invisibleunicornninja Apparently this is based on a book. I don't care. This movie is so, so bad. The effects are bad. The acting is bad. The script is terrible. There is only one joke that works (the friend of the main character gets pissed when he sees that the main character is presenting to be dead so that noone knows he's a vampire. Thats the only scene in this movie that I found to be genuinely entertaining). This movie is boring and tedious and I would not recommend it. Its not even worth waling about.

Dark Jedi I found this movie pretty much by accident when flicking through the Netflix catalogue. I thought what the heck and started to watch it. My hopes were really not that high. Actually I am not sure I had any hopes at all since I just stumbled on the movie and started to watch it on a whim. What I found was a rather okay and fun movie actually.The movie is apparently based on popular book series Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan. Unfortunately, in their usual arrogant manner, the Hollywood moguls decided to rip the books apart and mash together book one and two in this movie. It appears the general consensus is, not surprisingly, that the books are better than the movie. Nevertheless, the movie was good enough that I most probably will have a go at reading at least one of the books in the series.The movie itself then? Actually I liked it more than I expected. It took a little while before it got started but once it got going it was a good teenage magical fantasy adventure. I am actually a bit saddened that it appears there was never any sequels using the other books in the series.The name Cirque du Freak is well chosen. This is not the usual bunch of people with magical abilities or fangs or some of the other attributes you usually see in magic or supernatural movies. The members of the Cirque are freaks in every sense of the word. I do not think I have seen such a bunch of weird and bizarre creatures before. Heck, the vampire that takes Darrel as his assistant is probably the most normal of the bunch.The story is quite okay and the acting acceptable. The vampire, Creepsly, felt a bit underwhelming at first but he grew on me. So did Mr. Tiny who I definitely didn't like at first but found doing quite a good job of playing the evil mastermind towards the end. His sleaziness was downright creepy.I am sure a lot of the story and character development from the books were left out because there is so much more that could have been done with the story. Darrel befriending the snake man, the brewing romance, Darrels relation with Creapsley and all the other interactions and characters that took place. If the producer had wanted to do a good job he could easily have added another 40 minutes to the movie. A shame he did not.Bottom line, watching this movie was a pleasant experience. It is perhaps not a blockbuster but a nice little adventure, magic, supernatural and fantasy gem.

SnoopyStyle Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) is a teen who loves spiders. His best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) loves vampires. They live in a surreal preppy suburbs. One day a freak show comes to town, and the two must go see. The ringmaster is vampire Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) and he has a special spider. Steve couldn't convince Larten to convert him. But when Larten's spider bites Steve, Larten is willing to save Steve only if Darren would become a vampire's assistant.There are a lot of name actors that seems to be slumming it in tiny minor roles. It's distracting especially considering the lead Chris Massoglia is so underwhelming. While I appreciate the costumes and the style of the movie, the story moves too slowly. There are too many scenes dwelling on the minutia rather than dealing with the main story. And John C. Reilly just don't fit the vampire stereotype. He's neither dark nor brooding. There is something just not right with the freak show.

cianisawesome00 Worst movie I have ever seen. Who the hell is Rebecca and whatever happened to Debby and Sam. I read the books loved them was all excited about the movie and it sucked the only reason i even have it one star is because u can't put in lower! Not darren Shan at all. It is like the writers tried to put in the twelve books but were to lazy and after 5 minutes threw this piece of crap together.Don't take anything away from the books though, The books were unreal and Darren Shan is a great author it was just poorly portrayed by lazy writers and bad actors, god a teddy bear would show more bloody expression than the actor who played Darren.What more can I say it was an absolute disaster one of the worst movies ever.Read the books.