Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Aiming to do for Brit-author Darren Shan what Twilight did for Stephenie Meyer, this lavish but uneven franchise hopeful condenses the first three books in Shan’s 12-part saga.
The ball starts rolling when straight-A student Darren (Chris Massoglia) gives up his (mortal) life to save bad-boy best friend Steve ( Josh Hutcherson), who’s been bitten by highly venomous spider Madame Octa.
Freshly undead, Darren joins travelling sideshow Cirque Du Freak, becoming both assistant to vampire Crepsley (John C Reilly) and a player in the struggle against nastier neck-nippers the Vampaneze.
Reilly’s terrific as the bloodsucker who’s lost his zest for death, and there’s further quality from supporting freaks Ken Watanabe, Willem Dafoe and bearded lady Salma Hayek.
Alas, most of the above are reduced to bit parts, leaving Paul Weitz’s film reliant on the limited ability of Massoglia. The new RPattz? We’ll stick with the old one…
Dev behind one of 2024's best indie horror games celebrates 1 million soundtrack streams on Spotify: "I can buy like two hot dogs with the revenue"
Dragon Quest 3 remake producer wants Final Fantasy 6 to get the HD-2D treatment because it has "the highest quality pixel art"
James Gunn says "more than one" potentially R-rated DC projects are currently in the works: "Whatever is worthy of the story"
