Leaving an early screening of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant](Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) - Movie | Moviefone) this week, I heard an amazed teenage girl say to her companions, “It’s, like, a vampire movie, but it’s funny!” As if such a thing weren’t possible. But then, the average teen was in kindergarten when *Buffy *was in its prime, and 80’s movies like *Fright Night *and Once Bitten are ancient history. Funny vampires?! Who knew?
As Peter Hall says in his excellent Cinematical reviewof Cirque, it’s a shame that this particular movie feels as if it were rushed out to take advantage of the current *Twilight *and True Blood fueled vamp renaissance. Based on the first three volumes of the popular kid-lit series by Darren Shan, the film bumps the hero’s age from 12 to 16, the better, one supposes, to promote the flick to the *Twilight *crowd – despite it being a piece with a completely different flavor, based on books for kids between the ages of 10 and 12.
If you think it’s a stretch that Cirque’s being marketed to the sparkly-vampire crowd, take a good look at the design of one of the posters (above). Wow … it’s totally Robert Pattinson! Except that it’s not. Take a look below, to see what actor Chris Massoglia really looks like in the movie.
Continue reading Will ‘Cirque du Freak’ Suffer From ‘Twilight’ Comparisons?