When the studios are trawling through old horror movies to see which ones to remake (because Hollywood seems to have forgotten that it’s legal to make fright flicks based on original ideas), it’s almost surprising no one’s managed to redo Fright Night sooner, as it seems to have everything Hollywood likes. It’s got vampires, teens, comedy and plenty of room to make something at least as good, if not better, than the original, due to the fact the 1985 film’s budget wasn’t as big as its ambition, and that modern CG effects would have gone a long way to ironing out the flaws.
While Dreamworks has been mumbling about doing a Fright Night remake for the last few months (following Screen Gems aborted attempt a couple of years ago), now comes the news that plans are moving forward, with Marti Noxon hired to write the script. While Noxon is now best known for being a producer on the likes of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Mad Men, she was was also a writer and excutive producer on Buffy and Angel, which ensures she’s well place for Fright Night, which has a vaguely similar tone.
The original film is about horror movie fan Charley Brewster, who becomes convinced that his next door neighbour is a vampire. While he has trouble getting people to believe him, he enlists the help of veteran vampire movie star Peter Vincent to help him, who soon comes to realise that maybe Charley has a point.
There’s no news yet on when the film might hit cinemas, but with Noxon’s pedigree, it certainly suggest Fright Night may offer a bit more fun that the average teen horror makeover.