New Teen Wolf is darker and sexier

Teen Wolf is back, but those expecting a cute teenaged comedy with plenty of basketball scenes are in for a shock.

The MTV series is still aimed at teenagers and young adults but it's darker, scarier, sexier and has swapped basketball for lacrosse.

The Australian director of the series, Russell Mulcahy, says he prefers to call it a reinvention of the Michael J Fox film, rather than a remake.

"MTV talked about reinventing it and giving it a modern twist and heading more in the direction of The Lost Boys from the 1980s," Mulcahy says of the new series to air on Seven.

But he says that's not to take anything away from the original Teen Wolf.

"I think the 80s version was cute, one would even say a little campy." Mulcahy says.

"But when we were shooting we had three words that we sort of lived by: make it scary, sexy and surprising."

And the switch of sports from basketball to lacrosse apparently fitted more closely with the reinvention's new image.

"It's an incredibly fast, somewhat violent game, but it's an incredibly interesting game to watch," he says.

"We wanted a remix (of the original film) so those key elements we wanted to change. We wanted to take it away from basketball because people would be expecting basketball."

While it may be tempting to compare the series to Twilight, Mulcahy says although they're both based on the supernatural, his series is a lot darker than the teenaged vampire franchise.

"They're two different animals and I love both breeds," he says.

"To me it's like going into a bookshop and you're wanting to buy a mystery novel. You don't want just one choice. I think there's enough room and there's enough creative differences in the series to set it apart."

While it is a dark series, Mulcahy says there are still plenty of laughs to be found along the way.

"There is some real humour in it," he says.

"A lot of the humour comes from the dialogue. It's very smart."

Mulcahy says he also re-imagined the lead character, Scott McCall, this time played by Tyler Posey (Maid in Manhattan), as more like Spiderman's Peter Parker.

"It has all those elements of normal teenagers and their trials and tribulations and then you throw in the mix that one of them is a werewolf," he says.

"Then it's really about him having to deal with that."

Mulcahy is full of praise for his young cast which also includes Crystal Reed as Allison Argent and newcomer Dylan O'Brien as Stiles.

"It's very well performed. Your heart bleeds for these characters," he says.

"It's such a rollercoaster of emotions."

Despite only having a few comedic clips on YouTube, O'Brien managed to beat hundreds of actors to the role of Stiles.

"Dylan O'Brien came in with a resume that was a blank piece of paper apart from a few clips on Youtube," Mulcahy says.

"But he did his audition and we we were just blown away with it."

The series premiered in the US a few weeks ago and Mulcahy says it has been well received despite some critics dismissing it before it aired.

"I think there were a few cynics out there who were really hoping to dislike it and I think they're few and far between now," he says.

And while the demographic for the show may be teenagers and 20-somethings, Mulcahy says there's plenty in it for everyone.

"I think from folklore to written stories such as Dracula to early movies and modern shows, people love the genre of the unknown," he says.

"We just hope to deliver that dark fantasy."