Another So-So 'Vampire's Assistant' Poster

I loved the first look we got at the film that was then called Cirque du Freak months and months ago. There were shots of John C. Reilly and a bearded Salma Hayek, and it all looked very strange. When it resurfaced earlier this month, repositioned as Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, I hated the name and the first poster. The name made sense, presupposing a trilogy. The poster, which was just an empty hand with the title floating above it wasn't so great. I thought, if they're pushing this thing for an October release, they need to do better than that, even if the books by Darren Shan have sold tons of copies. Eragon sold a lot of copies, and look what happened there. A trailer arrived a few days later, and it was really groovy. So I guess what I'm saying is, more trailers, fewer posters. The latest is an international one-sheet I saw at IMP Awards, and it's not a disaster, but I'm so readily reminded of the stuff from the most recent Harry Potter movie, and I was no fan of the marketing for that film. Again, I say: If this movie's coming out in less than two months, the gang over at Universal better pick up the slack on these marketing materials pronto. It's not really a mystery: Bad marketing hurts, good marketing helps. The other thing about this poster is that it's very exclusive. By that I mean you have to have some working knowledge of the story to understand the significance of the headstone. The kid is (the fictional version of the author) Darren Shan, which would make it his headstone. Oh...