The ambitions of Craig Gillespie's (
Lars and the Real Girl) remake of the popular mid 80's scarer
Fright Night have been growing with each new casting, and it's definitely no longer a horror re-imagining to scowl at, or ignore.
THR say
David Tenant and
Christopher Mintz-Plasse have joined the cast that already includes Colin Farrell, Toni Collette and Anton Yelchin. Now there's a bunch to make you sit up and take this film seriously. Dreamworks are backing the movie all the way, and the really special thing to remember here is that the movie is taking the smart route in attempting to capitalise on the current
True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Twilight fad... Producer
Michael De Luca told Collider earlier this year;
"And with Fright Night, with all the romantic vampire stuff going on with The Vampire Diaries and True Blood and Twilight, the most obvious. We thought it would be interesting if, in this atmosphere of the way the vampire is being portrayed right now as a romantic object, under the wire of all that in the culture the real thing moves in next door. And the real thing is a killer. Just a predator. Its the shark from Jaws. On the outside its a seductive package and it looks like a human being, but its just about ripping your throat out and drinking your blood. And introducing that kind of vampire into the current environment".
Yelchin stars as Charlie, a teen who believes his new neighbour (Farrell) is a vampire. His mother (Collette) tells him he's seen too many horror films but she soon falls under the vampire's spell. So desperate for someone to believe him, Charlie seeks advice from Peter Vincent, a L.A. horror-imagery magician who claims to be a vampire expert. Tennant will play Vincent in a younger portrayal than the original where he was a veteran vampire movie star and t.v. host. His name was a homage to horror icons
Peter Cushing and
Vincet Price, and was memorably played by
Roddy McDowall.
Mintz-Plasse is Evil Ed, a friend of Charlie's and is described in this remake as an '
emo. or a comic-book loving punk'. Good casting, I'd say. Filming is set to begin in the summer but they still need to cast the role of Amy, Charley's girlfriend.