moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks
The vampire juggernaut shows little sign of stalling with yet another bloody addition to the cannon – this time offering its neck to fans of 80’s styled tween movies. With a passing nod to John Landau and Michael J. Fox, The Vampire’s Assistant attempts to plug a gap between the labouring romance of Twilight, the menace of Nosferatu and the gory reboot of True Blood.
Best friends Darren and Steve find themselves in an unintended face-off when Cirque Du Freak visits town. It’s a familiar situation, friendship torn apart by the lure of riches – eternal death for friendless Steve and a walk on the wild side for goody-two-shoes Darren. It’s also rather contrived as the boys pair off with their respective vampires; forces of good and evil. Naturally.
But it’s forgivable given The Vampire’s Assistant is, for the most part, good fun - a jolly romp that is paired with bright design and a brighter sense of humour. There’s an echo of the whimsy that made films like Back to the Future such a pleasure. Reilly’s withering delivery hits these same notes, an appealing blend of cartoon and character. He may steal the film off his from-a-bottle college-kid leads, but it’s forgivable theft.
The problem, and it is severe, is pacing. A pre-release decision to turn this into a franchise renders The Vampire’s Assistant all set-up and no payoff. After an hour and a half of build, an unexpected, cursory and completely illogical finale is followed by a rush to film’s end. It leaves a string of very important questions in its wake: questions like when did the director fall asleep, where did Willem Dafoe go for most of the film and, most importantly, how can I get my money back?
// COLIN FRASER
moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks