Alan Dee’s film preview (01.09.11)

Don’t worry about the title, ignore the 3D – this is no in your face slasher, as you can see from the 15 certificate and the Disney provenance.

Also in the cast are Colin Farrell and Toni Collette, among others.

David’s the vampire hunter, Colin the bloodsucker, and Toni is the mum next door who gets drawn in to the suburban action after her youngster spots Colin sinking his teeth into a victim.

It’s a remake of a 1985 cult classic benefits played very tongue in cheek, and as long as you can handle a fair amount of three-dimensional gore it’s worth a look.

Both male leads look as if they’re having a hoot, and bounce off each other with the right combination of menace and mirth.

> In The Art Of Getting By, young leads Freddie ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’ Highmore is all grown up and falling for Emma ‘Scream 4’ Roberts in a film which is a cut about the average wish fulfilment coming-of-age tale.

He’s a grumpy outsider, she’s the queen of the high school scene and they improbably bond because of shared parent problems.

First-time writer Gavin Wiesen remorselessly mined his own adolescent awkwardness to come up with the script, which he also directs, and the two former child stars are appealing enough.

There’s no guarantee of a happy ending in a surprisingly realistic tale, and it could turn out to be a bit of a sleeper hit.

> There have been conspiracy theories galore over the years about the Apollo moon missions – did Neil Armstrong really take a giant leap for mankind, or was it all staged for the cameras in a lonely desert warehouse?

But you don’t have to be a conspiracy loon to be drawn in by the hook behind mock documentary Apollo 18.

Those who know their space shot history will immediately realise that Apollo 18 never happened – or did it?

According to the set-up here, a Ruskie film director making a documentary about a space station unearths some 1970s videotape which reveals that the Apollo mission wasn’t just scrapped – it ended in disaster and was hurriedly hushed up.

And the tape also reveals why man has steered clear of the moon every since.

Cue grainy footage in the Paranormal Activity vein for a low-budget chiller – the first English language film from director Gonzalo López-Gallego – which mixes sci fi and horror genres and which would be wrecked by telling you how it all pans out.