Mad Men Writer Stakes a Claim to Fright Night Remake

Now before you get your panties into a bunch and start decrying a writer from a show about chain smoking ad execs in the ’60s writing a horror-comedy vampire reboot, consider this: before she landed on the award-winning “Mad Men” on AMC as writer/producer, Marti Noxon was a writer on both “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”. So right there, you know the woman is vastly talented to go between the two genres on such extreme opposites of the spectrum. Unless, of course, you always suspected there was something odd about those ad execs…

THR reports that Noxon has been assigned scripting duties by Dreamworks on their remake of the horror-comedy “Fright Night”. Written and directed by Tom Holland, the 1985 original starred William Ragsdale as a teenage horror movie aficionado who suspects that his new next door neighbor is actually a vampire. To help stake the vamp (played by Chris Sarandon), the teen enlists the services of a washed up actor (played by Roddy McDowall) in need of some quick dough.

The remake will keep the horror-comedy vibe, but modernize the story for the present audience. I suspect much post-modern hipness will ensue.

Michael De Luca, Michael Gaeta and Alison Rosenzweig will produce, while Mark Sourian will keep an eye on the project for Dreamworks.

Trailer for the 1985 original: