August is giving way to September, and as kids stock up on school supplies and college freshmen wary eye their new roommates, there's no doubt that the blockbuster movie season has come to a close.  Gone for the moment are those hot days of record-breaking openings and overblown 3D spectacle, and here are the days of less ostentatious movie-going.  Once again this weekend, new releases underperformed, and with much of the East Coast battening down the hatches for Hurricane Irene, the surprise late-summer hit The Help dominated the box office for the second consecutive weekend. 

Though the two biggest movies of this summer were, as you'd expect, the finale of the J.K. Rowling's wizarding franchise and the adventures of a bunch of cars that transform into robots, bookends at the beginning and end of the season prove that you can never count out a female ensemble with a thoroughly generic title.  Back in May, Bridesmaids was by no means predicted to be a hit, but the cost-effective comedy has gone on to be the summer's sleeper success, having grossed $167.6 million.  And now, in its second weekend of release, novel adaptation The Help has jumped from second to first place, easily outpacing four new releases.

Actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse has made a career of playing geeks on screen but he’s probably best known for creating the quintessential movie nerd, McLovin in the recent comedy classic Superbad. Since then Mintz-Plasse has mastered the awkward teenager role in films like Role Models, Year One, and Kick-Ass. Now the actor returns, once again playing the school loser in the new 3D horror film Fright Night, which opens in theaters on August 19^th.

The new movie is a remake of the classic 1985 horror film of the same name starring Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride), and Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes), which was directed by Tom Holland (Cloak & Dagger). In the new Fright Night, Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Ed Lee an unpopular high school student living in a suburb of Las Vegas who begins to suspect that his best friend Charley’s (Anton Yelchin) neighbor is really a vampire. But when Ed tells Charley the truth, he doesn’t believe him and it begins to draw a wedge between the two friends, which is what eventually leads Ed right into the arms of Jerry the vampire played by Colin Farrell (Miami Vice), who turns Ed into “Evil” Ed. Now, Charlie must defeat Jerry before he turns his mother (Toni Collette), his girlfriend (Imogen Poots) and the rest of Las Vegas into vampires. However, in order to do that he’s going to have to battle his former friend “Evil” Ed, who is hell bent on killing Charley and having his revenge.

Tom Holland's 1985 original Fright Night combined themes of suburban paranoia, sexual confusion, and adolescent angst in a clever twist on Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window.  The hero is not Jimmy Stewart, but a high school student convinced that his neighbor is, in fact, a bloodthirsty vampire. Of course, his mother and almost everyone else react with disbelief, but neighborly Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) does have some supernatural secrets up his non-literal sleeve.

This Friday, a 3D Fright Night remake hits theaters, with Anton Yelchin as Charley and Colin Farrell as his vampiric neighbor Jerry Dandrige.  Craig Gillespie, who previously directed Lars and the Real Girl, fills out his cast with  Imogen Poots, Toni Collette, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, along with David Tennant as Peter Vincent, the character originally played by Roddy McDowall.

Over the last 25 years, the film has amassed a cult of loyal fans, some of whom reacted warily to the prospect of a remake.  A consistent reassurance, however, has been the presence of screenwriter Marti Noxon.  Noxon has genre credibility to burn, having served as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, eventually taking over for Joss Whedon as the day-to-day showrunner on the beloved series.  Not only that, but she also wrote and produced on ABC's popular Grey's Anatomy and AMC's acclaimed Mad Men.  Noxon, who also contributed to the I Am Number Four script, graciously took the time for an exclusive interview with IAR, where she discussed Fright Night, potential sequels, and her involvement with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Earlier this summer, we brought you news of a rumor that DreamWorks was already planning a sequel to their upcoming remake of the ‘80s horror film Fright Night, which doesn’t even open until this Friday, August 19^th. Supposedly, the sequel would feature David Tennant’s character, Las Vegas illusionist Peter Vincent, in a new city fighting vampires and other supernatural creatures. The rumor also mentioned the return of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s “Evil” Ed Thompson in some capacity.

This morning, IAR’s Jordan DeSaulnier had a chance to speak with Fright Night screenwriter Marti Noxon and took the opportunity to ask her about the rumor of a possible sequel already being in the works. Noxon would not confirm that plans for a sequel are on the way but she did say that the chances of a second chapter are dependent on the film’s commercial performance this weekend. “It all depends on how the movie does,” she said.

