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There are too many damn vampire movies and TV shows these days, and too many damn remakes. Fright Night is a remake of a vampire movie. Not the most promising concept, but we enjoyed it!

We keep getting the original Fright Night mixed up with another 80s vampire movie, The Lost Boys, but we know it was about a teenager who discovers that the man who’s just moved in next door is a vampire. Then the vampire (Chris Sarandon, who has a cameo in the remake) starts putting the moves on his mom. Eeek!

The new Fright Night works for us because it has some of the spirit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: a very ordinary place, recognizably real and contemporary, is rocked by supernatural weirdness. The direct Buffy connection: screenwriter Marti Noxon was a writer and producer on BTVS.

Excellent idea setting Fright Night in a suburb of Las Vegas where people work at night and sleep in the day. This way no one finds it strange that Jerry (funny name for a vampire) is so pasty and that he never comes out till the sun sets.

And he’s baaad, you know it the moment you see him. We remember that in the original the vampire was very suave and polite, so the boy Charlie’s suspicions were dismissed immediately. Here Jerry is openly strange: he looks at Charlie’s mom and Charlie’s girlfriend like a ravenous man looking at a cheeseburger. And since he’s played by Colin Farrell they’re not sure that’s a bad thing. Wait, wait, we feel a cliche coming on. . .

Colin Farrell really sinks his teeth into the role. He’s hysterical!

Anton Yelchin (Mr. Chekov in Star Trek) is perfectly cast as Charlie, the nerd who’s suddenly become part of the in-crowd. The casualty of his new popularity (and clear skin) is his ex-best friend Ed, played by our beloved Christopher Mintz-Plasse. (Yes, it’s McLovin! who recently told an interviewer that he is not in fact a nerd.) It is Ed who discovers why their classmates have been disappearing.

David Tennant (Dr Who) is a scream as the bewigged, leather-clad, crotch-grabbing phony celebrity vampire killer Peter Vincent. Toni Colette is not onscreen often enough as Charlie’s mom. Come to think of it, Toni Colette has not been onscreen often enough, period.

Our recommendation: Watch Zombadings again, and then watch Fright Night.