With one weekend to go until Halloween, the cinematic fare entering movie theaters this Friday is frighteningly bad, and Rolling Stone's Peter Travers tells you what to avoid like the plague this weekend At the Movies. Since we're closing in on October 31st, we'll kick it off this week with Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, the movie adaptation of the 12-part British novel. Despite the presence of the always-great John C. Reilly, this movie is "lame." A boy goes to a freak show, gets bitten by a vampire and zaniness ensues. Between True Blood and Twilight, vampires are hot right now, but this movie is pure Scum Bucket. Since the movie only used the first three books of the series for this film, Vampire's Assistant ends with a cliffhanger, but after this debacle of a film it's unlikely those sequels will ever be made.

Next is a film that was forecasted to be a major Oscar player, Amelia, starring two-time winner Hilary Swank as the aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

The film looks like an Academy Award nominee, perfectly capturing the 1930s in wardrobe and style. However, "Nothing in this horrible waxworks of a movie comes to life," Travers says. The film takes Earhart's fatal disappearance over the Pacific Ocean and makes it a boring cinematic experience. This film flies right into the Scum Bucket.

Finally, depending on how strong your stomach is, Danish director's Lars von Trier's Antichrist is also a potential Scum Bucket film. If you're a fan of the Dogme 95 director, then you may give this film four stars. If you're faint of heart, you might give it zero. Travers took the middle ground and gave the story about two parents who cope with the death of their son in the most brutal way possible two stars. Travers is a fan of von Trier, but once the film enters the woods, scenes ensue that would make even Hostel fans squeamish. It's controversial, which is von Trier's specialty, but watch it at your own risk.

Read this week's reviews:
• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
• Amelia
• Antichrist

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