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Vampires are everywhere these days. There are the Romeo and Juliet-style stories of Twilight and the steamier True Blood as well as the love triangle of the CW's Vampire Diaries. And now there is "Cirque Du Freak," based on the best-selling series of YA novels by Darren Shan, who shares his name with the title character.

I think it is because in this open-minded and permissive era it is hard to find a reason to keep an ordinary romantic couple apart. In the old days, parental disapproval, not having enough money, or societies' strictures could fuel an entire movie until the happily-ever after ending. But these days it is difficult to create narrative tension to keep a couple separate for 10 minutes, much less two hours. That may be great for society, but it is tough on story-tellers. And so in order to get transgressive, a bit of cross-species romance seasoned with the risk of death and the prospect of an unleashed id can make a story very captivating.

Teenager Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) feels that his life is just fine. He gets good grades. Kids at school like him. His parents are proud of him. He has a life-long best friend named Steve (Josh Hutcherson of "Bridge to Terabithia"), who is restless and unhappy.

Darren does not want to admit that he also has his restless moments and is not always comfortable being what Steve calls "perfect boy." Darren wants to make sure we understand that he is no longer close to a former friend who has become "a freak," meaning that he does not dress like an ad for a soft drink. He is not sure that he will be satisfied with what his parents tell him is "the path to a happy, productive life: College! Job! Family! And one day, if you're lucky, you'll be yelling at a teenager of your own."

And there's Darren's lifelong fascination with spiders, not studying them, more communing with them. Steve is obsessed with vampires and dreams of becoming one himself. They pick up a mysterious flier about a freak show and sneak out to see it. When Darren steals a poisonous spider and it bites Steve, Darren agrees to give up his life as a human to become the vampire's assistant in exchange for the antidote.

It makes some changes to the story in the book series but it is true to the tone -- a nice combination of teenage angst and outrageous grotesquery, with the implicit recognition that sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference. Massoglia and Hutcherson come across as bland at times, but then they are sharing the screen with a snake-boy and a lady who not only has a beard but is the mesmerizing Salma Hayek. The story can be exposition-heavy as it lays the foundation for the next episodes in the series by starting up a war between two vampire factions. But it benefits from small details around the edges that attest to the fully-realized world of the novels. It balances the scary moments with humor. And it has good guy and bad guy vampires, a rock music-loving snake boy (Patrick Fugit, one of the film's highlights), a woman whose limbs regenerate, a super-tall guy who kind of looks like Edgar Allen Poe, and a world of freaks that knows how to make the Cirque feel like home.

What is it about zombies?

Dating back to 1932's "White Zombie," the stories of the relentless, omnivorous undead and the humans who try to escape them have been one of film's most popular genres, with sub-genres including the flourishing category of zombie comedies, best described as gallows humor, gasps of horror alternating with gasps of laughter. Zombie films turn out to provide many opportunities for some core elements of humor, especially the juxtaposition of dire circumstances with trivial detail and the deconstruction of our assumptions about what we need and the norms of lifestyle and behavior. As its title suggests, "Zombieland's" take is darkly comic, with zombie encounters as theme park or video game. It even ends up in a real theme park, the few remaining humans battling the hordes from rides and concession stands.

One thing about zombies is that they thin out the herd. In this story, only four non-zombie humans seem to be left, which gives them an opportunity to try to band together with people with whom they would otherwise have nothing in common and show each other and themselves that they are capable of more in both physical courage and relationships than they ever thought possible.

The mixed bag, all known only by the names of cities, includes shy college student (Jesse Eisenberg) who tries to maintain some sense of control by compulsively making lists of rules for survival. He meets up with a modern-day cowboy (Woody Harrelson) in search of his favorite Hostess treat and a pair of sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) who have their own methods for taking care of themselves. And even though they have not much idea where they are going or why they should go there, they hit the road.

