Oh, to have yet another vampire film to grace the presence of our ever-multiplying library of the vampire genre is so… entertaining yet taxing in one fell swoop. Being somewhat of a vampire connoisseur, it is obvious that some elements of Bram Stoker’s initial vampire is still present in creating “The Vampire’s Assistant,” but it is exasperating that Hollywood and writers always seem to take their liberties with adding or subtracting the restrictions and powers of the vampire in whatever situation they see fit.
Darren Shan, author of the Cirque du Freak series, made himself the hero of his own novel series. Darren, played by Chris Massoglia in the film, is the vampire’s assistant who, in life, is perfect – the perfect kid, the perfect friend, the perfect student, you name it. He is friends with the popular kids, he gets A’s in school, he lives in the suburbs with his middle to upper-class parents, making up the two and half average family to a “T.” Darren’s best friend Steve, played by Josh Hutcherson, on the other hand, doesn’t have it so easy. Steve grew up without a father and his mother is an alcoholic, making his day-to-day just short of ideal. His only real drive for life is stirring up trouble with his “perfect” best friend and dreaming about his passion – vampires. While Steve wishes that vampires were real so that he could channel his anger and satiate his blood lust in order to strike back at the atrocities his life has already undertaken, Darren is ruled by his parents’ wishes. One night, after already being grounded for doing something stupid with Steve, Darren sneaks out for the one-time-only showing of the Cirque du Freak. The graphics were absolutely amazing in depicting the wolf man, the woman who could regenerate her limbs, the Kafka-inspired hunger artist, the two-bellied man, the reptilian boy, the lethal spider and the bearded fortune teller (who interestingly is played by Selma Hayek). After the show comes to a sudden halt because of the commotion raised by the enraged, narrow-minded townspeople, Darren (who has a queer fascination with spiders) decides to steal the vampire’s pet spider. In seeking out the tarantula, Darren overhears his best friend’s plea to the vampire to make him a member of the undead. The vampire, Larten Crepsley, played by John C. Reilly, refuses and sends him on his way. In a series of sudden events, Crepsley decides to make Darren into a “half-vampire,” leaving Steve insanely jealous that with Darren’s already-perfect life, he now is fulfilling Steve’s dream of becoming a vampire too. With this, Darren must say goodbye to his old life and embrace a new, half-human existence as well as endure the wrath of his best friend.
Looking at the previews for this movie, I was a little put off by the fact that John C. Reilly was the main vampire in the film. A vampire, as seen via literature and film, is a suave, charismatic, gorgeous being that is both smooth in his approach but lethal in his attack. Reilly, in no way, is someone I would describe as suave, charismatic or gorgeous, but I do have to say that he played a pretty good heart-felt vampire. He didn’t pop out any ridiculous lines which would be typical in his usual movies and he actually conducted himself in a way that made him believable. I was pleasantly surprised.
Being a future teacher and potential future parent, it really irritated me how the teachers and adults were portrayed in this movie. It is as if the message being sent is: all adults are ignorant, close-minded idiots who care nothing of diversity or of their kids’ future; the only thing they do care about is enforcing their self-motivated rules and regulations in order to pigeonhole their kids into socially-accepted, monotonous, consumer-driven lives.
Darren and Steve’s teacher infuriated me because we, as teachers (or future teacher in my case), are taught to embrace new ideas and concepts in order to aid the growth of students. Their teacher ridicules the two boys for even mulling over the idea of going to the Cirque du Freak and, when breaking up the show later on, does so because he “is standing against the exploitation of these freaks” when, in reality, he is just too insular to think that freaks are people too, not just the trash you need to sweep out of the town.
Darren’s parents show little to no concern for what Darren wants in life and continually force their own wills on him, expecting perfection at every turn. Darren, not wanting to upset his parents, is ruled by the choices they make for him. The motto in the family is “college, job, family.” Therefore if Darren acts out or strays from the “perfect” path that his parents created for him, then he may not achieve true, American-style bliss: to attend college, get a job and have a family. Now, I’m not trying to say that parents shouldn’t instill values in their children that push toward their overall happiness and success, but the way in which Darren’s parents conduct themselves suggests that nothing is more important than having a “successful” son in a world full of corrupt kids who are, in our day and age, followed by a sea of disappointed parents. Therefore, Darren’s direct opposition to his parents’ and his teacher’s wishes show that to discover happiness is to free yourself from the dictation of others and decide for yourself what will make you happy in life.
Overall, I was really impressed with “The Vampire’s Assistant.” I think the film was colorful, fun and definitely entertaining. Josh Hutcherson especially did a great job of developing his character and fully embodying the evil, enraged, envy-driven best friend. In part, I am glad that I have not read the book series by Darren Shan because I always seem to walk out of the theatre disappointed that Hollywood couldn’t live up to my high expectations which I constructed on my read-through. So, with that in mind, I would recommend you to check out the Cirque du Freak; you never know what you may find.
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