Dweeb-turned-cool kid-with-a-hot-girlfriend Charley (Anton Yelchin) discovers that his charming new neighbor is a blood-sucking fiend from hell and is forced to take matters into his own hands when his spacey divorcée mom (Toni Collette) and the cops fail him. Colin Farrell is a delight as the blue-collar Jerry the Vampire — "I didn't name him," sputters Charley's dorky ex-chum Ed (Superbad's dependable Christopher Mintz-Plasse) — a hunky, sly-eyed lady-killer who guzzles the women he picks up like Budweisers.
Set in the sun-bleached city of sin, Las Vegas — where many of the strip's denizens are already dead inside — Fright Night plays upon elements of darkness and indulgence. (A girl is sucked dry, lolling in Jerry's arms, in the middle of a crowded nightclub and one wants to yell, "Date rape!") Despite some good scares, though, Fright Night doesn't take itself too seriously — the script is punchy, the lines wittily delivered. It has fun with itself, which is also a good deal for the audience.