Funny zombie movies can be just as scary as straight zombie movies, but they leaven the terror with humor that comes as the characters try to find some element of normalcy in between double-tapping zombies (one of the rules), grabbing whatever they want among the abandoned cars and grocery stores. It also includes checking out the home of a major movie star who shows up for an hilariously deadpan cameo before one last zombie attack in the actual amusement park -- that juxtaposition element again.

The actors, including the movie star, are all superb. Eisenberg and Stone are two of the most talented young performers in movies and they hit just the right notes here. The usual getting-to-know-and-trust-you road trip developments play out in a manner that is both endearing and funny, as when Eisenberg asks Breslin if her sister has a boyfriend as though there are any other possible candidates for dating who would have a very different idea of having her for dinner. It goes on a little too long and does not match the inspired lunacy of "Shaun of the Dead," but it will keep zombie-philic audiences as happy as finding the very last Twinkie.

"Jennifer's Body" is not scary enough for horror and not knowing enough for commentary on horror.

"Hell is a teenage girl," says Needy (Amanda Seyfried of "Mama Mia" and "Big Love"). And she should know. She is a teenage girl. And her Best Friend Forever Jennifer (made-for-Maxim hottie Megan Fox of the "Transformers" films) is both, quite literally. She may wear a BFF charm in recognition of friendship going back to the sandbox days, but she is more of a frenemy, one of those people who are in our life and have great powers of influence even though we are not sure why and we don't like them very much. Jennifer tells the appropriately-nicknamed Needy (for Anita) to break a date with her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) and accompany Jennifer to the town's only club/bar so they can watch an up-and-coming group called "Low Shoulder." Needy says yes to Jennifer, no to Chip, and they are on their way.

Some nasty things happen, and Jennifer turns into a demon who preys on the bodies of helpless and terrified victims. (They have to be helpless and terrified; she's something of a picky eater in that respect.) Needy is the only one who sees her for what she is, and as the remains begin to pile up and funerals clog everyone's schedules, Needy has to figure out what to do. And it wouldn't be a horror movie if it didn't get personal.

When Diablo Cody ("Juno" and many opinionated but very cool and clever essays in Entertainment Weekly) takes on the horror genre, it is fair to expect some snappy honest-to-blog patter and if not obvious po-mo air quotes at least something a little meta. But it does work as straight-on horror or as what has now become an established and rich little sub-genre of the snarky, self-aware horror film that delivers on two levels, like the "Scream" series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," or "Shaun of the Dead."

It actually is not that much of a stretch between "straight" horror and meta-horror. Straight-on horror films deliver thrills with a combination of the predictable (woe to any teenager who has sex and if the camera zooms in close, there's something terrible just out of frame) and the unpredictable (you know, the part where some one or some thing jumps out and splits some hapless victim down the middle). And they often have a sense of humor about themselves and their conventions, with serial killers Freddy Kruger (of "Nightmare on Elm Street") and Chuckie (the demon doll) toss off wisecracks and bad puns as they slaughter.

Cody has a few nice points to make here about the frenemy dynamic of some girl-girl relationships: the drama, the connection, the power plays, and the excitement. "Not high school evil; evil-evil" is an theme worth exploring, but it is hard to improve on "Buffy." The idea of the indie band's song "Through the Trees" being used at the candlelight vigils for the dead classmates is well-handled. And there are some cutesy winks at the audience, as when the indie band talks about getting on a movie soundtrack as a path to fame and fortune, as happened to the Moldy Peaches on the soundtrack of "Juno." Casting everyone's favorite boy next door Adam Brody as an "agent of Satan with a really awesome haircut" is fun. Director Karyn Kusama and cinematographer M. David Mullen find some striking compositions, though it is unfortunate that a pool scene recalls the much better teen vampire movie "Let the Right One In." And what is the deal with that 80's prom dress? Now that's horror.

