The best thing that can be said about this new Fright Night is that the film is at least self-aware enough to recognize that its existence is entirely superfluous and thus goes about its bloody business with a cheerful efficiency that can be entertaining if you don't sweat details like consistent characterizations, logical storytelling and a satisfying ending. Holland's original script was revised and updated by Marti Noxon, formerly of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and her previous experience with the undead manifests itself most obviously in the way the characters regularly reference other famous vamps (including Dracula and, of course, the whole Twilight thing) and recap the rules for killing the creature or, at least, keeping them at bay. It's stated quite often, for example, that Fright Night's central fanged demon Jerry (Colin Farrell), can't enter a house if he's not first invited in. This sets up one of the movie's most effective scenes in which our hero Charley (Anton Yelchin) grabs a couple of beers for his neighbor while Jerry looms in the patio doorway, just waiting for the kid to slip up and allow him to cross the welcome mat. (The resourceful vampire later finds a way around the whole "being invited in" thing by burning Charley's house down, a move that -- while extreme -- is also pretty damn clever.)

Like its predecessor, Fright Night Redux wastes little time revealing Jerry's addiction to blood. With that mystery out of the way, the film's first act establishes an intriguing dilemma for Charley. A former nerd -- one who even engaged in backyard LARP battles for goodness sake -- he's since made himself over into a fashion-conscious cool dude, acquiring a hot girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots), a pair of dumb, but popular pals (Dave Franco and Modern Family's Reid Ewing) and a room that's now free of Star Wars posters and Lord of the Rings memorabilia. But his geek past still nips at his feels in the form of one-time best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who seems doomed to play high-school students well into his 40's), the first person to get clued into the fact that Jerry is far more than the handsome stud next door. Does Charley align himself with Ed and risk exposing his inner nerd to Amy? Or does he do the cool thing and not care that his girlfriend and mom (Toni Collette) might fall prey to Jerry's considerable charms?

No sooner has the movie proposed this conundrum, than it promptly abandons it -- and really any attempt at an interesting narrative -- for a series of set-pieces that pit Charley and his various allies (including Amy, Mom and a Criss Angel-type rock star magician named Peter Vincent, hilariously embodied by none other than The Doctor himself, David Tennant), against an increasingly aggressive Jerry. (Seriously, how is this guy supposed to have survived in secret for 400 years? He's easily the least subtle vampire in the history of cinematic vampirism.) Some of these sequences are quite well done, most notably a bit where Charley attempts to lead one of Jerry's victims out of his house while the off-duty vamp lounges in his living room catching up on some Real Housewives of New Jersey action. Cleverly staged by director Craig Gillespie (whose previous credits include the decidedly non-horror features Lars and the Real Girl and Mr. Woodcock... although the latter could be described as terrifyingly awful) effectively turns an ordinary split-level suburban home into a potential death trap. But the majority of them are marred by the same whiplash cutting and overemphasis on digitally enhanced effects that plague too many mid-level studio productions these days. (Gillespie also earns a slap on the wrist for going overboard on the eye-poking 3D gags; it's funny the first time that blood leaps off the screen -- by the second, third and fourth times, it's just annoying.)

The stars are able to keep the tedium at bay for a little while. Yelchin is a winning screen presence -- he's got some of the same boyish enthusiasm Shia LaBeouf displayed before he went to seed -- Tennant is a hoot and a half and Farrell's having such a good time, he can barely stop grinning. (As for Poots and Collette... well, they both look great! It's a shame somebody forgot to write actual characters for them.) Inevitably though, they run out of ways to distract us from the film's crushing mediocrity and general blandness. Whenever the movie seems on the verge of making a genuinely bold creative choice, Noxon (or, to be fair, the uncredited scribes that undoubtedly "polished" the screenplay during production) instead opts for the safe, generic route. If Fright Night feels overly familiar, that's not just because it's a remake -- it's also because the movie resembles every other junky horror programmer released in the past decade.

It's Tubey Time! Make sure that your favorite shows, actors, reality stars and characters get the recognition they deserve by voting in our annual Tubey awards. It's where fans have total control over what rates as the best and worst of the past year in a variety of categories. Vote now!