A Red Mist is descending on Dreamworks' unlikely horror remake: Christopher Mintz-Plasse will co-star in Fright Night as "Evil" Ed Thompson, the best friend of Anton Yelchin's Charlie, who becomes a bloodsucking freak at the teeth of Colin Farrell's vampire overlord Jerry. Former Doctor Who David Tennant has also been cast as Peter Vincent, the role played in the original by Roddy McDowell.
The idea had earlier been mooted that the original Fright Night might exist as a film within this film, with Chris Sarandon playing himself in the McDowell role. The idea now though is that Vincent, previously a late-night-TV horror host, is a stage magician who uses horror imagery in his act and claims to be a vampire expert. He's less than helpful when Yelchin turns to him for advice. It's a big foray into Hollywood for Tennant, after a couple of false starts (a TV pilot that wasn't picked up; a tiny role in St Trinians: The Legend of Fritton's Gold; dropping out of Burke and Hare) so here's hoping it leads to great things.
Mintz-Plasse meanwhile, is on familiar territory, as both a sidekick and a comic villain. He's got big shoes to fill (Stephen Geoffreys' original Evil Ed is a cult favourite) but we reckon he'll nail this. Or maybe drive a stake through it.
The new Fright Night is directed by Craig Gillespie (Mr Woodcock, Lars and the Real Girl) and also co-stars Toni Collette as Charlie's mom. Mad Men and Buffy writer Marti Noxon wrote the script. The song remains the same, in that it's about geeky teen Charlie getting convinced that a vampire has moved in next door, but the new version relocates the action to Las Vegas. Noxon says her vampire is "much more Jaws-like, in the Amblin tradition." So he's a shark?
Shooting starts next month.