Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

This weekend I wasn’t sure what I was going to watch. I have yet to watch most of the Saw series, since I have only watched the first two so far. That meant that Saw VI was out of the question. I’m pleased to see that Paranormal Activity is hanging onto the number one spot for the box office. It made more money than even the new Saw film managed to pull in. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant also opened this weekend, but I wasn’t really all that interested in seeing it. Since I rented three movies Saturday, I have way too many movies to watch right now.  So I was going to stay home and watch one of them. But then my dad gave me money to go to the theater if I wanted to. Since I was spending his money, I decided to go. In case you don’t know, Cirque du Freak is a series of books. I guess Hollywood decided that since Harry Potter and Twilight are doing so well, why not look for another series of books to make into movies? In case you are wondering, I have never read any of these books, so I can’t compare the two.

Darren (Chris Massoglia) is your fairly average teenage boy. He has a good family, even if they are a bit over protective. Darren’s best friend, Steve (Josh Hutcherson), calls him Mr. Perfect. Steve feels that Darren has everything, while he has nothing. After Steve gets Darren into a little bit of trouble at school, Darren’s parents forbid him from hanging out with Steve anymore. Even though Darren agrees, he has no intention of actually doing that. While Steve and Darren are talking about what happened, a car drives by. A person in the car lets a flyer out which advertises the Cirque du Freak. Steve talks Darren into sneaking out and going to this. There they meet Larten (John C. Reilly), who Steve believes is a vampire because of a painting in a book about vampires. It has always been Steve’s dream to be a vampire, while Darren is very into spiders. After the show, things happen that will change their  lives forever.

Before I decided to go see this today, I read about the film just a little bit. What I was reading was what people thought about the film based on the trailer only. I was feeling out what the movie was about, more or less. Most people felt that the trailer made the film look more light hearted than the books are. There is also some resentment that this is being made by Hollywood instead of some British movie studio. The author isn’t British, someone said he is actually Irish, but I guess that is close enough for the British. I don’t see why it makes a difference who makes the film, outside of accent. Anyway, I was looking to see if this was more of a comedy, or more of a horror film. A few people that got to see it before the actual release all said that it was a darker film that the trailer showed. There is a fair share of comedy in this film, I think to appease the younger viewers, but it is also dark. What I found interesting about the plot is that there are two sets of vampires, those that kill and those that don’t. A prophecy says that the two factions will someday go to war, which could very well mean the end of the vampires. One of the characters is trying to bring about this war. While some people will likely yell foul, calling this movie a setup to a bigger story, I’m glad that they started at this point. I didn’t find Cirque du Freak scary at all, not that I was expecting to be scared by it honestly. Its main focus is on Darren, and the powers that vampires have. A number of different powers are shown, but running super fast seems to be the main one that they like the most.

That is where the effects are mainly at, showing the vampires running around. The freaks are all very well done either in actual makeup effects or CGI. Most of the effects in the film are of the CGI kind. For once I have nothing to complain about with the effects. Even though there are vampires around, I don’t recall seeing any blood or gory effects. If there was any blood, there was very little. The acting was also pretty good. This is probably the most serious role I have watched John C. Reilly in. He does provide some of the comedy, but in a more serious way than usual for him. Chris Massoglia is good in the lead. Jessica Carlson is someone new to me that I liked well enough. She doesn’t have a big role in the film though. Salma Hayek and Orlando Jones also have somewhat small parts as a couple of the freaks.

As a horror movie, Crique du Freak is very much on the light side. I was a bit disappointed by this, but it does turn out to be a good film all the same. Since I can’t compare it to the book at all, I will simply offer some advice. From what I have been reading, those that have read the books give the movie a thumbs up, for the most part. I have always felt that the book will be better than the movie. As long as the movie doesn’t change things too much, usually I end up pretty happy with the film version. As a horror movie it isn’t very exciting. In general though, I got into the plot a lot. This isn’t something I can say for every movie I watch. It would have been nice if the freaks were more involved with the plot. Maybe they will be in the next film, if it makes enough for there to be a next film, since there are somewhat well known actors in those roles. I went in not expecting much, and walked out feeling glad that I went to go see it. Worth a look when you find the time I think.

3 out of 5 Bet you can’t guess which side of the war I would be on