Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Here’s a review I’ve been trying to find a way to write for almost a month now. One of the great surprises of Fantastic Fest, CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT is one of those films that at a glance doesn’t seem to have much to offer. Sure, it has a great supporting cast. But post-Potter Young Adult fiction adaptations are notoriously shitty. And with even the cleverest among them feeling somewhat original, the idea of a teen vampire who joins the circus seems like a stretch too far to be worth your time.
But nothing could be further from the truth. In all actuality, THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT is a charming, delightful film chock full of great actors that bring all the charisma they can muster to make something more akin to a Disney version of Todd Browning’s FREAKS than it is anything else. And I mean that in the best possible way. In fact the film has far less to do with vampirism than it is about a boy who finds himself different and amid a camp full of people even stranger than himself.
The film this most reminded me of was SKY HIGH. It seems like it shouldn’t work. It’s a little goofy and contrived, but as it unfolds it becomes fresher and fresher, until you find yourself watching something truly unexpected. It’s certainly not a perfect film, but it actually is a pretty good one, one that I’d definitely watch again and would get a little amped about a sequel.
As far as tween geared horror/book adaptations go, this is pretty by the numbers. It sets up a lot of things it hopes will pay off down the road (if this is a success), and spends an awful lot of time explaining the rules of this particular world. And yeah, it occasionally suffers from Columbus-Radcliffe syndrome, with the protagonist wandering around wide-eyed at the new, magical world he’s been brought into. But once people like Ken Watanabe and Patrick Fugit show up as awesome circus freaks and Willem Dafoe makes a handful of appearances (with what time he can spare from the billion and six other movies he has in theaters this year), you get won over by all the little flourishes and touches this film has to offer.
And if that weren’t enough, John C. Reilly gets the chance to bust out his acting chops to play a character who isn’t a total buffoon – and gets some really impressive results. Reilly is a really talented guy, but has spent so much time playing variations of his BOOGIE NIGHTS character that it is easy to forget how good he really is. Here he is a powerful vampire embroiled in the center of a philosophical war between animalistic, murderous vampires who feel that killing human prey is acceptable and his camp comprised of vampires who prefer to leave their victims alive to feed from another day. And as the mentor to our young hero, he really gets a chance to play around and have a good time without resorting to pratfalls and glassy-eyed expressions.
A cute, if somewhat intense film, I’d rate this on the level of something like MONSTER SQUAD in terms of fright level and general appropriateness for kids. More appropriate for Tweens than small children, this is a family geared film that will entertain your older kids while hitting the sweet spot for you as well. But it does deal with a number of monsters as well as the idea of vampires killing people, so take that as you will.
It’s not a film I think you need to go out of your way to see, but it’s solid, likable, endearing fluff. If your kids are asking to see this, definitely go with them and make it a family trip. You won’t regret checking it out. Good old fashioned fluffy fun, this comes RECOMMENDED.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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