Who's it Gonna Be Tonight?

For the most part, I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to hearing about upcoming remakes. I'm not all for them, and unless they are announced to be in 3D (ugh), I am not really against them either. To state the obvious, I know for a fact that they will either be: A) Good B) Bad or C) Mediocre. No matter which one of those categories the remake might fall in, the original will stay in whatever category you and I have it in to begin with. A shitty remake cannot take that away from either of us. The reason I bring this up is due to the recent casting news for the upcoming remake of Fright Night. Now, Fright Night is one of my favorite horror films – it is a childhood favorite – as well as my favorite vampire film from a time when I absolutely loved the genre and vampires period. I even read and still own the comic book series that came out around the time, and I even once went as a post turned "Evil" Ed for Halloween as a kid.

So even with news of one of my favorite childhood films being remade, I am still indifferent about it all. I always have the hopes that it will be good, of course, because then I would have yet another take on a film and story that I love. However, with the casting news for this soon to be remade vampire film, I find myself very excited for a few reasons. Toni Collette is a great actress and to know that she is going to play a small but still important role as Judy Brewster is very promising. She isn't a major character, so to have a solid actress fill that role is a surprise and a welcome one at that. Of course, the bigger news is the announcement that the part of Jerry Dandridge has been cast with another big star, Colin Farrell.

Many will slag on Farrell for his acting and he has done plenty of shit, I know, but he is a great actor when he so chooses. See the fantastic In Bruges if you need proof of that fact. What's even better about his casting, outside of him being a high profile actor and a decent one, is the fact that they cast someone who, age wise, fits the role. In this post-Twilight era, it's nice to see that there aren't any changes to the main antagonist of the film, as in, there is no attempt to make him a much younger, brooding man. It would be very easy to switch around the story a bit to make Charley's neighbor a young and attractive to the Twilight crowd man, and the fact that is not happening is a positive one.

I'm not trying to take the piss out of Twilight as it isn't made for my pleasure (but it's next up in my Netflix queue…lord have mercy), but I would hate to see the vampire genre go a certain way because of it's influence. I don't mind sex appeal, but I do not need my vampire stories to be driven by mindless romance. Fright Night is a prime candidate for a Twilight influenced makeover, so the strong casting choices as well as a director that has something under his belt, are all very good signs. Now, we'll just have to wait to see who gets the roles of Peter Vincent, Evil and Marcy…