Cique du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Vampires have moved from the domain of blood-lusting horror hounds to the height of popularity in entertainment. While the Twilight saga, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries are largely aimed towards teenage girls, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant still targets teenagers but welcomes guys into the mix.

Based off the novels by Darren Shan, The Vampire's Assistant tells the story of Darren (Chris Massoglia), a somewhat popular, A-student. When the Cirque du Freak comes to town for a one-night only performance, he and his friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) just can't resist.

There they meet ringmaster Mr. Tall (Ken Watanabe), the bearded lady (Salma Hayek), a man with no waist (Orlando Jones), a snake boy (Patrick Fugit) and many more. But soon they're entangled with the show's star, vampire Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly). After stealing Crepsley's spider - Madam Octa - and a series of other events, Darren must leave his normal life to join the Cirque and become Crepsley's assistant and vampire himself.

While the movie is full of witty comebacks and jokes, cool special effects, a mixture of action and horror and a cast of well known actors, there are still flaws.

The first three books of the Cirque series were crammed into roughly an hour and a half film, and more than a few parts were left out. This make the story line a little sketchy in some places - such as the reason behind the rivalry of Crepsley and Murlaugh (Ray Stevenson) and the exact intentions of Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris). Darren's obsession with spiders is only show in passing, so his exact reasoning behind stealing Madam Octa are lost to the viewers (unless you've read the books).

However, you don't have to read the books to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Enough is in the movie to get the point.

Being pressed for time, the director seemed to put emotions second to plot. There are several parts in the movie where the actors don't seem to be giving 100 percent. Such as when Crepsley tells Darren he can never see his family again. He's shocked and almost backs down, yet he seems to get over it rather quickly. However, Steve makes up for the lack of emotions and portrays a hurt and betrayed friend extremely well.

While The Vampire's Assistant may not be a box off it, or the best book adapted script, it's not a bad movie. It's worth seeing even if it's a rental.