Cinefantastique Online

Back in January when we wrote up our list of 2009’s anticipated horror movie releases, CIRQUE DU FREAK had no firm date set. Seven months later, Universal Pictures has expanded the title to CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT and scheduled it for October 23.

The trailer initially suggests a modern vamp on Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes – not to mention Alice Cooper’s concept album The Last Temptation- both of which detail the events that befall a small town when a mysterious, magical circus arrives, full of supernatural wonder and sinister sideshows. However, as the trailer proceeds, a somewhat juvenile tone emerges, and as in TWILIGHT, the vampires turn out to be cool, not monsters (ho hum). Presumably, pre-teens will get a kick out of lines like a newbie vampire asking, ”Do I have super spit now?”