This afternoon, I had a chance to speak with actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse myself and I decided to ask him about the rumor of a possible sequel and what he knows about the project. “I haven’t heard about that actually,” confessed Mintz-Plasse. I followed up by explaining to the actor the rumored plot for the film and asked him if that was something that he would be interested in taking part in. “I love Tennant, and I think he kills in this movie,” he said. “I would love to do a sequel with him but I haven’t heard about that yet.” Finally, the actor had this to say on the matter. “So we’ll see what happens but if it does well they’re going to want to do a sequel and I would definitely do it again.”

Logical dilemma, Fright Night edition: A vampire, in this case Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell) really wants to get inside the Brewster household, where his teenage nemesis Charley (Anton Yelchin) hides with his unsuspecting mother (Toni Collette) and girlfriend (Imogen Poots).  Charley knows well enough not to invite Jerry into the house, and Jerry, being a vampire, can't very well just barge in.  So, faced with this conundrum, how does a predator like Jerry get at his prey?  A new red-band clip that's only red-band on account of bad language provides the answer, but be warned it is definitely a spoiler and a half.

In June, almost three months before the upcoming Fright Night 3D remake's release date, a rumor bubbled up online that DreamWorks is so pleased with the film, directed by Craig Gillespie, that the studio is already making preliminary moves on a potential sequel.  According to the rumor, a sequel would give a more prominent role to Peter Vincent, the guyliner-wearing Las Vegas magician and vampiric expert played by David Tennant. 

Fright Night is written by Marti Noxon, a screenwriter with genre credentials if ever there was one.  She served as both a writer and executive producer on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, eventually taking over the showrunner position from Joss Whedon, in whose cult favorite webseries Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog she performed.  She also produced Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men before moving into feature-writing with I Am Number Four and Fright Night.  In an exclusive interview with IAR, Noxon provided some illumination on Fright Night 2 and her involvement.

In 1985's Fright Night, writer-director Tom Holland worked a clever twist on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, only instead of Jimmy Stewart believing his neighbor to be a murderer, a high school student was convinced that his seemingly normal new neighbor was actually a creature of the night.  The new 3D remake is built around the same scenario, but looks to feature its own unique tone and style, both of which are on display in three new official clips.  First there's a vampiric Colin Farrell trying to get invited into the Brewster household, since his species has a hard time going anywhere univited.  Then there are two clips demonstrating that, like the original, this film will have a sense of humor, even if it's only courtesy of David Tennant's Peter Vincent, a Vegas magician enlisted to help Anton Yelchin's Charley Brewster bust some bloodsucking skulls.

Opening in theaters on August 19th is a new 3D horror film from Lars and the Real Girl director Craig Gillespie called Fright Night. The movie is actually a remake of the classic 1985 film of the same name starring Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride) , and Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes). The new updated version stars Colin Farrell (Miami Vice) as Jerry Dandrige, a vampire who moves into a Las Vegas suburb and causes trouble for his neighbor, a local high school student named Charley played by Anton Yelchin (Terminator Salvation). The film also stars David Tennant (TV's Doctor Who), Imogen Poots (Centurion), Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Dave Franco (Charlie St. Cloud), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Kick-Ass).

Rick Florino, Editor-in-Chief of our sister site ArtistDirect, recently had a chance to sit down with several members of the cast and crew from Fright Night on behalf of IAR.  He spoke candidly with actors Collin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as well as director Craig Gillespie about the new remake; it's ties to the original, our society's obsession with vampires, and Colin Farrell's intimidating interpretation of Jerry Dandrige.

Sony's Friday panel for Total Recall at San Diego Comic-Con featured no less than three figures who appeared on other panels earlier in the day.  Star Colin Farrell showed up for the panel promoting fellow remake Fright Night, which debuts in August.  The husband and wife team of director Len Wiseman and supporting player Kate Beckinsale showed up before on the Underworld: Awakening, the sequel starring Beckinsale and produced by Wiseman.  Bryan Cranston, Jessica Biel, and John Cho also joined in to discuss the remake of Paul Verhoeven's lunacy-filled adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novella We Can Remember it For You Wholesale.