Crappy film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Absolutely dreadful! Nothing like the books. This movie was all over the place. If you read any of the books, DO NOT watch this movie!!!!

CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT is another bland Hollywood adaptation of a young adult novel, in this case one of a series by popular kid's author Darren Shan. The tale is about a pair of typical high schoolers who visit their local freak show and get involved with a bunch of supernatural misfits.What it all turns out to be is rather a lame comedy with few laughs and even less intellect. Much of the acting is not so much acting as overacting, with actors competing to outdo one another. There are all manner of weird 'freak' exhibits and questionable characters (like poor Ken Watanabe) alongside the usual high school problems/alienation type stuff.Aside from the deeply wooden central pairing (the unknown-to-me Chris Massoglia and the hateful Josh Hutcherson), the wonderful cast includes John C. Reilly, Orlando Jones, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Colleen Camp, and the great Ray Stevenson, wasted in a boring villain role. All of them seem faintly embarrassed to be involved, and you can hardly blame them when the film consists of endless effects scenes, boring CGI action, and a general lack of intent giving the movie as a whole an aimless flavour.

I did not want to watch this movie because I did not expect much of it. I wanted to go to bed early. But the movie started and i had not finished my drink so i caught the start of the movie. And from that very beginning i was taken by the movie and did not want to miss a second. And i don't have that often!I became curious what it would bring. It was a kinda creepy but on a funny way. And i got entertained from the very start to the end. I loved it... Humor, great dark sphere and good storyline. Not the regular vampire story. Great special effects and good acting.I didn't know there were CDF books and never read any of them. So i came in blank into this movie. This movie would be a reason for me to start reading them! I only can say i found this movie very entertaining and enjoyable. This movie is in my list of favorite movies now. I can't understand the people who gave negative critics. And i can't understand why this movie barely made any money. For me this movie is a "must see" and i recommend it to everybody. I am sure the majority of the people watching it will have a good time. Guaranteed!

Although I worked in a bookstore a while back, I never actually did read a single of the Darren Shan books, although just familiar with them from the genre and the covers. So I wasn't even aware that this movie was based on those, until I watched the DVD extras after having seen the movie.I found this movie in a secondhand store, and thought to myself 'a vampire movie with John C. Reilly, well that ought to be unusual', and so I picked it up and decided to give it a go.I will say that, much like "Twilight", this vampire movie is a vampire movie for a teenage audience. However, unlike "Twilight", this movie is not about love, sparkly vampires (though the big hair is here!) or werewolves (again, there is one of those as well). "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is a bit more gloomy and dark compared to the lovefest known as "Twilight". However, that being said, it is not really enough to make it overly suitable for an audience out of their teenage years. I was waiting and hoping for a bit more than the movie did deliver.The story is about a young boy named Darren (played by Chris Massoglia) and his friend Steve (played by Josh Hutcherson) who come across a traveling freak show that is in town for one night only. They go there and enter a world of bizarre oddities and a brooding war between vampires."Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" does have some rather impressive names to the cast list. Despite my first initial puzzlement about John C. Reilly being in a vampire movie, then he actually did a good job, and comes to show his diversity of being an actor outside the comedy genre. But the movie also has Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Frankie Faison, Ken Watanabe and Ray Stevenson to the cast list. And much has probably be said about this already, but seeing Salma Hayek with a beard was just fun - and most impressively was that she carried it so well.One of the better things in the movie, was the costume design and the set designs. There were so many nice details to the clothing, and especially to the fream show camp. Keep your eyes open here, because there is a lot of really nice treats to behold. And if you get the DVD with the extras on it, I suggest you take the tour of the camp, because it is really worth it."Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is a teenage movie and a movie for fans of the Darren Shan books, I am sure. I found it to be entertaining enough for a single watching, but I doubt I will ever make a second watching out of it. It was just a bit too much out of my interest. As much as I have strained to point out the target audience age of this movie, then "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" was still more enjoyable than "Twilight" (of which, I mistakenly saw the first movie, and stayed well clear of all that came afterwards).