Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Release Date: October 23, 2009
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Paul Weitz
Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland, Paul Weitz
Starring: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Patrick Fugit, Ray Stevenson, Michael Cerveris, Frankie Faison, Jane Krakowski, Orlando Jones, Kristen Schaal, Salma Hayek
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language)
Official Website: Not Available

Plot Summary: “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” tells the frightening tale of a boy who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

14-year-old Darren (Chris Kelly) was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend, got decent grades and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and his buddy stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That’s the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) turns him into something, well, bloodthirsty.

Newly undead, he joins the Cirque Du Freak, a touring sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy and a wolfman to a bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic barker (Ken Watanabe). As Darren flexes his newfound powers in this dark world, he becomes a treasured pawn between the vampires and their deadlier counterparts. And while trying to survive, one boy will struggle to keep their brewing war from devouring what’s left of his humanity.