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Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Year: 2009
Director: Paul Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Length: 109 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
John C. Reilly
Josh Hutcherson
Chris Massoglia
Jessica Carlson
Michael Cerveris

Plot:
Welcome to the Cirque du Freak, a traveling sideshow filled with magical creatures, misunderstood freaks, and the mysterious vampire, Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly). Drawn to the dark, unpredictable world of the Cirque, 16-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) decides to trade in his ordinary life for a chance to become an immortal vampire. As Darren explores his newfound powers and faces unexpected enemies, he'll find that his existence as a memeber of the undead is filled with more challenges, suspense and fun than he ever thought possible. Based on the best-selling book series and co-starring Salma Hayek, Josh Hutcherson, Ken Watanabe, and Willem Dafoe, it's a fast-paced, suspenseful journey critics call, "Imaginative!" (Peter Hall, Cinematical.com)

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes


I really enjoyed this as it was so much more than I was expecting which was a lame comedy that spoofed Vampire movies. Boy was I wrong! While there was some comedic elements, this was the first of what I'm sure will be many entries into an ongoing story about warring vampire factions. Gorehounds looking for buckets of blood will be disappointed.... but what this movie lacks in gore it makes up for with story and mystery.

The two young male leads, Josh Hutcherson and Chris Massoglia were good but the casting for those characters could be completely interchangeable with any multitude of young actors. The real strength of this movie lies in it's veteran cast. John C. Reilly shows us once again that he has leading role savvy as the central vampire, Larten Crepsley. Now if someone could only convince him to stay away from Will Ferrell....  Willem Dafoe, in a rather limited role, clearly pays homage to Vincent Price and is marvelous! His final scenes in this one tease us with the promise of more from him in the forthcoming sequels. Salma Hayek, as the bearded lady, was fine as well, although really... who was looking at her beard??

Throw in Ken Watanabe, Patrick Fugit, Orlando Jones and others in their roles as the various 'freaks', each with their own potential stories to explore made for a spectacular collection of characters and endless possibilities in what should be a franchise. I checked on IMDB and do not see any news of a sequel yet, but I'd be shocked if this one doesn't play out much much more.

Looking forward to the continuing of this story and would recommend this movie to fans of the genre!

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on October 14th, 2010)

Fracture, a review by Eric

Just finished "Fracture", wonderful, absolutely wonderul.  I was totally hooked from beginning to end. Hopkins brilliantly treats you with with a performance as good as Hannibal Lecter while avoiding the trap of giving you Lecter again.

A definite "Must have" in your collection.

(From Touti's Horror/Thriller Movie Marathon on September 3rd, 2007)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon, a review by Dragonfire

4. Heavy Metal
Cameron discovers a truck loaded with enough metal to build over 500 endoskeletons. Are more Terminators about to be created?

My Thoughts

This was a very good episode.  There were hints of John starting to take more control and make decisions instead of just doing everything his mother said all the time.  Granted, his decision was a bit risky and put him in danger.  I liked seeing John try to take more control, though I also get why Sarah wanted to run.  I also thought it was interesting to see how Skynet was trying to adapt plans to make sure that Judgment Day still happened.  And Cameron offered a brief explanation for how the head and body were still working and how they were programed to repair themselves...which does tie back in to the first movie with how that Terminator was repairing himself.  It still seemed iffy to me how the body could work when the head was so far away, but it isn't bugging me as much since there has been an attempt to explain.

5. Queen's Gambit
A chess contest has the potential to link the Turk and Skynet. Meanwhile, the missing Resistance Fighter appears.

My Thoughts

This was a really good episode.  I think the potential link between the Turk and Skynet made sense.  I liked that Sarah still had some..compassion and didn't want to just start killing everyone who might possibly be connected to Skynet in the future.  Cameron was there for that..lol.  Anyway, the episode was really good and I liked the added connection to Kyle.  At first I was surprised that Derek didn't know more..but then it made sense once I thought about it. 

6. Dungeons and Dragons
Derek's consciousness shifts between his injured state in the present and the future he already knows to be true.

My Thoughts

Another really good episode.  I liked seeing bits of the future and what Derek experienced before he traveled back in time.  I'm wondering if something happened to make Derek distrust Cameron, or if he just feels that way because she's a Terminator.  I'm also wondering some other things now too and I'm anxious to finish the last episodes.  It will be hard for me to wait to finish them up.  lol.


I'm really enjoying this show and I'm glad I decided to pick up the DVD set. 

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon on January 20th, 2009)