MOVIE: CIRQUE DU FREAK

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, directed by Paul Weitz, was both a masterpiece of imagination and a masterpiece of blood-sucking gibberish. The ideas were clever, a young boy recruited by a merciful Vampire to be his assistant in order to be protected from other evil forces. But, like too much cologne, the sloppy pacing overpowered the positives of the film. The ‘vampirical’ ideology is one that is both loved and hated, and personally I find myself, even after watching this film, in the neutral position between the two. I must say there were some poignant moments of cinematography and who could forget the colourful performances of John C Reilly as the ‘Vamp’ Master: Larten Crepsley, and newcomer, Chris Massoglia who played the Vampire’s Assistant himself. This film took a different take on the currently world obsessed Vampire genre, and that was refreshing. And kudos to the set and costuming, but potential story-line grabbers, such as the Spider ‘Octa’, Larten Crepsley and Madame Truska weren’t given enough attention as to why they were there. (BLR)