Evidently, Hollywood has Empire bugged and is using us as the source of all their good ideas.
For just a couple of weeks ago, readers, a small group of Empireites gathered at an undisclosed location (ok, it was Nick De Semlyen’s flat) for a horror double bill, at which one of our troupe introduced everyone to the joys of Tom Holland’s goofy but still darned effective 1985 vampire horror comedy, Fright Night.
And after it was over, and we’d finished enjoying such elements as Chris Sarandon’s silk-smooth performance as handsome vamp Jerry Dandridge, a ruthless vampire who moves in next door to a teenager named Charley (William Ragsdale); Roddy McDowall’s OTT turn as ‘fearless’ vampire killer and washed-up TV star, Peter Vincent (whose grey hair is possibly the most amateurish flour job you’ve ever seen); some effective scares and an astonishing supporting performance from Stephen Geoffreys (now a hardcore gay porn star, fact fans) as Charley’s alienated best friend, ‘Evil’ Ed, we talked about how surprisingly good it was, how it still held up, and then someone said the fateful words:
“I’m surprised they haven’t tried to remake it yet.”
And giant donkey balls, but look what’s happened. Shocktillyoudrop.com is reporting that Screen Gems, and producer Scott Strauss, have picked up rights to the property and are currently sifting through ‘Hollywood’s supply of writers’ with a view to remaking one of the best horror movies of the 1980s.
But as Jimmy Cricket said, ‘there’s more’. In fact, it seems that this property may be Fright Night in name only, with Strauss apparently keen to take the property into another direction entire – a direction that may involve an amusement park. Which prompts the question: why not just call it something else? Why call it Fright Night if it’s not, essentially, a remake?
But, before we dump ten tons of holy water on this project, let’s wait for official word before we sharpen our stakes. Besides, as Dawn of the Dead and, to a lesser degree, The Omen showed, not all horror remakes are necessarily a bad idea. So we’ll keep the faith for a while – after all, as Jerry Dandridge reminds us, you have to have faith. (So did George Michael, but that’s a different news story altogether).