Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Chris Massoglia, John C. Reilly, Salma Hayek (Full Cast)
Studio: Universal Pictures
The Plot: A traveling freak show's most mysterious attraction recruits teenager Darren Shan as his assistant, though the young man soon finds himself used as a
pawn in a battle between vampires and their deadlier counterparts.
THE BUZZ: The idea of vampires, werewolves, and a bearded Selma Hayek sounds like a publicity cakewalk to
me, but there has to be more than one reason this long-completed adaptation of the novel by Darren Shan (the first in a series of twelve) took a while to earn a release date, finally
settling on an appropriate Halloween release after a potentially (un)dead-on-arrival January berth. If the costs were kept low here and the marketing is smart and effective, Universal
might have a cult franchise on its hands. Sorta like Hellboy without the attendant hype factor.