This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr flexes his rippling muscles and sets out to live a warrior lifestyle, just like Jason Momoa in Conan the O’Barbarian. But before he can do that, he has to drive a stake through his neighbor’s heart, since he’s certain he lives next door to a vampire. What else could all those sparkles be about? Meanwhile, he sends his kids off to a dangerous 3D, Aroma-Vision mission, hoping they can make it as real spy kids so they can teach him to put on a fake British accent and woo a not-quite-British Anne Hathaway.

I am likely one of very few critics that sat down to watch Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night having not seen Tom Holland’s 1985 original first, but upon doing so after, feel I’ve unintentionally done myself a great service. Now that I’ve seen it, the original is a great film; Chris Sarandon’s Jerry Dandrige and Roddy McDowall’s Peter Vincent are uniquely them, the tone and pace a perfect example of eighties horror done right – smart and campy all at once. Like most re-makes/re-imaginings, if the original felt good and was a part of my film collage growing up, it would have colored my perception of the new offering by default. This certainly isn’t bad, but it’s not always the best way to approach something new. I am glad then that in putting the cart before the horse, I was able to appreciate and have a good bit of fun with this latest offering.

I visited the set of the new Fright Night movie last September and wrote (perhaps a bit too honestly) about the experience here. That post covers my thoughts on the whole process, but it’s not all I have to report. No siree, while I was there several members of the cast and crew took time out of their clearly busy schedule to chat with the press. Unheard of you say? It’s true! And here are some words to prove it from the likes of screenwriter Marti Noxon and producer Michael De Luca. [These are excerpts from group interviews conducted during the set visit.] Be sure to check out all of our Fright Night coverage here.

I visited the set of the new Fright Night movie last September and wrote (perhaps a bit too honestly) about the experience here. That post covers my thoughts on the whole process, but it’s not all I have to report. No siree, while I was there several members of the cast and crew took time out of their clearly busy schedule to chat with the press. Unheard of you say? It’s true! And here are some words to prove it from the likes of special effects guru Howard Berger and producer Alison Rosenzweig. [These are excerpts from group interviews conducted during the set visit.] Be sure to check out all of our Fright Night coverage here.

As it turns out, the upcoming Fright Night remake may indeed be awesome. The trailer was impressive and didn’t show anything in particular to be worried about, except for the serious lack of David Tennant. An excuse could be made that they wanted to set up a tone Tennant doesn’t fit, so it makes sense not to include a more comedic character like that. Regardless, a recent clip (via MTV) was just put out on the web, and it’s good. The scene features a nice little moment of Farrell not-so-subtlety warning Yelchin, and it works incredibly well. But one of the few reasons why Fright Night may actually be good is due to some of the solid buzz coming out of the screening MTV just held. I’ve heard from more than a few people that it works pretty well as cool vampire film, and that it’s much better than one might think a Fright Night remake would be. I do hope the film surpasses being more than just another fun horror movie, though.

The Fright Night remake is still over a year away from release, but the first image of character design from the film has already been glimpsed. David Tennant (Dr. Who) stars as a popular Las Vegas magician called upon by some uppity teens to face off against pure evil in the form of Jerry the vampire (Colin Farrell). The role is an updated version of the TV horror host played by Roddy McDowell in the original film. Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse play the aforementioned uppity youngsters. The image below is of a three-story banner hanging in the lobby of a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where the Fright Night magic show takes the stage. Behold the mystical stylings of Peter Vincent, Mindfreak!

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, Eric D. Snider from Cinematical, Film.com, and ericdsnider.com joins us, we get caught with weed, and we try to fight off the uprising of the Promotional Movie Screening Regulars.

The original Fright Night is about a teen named Charlie Brewster and the vampire who moves in next door. So is the remake.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr grades four new films: Get Him to the Greek, Splice, Marmaduke and Killers.

As Cole Abaius pointed out late last week, a hyperbolic debate has occurred regarding the alleged potential of Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass to “kill” the superhero movie by subverting its conventions, or whether or not such subversions and the very existence of this film stand as evidence that audiences have tired of the conventional superhero film, or the superhero film as a whole. This post attempts to answer such questions by briefly examining Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction and applying it to genre film theory and, specifically, Kick-Ass.

With Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn wanted to go against the grain and against the studios, and it looks like he may have done just that.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr kicks ass with Kick-Ass and laughs it up at Death at a Funeral

Christopher Mintz-Plasse is a funny guy, but no matter what he does with the rest of his life he will eternally be known as McLovin’. Superbad was his arrival on the movie scene, and even after Role Models, How To Train Your Dragon, and the upcoming sure to be classic Marmaduke it will continue to be his calling card for some time to come… but his latest role and film has a better shot at changing that status quo than any other.

This week, chubby man about town Kevin Carr takes a look at How to Train Your Dragon, Hot Tub Time Machine (which sounds right up his alley) and Greenberg. You may want to wear a helmet.

From the early footage that blew the roof off of Comic-Con in San Diego to the much talked about screening at Butt-Numb-a-Thon last week, Kick Ass is all over the geek world. And now we’ve collected the whole set of posters.

Our neighbors over at AICN have posted a brand new poster for Kick-Ass, the comic adaptation from director Matthew Vaughn that is said to actually kick serious ass.

The folks at IGN have debuted for new character posters from the upcoming Lionsgate release Kick-Ass, from director Matthew Vaughn and the mind of Wanted writer Mark Millar.

In a country that has replaced the motto of “land of the free, home of the brave” with “make sure you Tivo it,” it only makes sense to throw away last year’s actors like a DVD of an Ashton Kutcher film at Christmas. But worry not, we’ve got you covered on who everyone will be talking about in 2009.

he winsome gentlemen over at Ain’t It Cool News have published a brand new report from the set of Matthew Vaughn’s comic book adaptation Kick-Ass this morning, which includes a first look image of Christopher Mintz-Plasse in costume.

I’ve been pretty vocal in my resistance to anything from Judd Apatow or starring Jonah Hill, so when I got a chance to see a comedy that neither had any involvement in, I jumped at the chance. That film was Role Models and is one of the five best comedies of 2008.