Universal must have been rubbing their hands with glee at Mr Cullen’s deification. Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak series were a big part of my childhood, so I’ve been eyeing its adaptation suspiciously for some time. Its release now, at the height of Meyer-dom, can only be a conveniently cynical act by the studio.

Don’t stop reading – unlike Twilight, these books are challenging, packed with surprisingly dark turns, and not a sparkle in sight. It wasn’t exactly Dostoyevsky – yet on a recent reread, I was pleased to discover it still packs a punch with adult eyes. Yes, every single chapter does end with an exclamation mark – as in “…and now the wolf was coming for me!” – but that is virtually the only concession Shan makes to his child audience. The series was peppered with violence, irony and a lack of easy answers. One particularly effective plot arc reunited long-dead Darren with his girlfriend – now a teacher, with a life of her own. The life of a vampire is not glamorous – Shan riffs off the earthiness of Bram Stoker, but without any of the allure. The

vampire legend is stripped down to merely increased strength and speed with an aversion to sunlight. Towards the end of the 12-book series – arranged into four loose trilogies – the plot wheeled higher than one could have ever anticipated, with paradoxes, time travel, alternate earths and even more tougher -than -tough decisions.

As a student of film, I’m well aware that adaptations can’t – and indeed, shouldn’t – stick rigidly to their source material. Preserving the mood, the tone or underlying message is far more valuable – and with the studio wanting to play up to an easy child market, it was exactly this I dreaded losing. So did it deliver the depth I enjoyed from the books, or was it watered down?

Even in my most optimistic moments, I didn’t envisage walking out of the cinema grinning. To my deep surprise, the plot was completely intact – and possibly more effective than the books for weaving in threads from all over the series. Unlike the books, it provides sulky loner Mr Crepsley with credible motivation for taking on the Assistant of the title. John C Reilly is great as the crusty and worldweary vamp, and he is accompanied by an imaginative collection of sideshow folk – including Salma Hayek with a beard, and a fey Willem Dafoe as fellow vampire Gavner. Most fun is cosmic puppetmaster Mr Tiny, dabbling with self fulfilling prophecies and deus ex machina, attending funerals with a bucket of popcorn and gleefully trying to stir up an apocalypse for his own amusement. And again, to my surprise, the tone remained dark – Darren is blackmailed into abandoning his family, while his lonely best friend Steve is failed by everyone. To cap it off: it was nicely shot, packed with imaginative touches and with a lovely shabby style. The one criticism I would make would be the irritating music – desperate to be Danny Elfman – but you can’t have it all.

The Vampire’s Assistant outdid all my expectations. But does this mean you should go see it? It might have been a better film for being less faithful: although introducing elements from later books was effective dramatically, it still felt like a rushed and cynical ploy to make you see the sequels. For me, who already has a huge investment in the characters, this was all very exciting – but on screen, it did feel very much like every other run-of-the-mill Prophesised Final Battle™ served up by fantasy fiction. This was capped by a cop-out ending which again, as a fan, made perfect sense – but would doubtless seem deeply unsatisfying to everyone else.

Final verdict? A very worthy addition to young teen cinema which in no way sells out its gothic origins. In a market packed by soulless cash-ins, you could do far worse than see this film. And for fanboys? Charna’s guts! Bring on film 2!