Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Private screening!)
This has to be one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. You know how there's a multitude of online sweepstakes out there, where you fill out a webform and then promptly forget about it cause no one ever wins? Well I actually won the grand prize in one of those. I remember entering, but I cant remember how I even came across it. Most likely linked off IMDB news or something. Anyways, I got a private screening of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant for "200 of my closest friends" with an appearance by Chris Massoglia, who plays Darren (the vampire's asst).
The past week has been such a blur. I got the call last Wed at work. At first I thought it was the landlord calling to yell at me like they had the day before. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked once I found out what the call was actually about. At first I was told this would be happening at the end of the month/early next month. Okay, I can work on getting 200 people in a couple weeks. Then I find out late Thur that is happening in 6 days. Enter panic mode.
Ultimately I managed 20 guests, which actually worked out quite well. Some of my usual gang was there as well as some peeps I hadn't seen in a while. And since we were a small group, we scored VIP concessions--meaning we could have as much free food as we wanted. Once we were there I was kinda in person wrangling/running around mode, so I couldnt quite take full advantage of that. But I know some of the others had fun trying to see how much candy and popcorn they could carry. One of many reasons why this was one of my most surreal days _ever_.
And having the auditorium to ourselves was prolly the most fun part. Its something I'd always wanted to do. I seriously have been wanting to own a theater someday so I can do things like that. It was great knowing we could relax and have fun (for some reason everyone found the term Vampinese hiliarous each time it was said), like it was a movie night home at the Hellmouth, but with a bigger screen and better accomodations over all.
Meeting Chris was really cool. Although, this is one of those situations where I really wish I was a better conversationalist. He signed two posters for me (there were two different styles) and posters for the majority of my friends there. Also managed to grab a picture with him. He's such a sweet kid, I just kinda wish that portion of the evening hadnt been so rushed.
As far as the movie itself, it was such campy goodness. The intro gave me a total Lemony Snicket vibe (between the music and the opening sequence). And overall it felt like A Series of Unfortunate Events crossed with the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, without Joss Whedon's killer dialogue. It had a bizarre mix of cheese and darkness that worked surprisingly well.
Such a fun cast (John C Riley, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek, Patrick Fugit, Michael Cerveris etc), even if some of the bigger names only appeared briefly. John C Riley is one of my favorite actors because of his range. He's done award winning films like Magnolia and Chicago, but also mixes in some Will Ferrell flicks. From the trailer I was a bit worried about him in this one, but it turns out it was just that the dialogue was cut strangely in the preview. While he wouldnt have been my first choice actor to play a vamp, he pulled it off rather nicely--dark but just approachable enough to make him a likeable character.
I also found the choice of freaks to be quite interesting, but Im not entirely sure what I make of that. They were definitely creative and different, but few of them could not have existed without some computer graphic help, which just sorta pushed the boundaries of belivability a touch too far.
Also worth mentioning, as someone who is an avid vampire fan, Im always curious about the mythology and rules surrounding vamps in a different ficticious universe. This one definitely gets points in that area. Some creative new stuff while still remaining true to a lot of the core vamp lore. Im just not so sure about the superspit thing.
Very fun movie, though I think the whole experience was definitely a postive factor. I would've definitely enjoyed it either way, but I might not have been gushing quite so much otherwise. But I really hope the next set of books gets movie-fied as well. And since I just finished Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy, I guess tomorrow's a good day to head over to Borders to pick up the first book or two in the series.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - \m/ \m/ \m/ \n (its really a solid 3, but it gets bonus points because the whole experience was awesome)
The past week has been such a blur. I got the call last Wed at work. At first I thought it was the landlord calling to yell at me like they had the day before. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked once I found out what the call was actually about. At first I was told this would be happening at the end of the month/early next month. Okay, I can work on getting 200 people in a couple weeks. Then I find out late Thur that is happening in 6 days. Enter panic mode.
Ultimately I managed 20 guests, which actually worked out quite well. Some of my usual gang was there as well as some peeps I hadn't seen in a while. And since we were a small group, we scored VIP concessions--meaning we could have as much free food as we wanted. Once we were there I was kinda in person wrangling/running around mode, so I couldnt quite take full advantage of that. But I know some of the others had fun trying to see how much candy and popcorn they could carry. One of many reasons why this was one of my most surreal days _ever_.
And having the auditorium to ourselves was prolly the most fun part. Its something I'd always wanted to do. I seriously have been wanting to own a theater someday so I can do things like that. It was great knowing we could relax and have fun (for some reason everyone found the term Vampinese hiliarous each time it was said), like it was a movie night home at the Hellmouth, but with a bigger screen and better accomodations over all.
Meeting Chris was really cool. Although, this is one of those situations where I really wish I was a better conversationalist. He signed two posters for me (there were two different styles) and posters for the majority of my friends there. Also managed to grab a picture with him. He's such a sweet kid, I just kinda wish that portion of the evening hadnt been so rushed.
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As far as the movie itself, it was such campy goodness. The intro gave me a total Lemony Snicket vibe (between the music and the opening sequence). And overall it felt like A Series of Unfortunate Events crossed with the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, without Joss Whedon's killer dialogue. It had a bizarre mix of cheese and darkness that worked surprisingly well.
Such a fun cast (John C Riley, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek, Patrick Fugit, Michael Cerveris etc), even if some of the bigger names only appeared briefly. John C Riley is one of my favorite actors because of his range. He's done award winning films like Magnolia and Chicago, but also mixes in some Will Ferrell flicks. From the trailer I was a bit worried about him in this one, but it turns out it was just that the dialogue was cut strangely in the preview. While he wouldnt have been my first choice actor to play a vamp, he pulled it off rather nicely--dark but just approachable enough to make him a likeable character.
I also found the choice of freaks to be quite interesting, but Im not entirely sure what I make of that. They were definitely creative and different, but few of them could not have existed without some computer graphic help, which just sorta pushed the boundaries of belivability a touch too far.
Also worth mentioning, as someone who is an avid vampire fan, Im always curious about the mythology and rules surrounding vamps in a different ficticious universe. This one definitely gets points in that area. Some creative new stuff while still remaining true to a lot of the core vamp lore. Im just not so sure about the superspit thing.
Very fun movie, though I think the whole experience was definitely a postive factor. I would've definitely enjoyed it either way, but I might not have been gushing quite so much otherwise. But I really hope the next set of books gets movie-fied as well. And since I just finished Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy, I guess tomorrow's a good day to head over to Borders to pick up the first book or two in the series.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - \m/ \m/ \m/ \n (its really a solid 3, but it gets bonus points because the whole experience was awesome)