Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Review by Mari Lynne Rupp



Every now and again, a movie comes out that is so powerful it renews my faith in Hollywood and big budget productions. After the Twilight franchises hit it big, and Daybreakers only made a small noise, I was losing faith. Then came the Cirque.

The synopsis is a good boy with good grades and a nice family and his best friend, who can be a bit of a troublemaker, find their way to a sideshow circus, and steal the spider of one of the performers with almost disastrous results. The boy must make a deal with the spider's owner who happens to be a vampire, to save his best friends life and changes both their lives forever.

Starring Chris Maggolia as Darren, Josh Hutcherson as Steve the troublemaker, John C. Reilly, the beautiful Salma Hayek, and Ken Wattanabe, this movie is beautiful cinematically, and an absolute carnival ride for any vampire, or sideshow fan. The performers range from the "freaked out" such as Evra the snake boy (brilliantly played by Patrick Fugit, whom I've loved since "Almost Famous") and Rebecca the monkey girl to the truly bizzare such as Alexander Ribs and Corma Limbs. If you think facial hair on a woman is gross, watch Salma Hayek's character, and come back to me. She brings sexy beards back! John C. Reilly as Larten Crepsley is inimitable and wonderful...I haven't had feelings like this for a vampire since Lestat du Lioncourt. It has a bit of everything for everyone, moral lessons, supernatural and a lot of humour. It speaks to children without talking down or patronizing, which is what I loved so much about the Harry Potter franchise.

The movie is based on the series of books written by author Darren Shan, and leaves it open for a sequel, which I pray is coming. It's just fantastic. 9/10