Blood-sucking circus freaks in action in Vampire's Assistant
Greg Schulte
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Features
Best known for his comedy roles paired with Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly takes a more serious turn in the new movie Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. And although the film is a serious action film about vampires and circus freaks, Reilly still finds a way to remain hilarious.
The movie is based on a book series called "The Saga of Darren Shan", written by Darren Shan. In these novels, not all vampires are of the person-killing, blood-sucking variety. Instead, some vampires are content with just knocking out their victims and maybe sucking a little of their blood, which helps the vampires sustain their powers. The other kind of vampires, the ones who kill and maim, are the vampinese-and they aren't terribly friendly with the less violent vampires.
The film's central characters are two young boys who attend a freak circus called Cirque De Freak. This is where they meet Reilly who plays a vampire in the freak show.
A pet spider of Reilly's named Octo escapes and bites one of the boys putting him in a coma. The other boy makes a deal with Reilly to become his vampire assistant if he will save his friend's life. The boy comes out of a coma and joins the evil vampinese group, which soon goes to war against the other vampires.
All in all, the plot is a quite entertaining action movie. The film features an assortment of cameos by a handful of well-known actors: Selma Hayek as the bearded lady, William Dafoe as a vampire and Orlando Jones as the thin waisted man.
The movie is based on a book series called "The Saga of Darren Shan", written by Darren Shan. In these novels, not all vampires are of the person-killing, blood-sucking variety. Instead, some vampires are content with just knocking out their victims and maybe sucking a little of their blood, which helps the vampires sustain their powers. The other kind of vampires, the ones who kill and maim, are the vampinese-and they aren't terribly friendly with the less violent vampires.
The film's central characters are two young boys who attend a freak circus called Cirque De Freak. This is where they meet Reilly who plays a vampire in the freak show.
A pet spider of Reilly's named Octo escapes and bites one of the boys putting him in a coma. The other boy makes a deal with Reilly to become his vampire assistant if he will save his friend's life. The boy comes out of a coma and joins the evil vampinese group, which soon goes to war against the other vampires.
All in all, the plot is a quite entertaining action movie. The film features an assortment of cameos by a handful of well-known actors: Selma Hayek as the bearded lady, William Dafoe as a vampire and Orlando Jones as the thin waisted man.
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