Will 'Cirque du Freak' Suffer From 'Twilight' Comparisons?
Filed under: Fandom, Movie Marketing
Leaving an early screening of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant 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 review of 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 twelve-year-old hero's age 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, check out 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.
It's no wonder that girl was so confused by Cirque's tone -- she was probably expecting midnight bedroom stalkings and vampire baseball instead of scar-faced John C. Reilly and a bearded Salma Hayek. Note that I said "surprised," not "disappointed." Because Cirque Du Freak's actually a whole lot of fun ... unlike some other vampire movies we could name.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-22-2009 @ 4:46PM
nerdgurl said...
I'm a really big fan of let the right one in and buffy, so I know that vampires can be pretty much anything you want them to be. I think that has a lot to do with the reasons they've always been so popular. They fit in nearly every situation.
Also in the book I just read Darren is 16. ofcourse I have the one released for the movie. Wonder why they would do that, and especially why they would do it so badly. First Evra is described as looking like he's 14-15 and is later described than older than Darren. A vampire who is shocked that Darren became a half-vampire at such a young age became one when he was 19, and stuff like that. You really shouldn't change a book because a movie is based on it, that ruins the idea of it.
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10-22-2009 @ 2:39PM
Felicia said...
Please! Enough with the Twilight bashing. It is neither the best story ever as some believe nor the piece of irredeemable trash that others say it is. It works in its way and got a lot of teenage girls to--gasp--read, which I'm in favor of. Maybe it will lead them to better things.
That said, I've read the first few Cirque books and am looking forward to seeing the movie even if the character is older. I can see why they did that. The character ages over time in the books; it makes sense that they would cast older for the possibility for sequels.
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11-06-2009 @ 2:22PM
lauren said...
I went to see this the day it came out without realising with my friend who had read all the books. She mentioned to me them missing out a few things but adoring it anyway. since have read all the books (in about a week) i have to say i love it! Much better than twilight, maybe because it isn't all focused on love and smush like twilight but instead ACTION! Though i do like Twilight
Bring on the twilight vs. Darren Shan drama!
p.s
i'm fighting strong for DS
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