I can't believe I've never seen Theatre of Blood.

From a profile of Darren Shan:

O'Shaughnessy was brought up on a diet of Hammer horror, Shaun Hutson, and the film Theatre of Blood, in which Vincent Price murders Robert Morley by force-feeding him his two beloved poodles.

But O'Shaughnessy was also a fan of Roald Dahl and the Just William stories, and he studied children's fiction as part of his English degree. He has written adult novels, and has plans for more. But when an idea for a children's book - involving a youngster at a circus who is forced into becoming a vampire's assistant - occurred to him, he decided to give it a whirl.

I never made it through the first Cirque du Freak book.  Maybe I should give it another try.

Or maybe I should just re-read Salem's Lot.