2009 Directed by Paul Weitz
Darren Shan is a regular teenage kid. He and his friend Steve find out about a Freak Show coming to town and work hard at trying to find tickets. They do, and together they go to "Cirque du Freak" where they see many strange acts including a wolf-man and a bearded lady
Chris Massoglia John C. Reilly Josh Hutcherson Patrick Fugit Salma Hayek Jessica Carlson Michael Cerveris Ray Stevenson Morgan Saylor Don McManus Ken Watanabe Orlando Jones Frankie Faison Willem Dafoe Kristen Schaal Patrick Breen Tom Woodruff Jr. Jane Krakowski Drew Rin Varick Colleen Camp Lo Graham Beau Holden Trey Burvant Daniel Newman Brandon Molale
Paul Weitz Lauren Shuler Donner Rodney Liber Dan Kolsrud Sarah Radclyffe Andrew Miano Kerry Kohansky-Roberts Ewan Leslie Courtney Pledger
The Vampire's Assistant, Cirque du Freak, Circo dos Horrores - O Aprendiz de Vampiro, El Aprendiz de Vampiro, Cirque du Freak - Mitternachtszirkus, Cirque du Freak - The Vampire's Assistant, Aiuto vampiro, El circo de los extraños, Rémségek cirkusza, Circus of the Freak, Асистент вампіра
4 glorious minutes of vampire willem dafoe did not make up for 105 minutes of dafoe-less bore
Books 4-12 of The Saga of Darren Shan were my favorite when I was younger. It always made me sad that the first three books were so significantly different, because I knew a lot of people would never make it to 4-12. This awful movie is an "adaption" of 1-3, that manages to make Cirque du Freak seem even worse and even more childlike. Books 10-12 are absolutely the darkest teenage horror I've ever read, and I honestly love them and find them affecting as an adult as well. You couldn't possibly fathom how different they are from this movie.
This movie claims to be an adaption of 1-3; however, there's little to nothing from 2, and just has Murlough…
Wait...what?
This is actually entertaining?
What a surprise! I carefully avoided this film when it came out because of the negative reviews. Today it popped up on TV and with nothing better to do I decided to watch it. And that's the type of film it is, an inbetweener. If you're looking for an entertaining diversion, this fits the bill perfectly.
Based on Darren Shan's book series (of which I've only read the first one), this film clearly betrays its youth literature roots. It is aimed at teenagers, has larger than life characters and wraps it in a 'horror light' aesthetic. It is perhaps a bit darker than similar films and that is what surprised me somewhat. The characters are…
The greatest sin that studios commit when greenlighting franchises is doing so at the risk of leaving audiences hanging should the first chapter under-perform.
Such is the case with Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, the hopeful YA series starter that manages to wring out an impression with its strong first half, game cast, and thoroughly accessible take on the "be yourself" formula. Sadly, none of these merits were able to thwart the film's fate once opening weekend estimates started coming in. On overall quality alone, this didn't deserve the bad hand it was dealt. It is a derivative film but it's also a spry one, moving briskly through its muddled plot while doling out resonance with eye-catching zest. Could…
Willem Dafoe isn't in this enough to warrant anyones time. Also, bearded Salma Hayek is still kind of.. hot?
all white boys look like frogs: change my mind (just kidding you can’t this theory has been proven over 15 years of extensive research)
Fantasy films can often come unstuck with who exactly they're aimed at. This film adaptation of Darren Shan's Vampire Blood series of books does suffer from that dilemma, but somehow it works. A film that for me felt like it was marketed at the under tens, this is surprisingly enjoyable even for an old man like me and I'd love to see a sequel regardless of the lukewarm response from critics and a disappointing box office return.
Darren Shan and his best friend Steve Leonard end up in hot water when they visit a travelling Freak Show. Darren is obsessed with spiders and Steve with vampires, unfortunately for them the show has both and one thing leads to another as…
