The film boasts a few worthwhile 3D effects by throwing blood and fire at the camera lens, but it isn’t consistently suspenseful or scary.

More than anything, Fright Night feels like recycled goods and a cash grab for just about everyone involved, from studio executives down.

Rated R, 106 minutes.