Written by: Paul Weitz and Brian Helgeland
Review by: Rick Romanowski
Released: October 2009
First off, when I first heard of The Vampire’s Assistant I thought it would be pretty cool and I thought that John C. Reilly would showcase his typical idiot character but this movie wasn’t bad. It was pretty damn good for a kid’s movie. It tells the story of a out of place teen who always follows by the rules… but when he steals a deadly spider from a vampire and it bites his rule-breaking friend, he has to turn himself into a vampire to get the antidote for the poison and in turn, help out around the circus. He is then unwillingly thrown into a hundred year battle of Vampires and Vampanese.
What I really enjoyed about this movie is the overall freakiness of it. Walking in I knew right away it would be about freaks and the titled, Cirque Du Freak, just screams weirdness but when I saw some of the “freaks,” I was impressed. They were you typical carnies but they went behind what you’d think a carnie would be. They were fun characters and very loveable for anybody. They are each funny in their own way and it really teaches kids about being proud of whom you are.
The only real problem that I had with this movie was the acting by Chris Massoglia, who, I think, didn’t really deliver much of anything. His acting was somewhat bland and unlikeable but I think Hutcherson and Cerveris were outstanding and John C. Reilly’s performance wasn’t like his usual role, he was serious but also funny and he had a commanding presence. I was even pleased that Dafoe played a nice little tribute character to Vincent Price.
Overall, this movie was great, it was very, very dark and sinister at some points but it lightens the mood up with some slapstick humor and conversational humor. I loved the atmosphere this movie creates and it had some shock moments. I think this movie is like all the aspects of a good horror movie wrapped up into a kids movie and it really worked. I would recommend this movie to any family especially since Halloween is right around the corner.
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