Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

This is a pitiable movie. Two teenaged friends are talking together outside when a car pulls up to them and tosses out a flyer advertising a traveling magic show. Darren (Chris Massoglia) is fascinated by spiders and steals a brightly colored one that is poisonous and it bites his friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) causing him to go into a coma. To save his life, Darren agrees to become a vampire and unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions.

It is based on the book series The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan. Some of the filming was done in New Orleans City Park. John Marshall High School in Los Angeles and Lusher Charter School in New Orleans were also used. Cormac Limbs was turned into a female character named Corma in the movie. Darren's love interest in the novels is Debbie Hemlock. Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor who appeared in Letters from Iwo Jima and The Last Samurai.