Exclusive: David Tennant On Fright Night

It's all the rage in Hollywood to splash smelling salts on old '80s spookfests and hope audiences will show up for the ride. Fright Night, though, is one horror revival it's okay to get excited about. Not only was the original a comedy-horror favourite that should make a refreshingly leftfield addition to the current glut of po-faced vamp flicks, but it has the cast to jump up and down about.

Exhibit one is Colin Farrell as vamp-next-door Jerry Dandridge, a role Chris Sarandon made hay with in Tom Holland's 1985 original. Exhibit two is Michael Sheen from Underworld David Tennant. As Peter Vincent, he's the man who stands between Dandridge and a bloodbath of epic proportions, all while grappling with some demons of his own.

"He's struggling with several demands, some of which are supernatural and some of which are man-made," Tennant tells Empire, promising a radical departure from the original Vincent. "Roddy McDowall created quite the masterful character and I suppose my Peter Vincent kind of fills the same hole in the film, but everything about him is fairly radically different."

This picture is all the proof you need of that. He's got an arsenal of vamp-battling weaponry at his disposal to protect Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) and family from the seductive but deadly Dandridge. "When he shows up it takes the film in a whole other direction," says Tennant, "so to get to play like that and to get to dress up and be this fantastic Gothic magician is so much fun."

Director Craig Gillespie, once of Lars And The Real Girl and soon of Prime And Prejudice And Zombies, is the man overseeing the remake. He's promising blood - plenty of it - and a dark, "uncomfortable" tone.

Fright Night is out on September 2. Pick up the July issue of **Empire **for more in the meantime and check back later today for a first look at the trailer.

Click the cover for a larger version plus a look at what's inside the issue.