As Jerry, the evil bloodsucker at the center of this remake of the 1985 cult hit, Farrell is funny, seductive and cruel. He plays the vamp as a cross between a guy you might meet at a sleazy singles club and the prince of darkness.

When he first appears on screen, the two main female characters (played nicely by Imogen Poots and Toni Collette) almost swoon in unison. And no, this isn’t some Edward Cullen “Twilight” sexless dweeb.

Farrell’s Jerry radiates a dangerous sexuality with just a hint of bad-boy swagger. He’s the type of guy your mother warns you against going out with.

Happily, Farrell isn’t the only good thing about “Fright Night,” a fun, fast-paced and always entertaining horror film. Director Craig Gillespie keeps the balance between chills and laughs at the right ratio, and all the other performances are strong.

“Fright Night” tells the story of teen Charley (Anton Yelchin) who discovers his new next-door neighbor is a vampire. Oh, and the vamp has his eye set on both his mother (Collette) and girlfriend (Poots). Talk about bad form.

The film follows essentially the same plot as the 1985 film, including having a very unfortunate fate befall Charley’s nerdy friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse from “Superbad”) and Charley seeking advice from a vampire-hunter celebrity (David Tennant, playing the Roddy McDowell role). Instead of a washed-up actor, though, Peter Vincent is a Criss Angel-type magician.

The special effects, as to be expected, are a major improvement over the 1985 film — especially a creepy scene in which some of Jerry’s newly minted vamp children emerge from his underground lair both hungry and irritable. Good, too, is an action scene in which Jerry digs up a gas line in an effort to dispatch Charley and the women in his life.

“Fright Night” isn’t in the same league as such recent terrific vampire flicks as “Let the Right One In” or “Stake Land” — those movies both had far more unique and scary takes on the vampire legend — but the film does something admirable: It’s entertaining.

And when you consider mid- to late-August is usually a dumping ground for Hollywood films that can’t compete with all of the other big summer blockbusters, “Fright Night” is even more of a surprise.

Finally a note about the film’s 3-D: Gillespie uses 3-D effects in nifty fashion, especially when the vampires are staked or exposed to sunlight. Unfortunately, those pesky 3-D glasses frequently make the movie look dingy and dark.

My suspicion is that the film was screened improperly, something that happens far too frequently at theaters run by Regal Entertainment Group, where “Fright Night” was shown for critics. If you have a chance, see the film at a non-Regal theater or in regular 2-D.