We’ve heard for a long while that Tom Holland was working on something Fright Night related. That turned into news that a sequel novel was in the works from the Child’s Play scribe. Now, coming from Encyclopocalypse Publications is Fright Night: Origins. The novel releases on October 8th, 2022. It’s co-written with A. Jack Ulrich and follows up on the original Fright Night film. That film was released in 1985 and featured Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, and Stephen Geoffreys. It’s one of the most inventive and entertaining horror flicks of the ’80s.

Here’s what Holland had to say about the novel.

A couple years ago I sat down to write a novel of my original story ‘Fright Night,’ but as I came close to finishing, I realized I had so much more to tell. There were elements I was not able to convey in the original film because of time constraints, and I was compelled to take us back to the origins of Fright Night and beyond. I’ve written something I truly hope the fans of Fright Night will love and intend to take the ‘Fright Night’ universe far beyond the story the films have told. This story and the characters are deeply personal to me, and I hope the fans have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Fright Night forever!

Fright Night: Origins is the first part of a planned trilogy of books that take place in the Fright Night universe. The first book is 290 pages and comes in paperback, Kindle, and hardcover.

Jerry Dandridge Is Back

So, this isn’t necessarily the Fright Night sequel that we want as a movie, but it’s the next best thing. Novels can do things that movies or TV cannot. In the case of Fright Night: Origins, we can get back the Peter Vincent we know and love, and it can still be Roddy McDowall, even though he passed away in the time since Fright Night Part 2. It sounds like this first novel is going to retread the first movie and expand upon the world and characters we know and love.

Because it’s part of a planned trilogy, we still have hope for the sequel that we’ve all wanted to come out. Maybe we’ll get more from Jerry and how he came to be. There’s plenty of meat to work with from a story perspective. It’ll be interesting to see if Holland and Ulrich use anything from Fright Night Part 2. That movie featured Jerry’s sister, Regine, as the villain. It’s an interesting wrinkle and features a fantastic performance from Julie Carmen. Who knows what Tom Holland has cooked up? Right after he finished Fright Night, he began work on Child’s Play.

The Official Synopsis For Fright Night: Origins

You think you know the whole story, don’t you?

High school isn’t going well for teenage horror fan Charley Brewster, still dealing with the loss of his father, he finds himself in his first serious relationship with the vibrant and beautiful Amy Peterson. If new love wasn’t complicated enough Charley is also failing Trigonometry. Late one night while cramming for a test Charley spies something suspicious in the yard next door, two men carrying what appears.to be a coffin. What’s going on in the old Victorian House and who are Charley’s new neighbors?

You can order the Kindle version or the paperback right now on Amazon. The hardcover version releases on October 8th.

I know I’ll be grabbing that hardcover, will you?

For more on horror, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon, the 61-day Halloween Content Marathon!

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