Christian Toto asks why we love horror movies and he comes up with what to me -- someone who has very little tolerance for horror movies -- some very plausible answers. The entire post is well worth reading and here is a sample:

Losing control: Our lives tend to be bland, or at least uneventful. And that's a very good thing. But horror movies offer an alternative reality that play upon our worst fears. In most cases, the hero lives to tell the tale. On some level we hope we'd react with the same heroism if we were fleeing a knife-wielding maniac.

An inept drama or comedy can be painful to endure. An inept horror can pack one moment, one scene, which can prove unforgettable.

Horror is communal. I'd never encourage people talking in a theater ... but once in a while the crowd noise can elevate a standard horror viewing into an event.

Hidden messages: Horror movies often pack a political or social punch that would otherwise come off as trite or heavy handed. George A. Romero has led the way with his "Dead" features, commenting on racism and consumerism courtesy of his flesh-chomping zombies.

I believe that a scary film, whether a noir thriller, a slam-bang action film, or a horror film, or even a drama with an angry confrontation and some emotional risks, is a dress rehearsal for our emotions, a way for us to work through our fears and experience a sense of release. I'd just rather do it with a little better dialogue and a little less blood. But if you feel differently, be sure to check out the Rotten Tomatoes list of the all-time best horror films.

Stories, especially movies, are usually linear and organized in part because stories are how we make sense of the world but mostly because of the limits of time. If we are only going to give two hours of our lives to a movie, we don't have time for irrelevant details. But real life is messy. Patterns only emerge in retrospect. Part of the appeal of scary movies is that we know that it's just a movie. Those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or the great ape in King Kong are contained, not just within the limits of the screen but also within the formal limits of traditional story-telling. The perfect lighting and welling music provoke a response in us that is a kind of comfortable scariness.

This movie goes in another direction. A clever premise keeps the audience literally off-balance in "Cloverfield" from J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and Alias. We may be in stadium seating at the mall multiplex, eating popcorn, but what we are watching is not a feature film. It is an artifact, a home video found at a site "formerly known as Central Park" that happened to be running when something terrible happened. It's as though the only documentation of a massive and devastating attack was a 21st century equivalent of the Zapruder film.

There could be no better match for the gothic saga of the barber who slit men's throats and the baker who made their bodies into pies than director Tim Burton, the master of the macabre. Here working with Johnny...

The growing trend in horror is to be as disgusting as possible — the story need not be involved, as long as it includes some form of stainless-steel torture and preferably five to six young backpackers/tourists/campers/other people away from home....

There are two types of people who awake with an uneasy feeling on Friday the 13th: the superstitious, and those who just can’t stomach the release of another horror sequel, remake, or (in this case), sequel to a remake. But...

Fans of the original The Wicker Man appreciate the film for many reasons: Its dichotomy of paganism and Christianity, its skillful use of Celtic folk music, its eerie and overbearing ambience. Although some might find it slow, disturbing, and at...

Director John Moore knows one thing -- how to compose some compelling images with swirling white (flakes of snow, scraps of paper) and something creepy and scarlet to catch your eye. But those swirling flakes and glimpses of red have...

If these hills only had eyes, it would be one thing but parents should know that they also have mutants wielding pickaxes which results in a disturbingly graphic movie not suitable for sensitive audiences of any age or species. Even...

It’s like deja vu, says the main character, only of something I haven’t done yet. Wow, get out of my head, Wendy! We are barely minutes into “Final Destination 3” and already we, the audience, are sharing her feeling. We...

“He is calling from within the house.” What a line! Since the original version of When a Stranger Calls came out in 1979, that sentence -- packed with impending terror --has resonated with babysitters and played on their fears as...

"Is that the same guy that was just sucking the blood out of the dead horse?" That was my question to the critic sitting next to me in the middle of the movie. I liked the first Underworld. I thought...

I hope needless to say, this extremely violent movie is only for the hard-core fans of the genre who are old enough not to be traumatized by it. Since I do not think I can be fair to these movies,...