VAMPIRE CIRCUS
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
Many years after a dying vampire (Robert Tayman) placed a curse on the inhabitants of a small European village, a terrible plague descends on the area, quickly followed by a travelling circus which turns out to be a hotbed of vengeful vampires.
Though the production was shut down before fledgling director Robert Young (THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN) could shoot all the footage he needed, this exemplary horror film retains a fairy tale quality unlike anything produced by Hammer before or since. Uncompromising in terms of nudity and violence, Judson Kinberg's script adds an element of Magick to the predictable Gothic trappings, allowing the vampires to deceive and seduce their unsuspecting victims, and resulting in a series of extremely powerful sequences - including the murder of two young boys (Barnaby and Roderick Shaw) by an incestuous vampire couple (Robin Sachs and Lalla Ward) who draw them into a magic mirror, a scene which is both beautiful and corrupt, all at the same time. A largely unfamiliar cast - including attractive newcomers John Moulder-Brown (THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED) and Lynne Frederick (SCHIZO) - becomes caught up in the climactic orgy of death and destruction, and the film ends with a bizarre decapitation that closes proceedings on a visual high. A minor classic, worth seeing.
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
Many years after a dying vampire (Robert Tayman) placed a curse on the inhabitants of a small European village, a terrible plague descends on the area, quickly followed by a travelling circus which turns out to be a hotbed of vengeful vampires.
Though the production was shut down before fledgling director Robert Young (THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN) could shoot all the footage he needed, this exemplary horror film retains a fairy tale quality unlike anything produced by Hammer before or since. Uncompromising in terms of nudity and violence, Judson Kinberg's script adds an element of Magick to the predictable Gothic trappings, allowing the vampires to deceive and seduce their unsuspecting victims, and resulting in a series of extremely powerful sequences - including the murder of two young boys (Barnaby and Roderick Shaw) by an incestuous vampire couple (Robin Sachs and Lalla Ward) who draw them into a magic mirror, a scene which is both beautiful and corrupt, all at the same time. A largely unfamiliar cast - including attractive newcomers John Moulder-Brown (THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED) and Lynne Frederick (SCHIZO) - becomes caught up in the climactic orgy of death and destruction, and the film ends with a bizarre decapitation that closes proceedings on a visual high. A minor classic, worth seeing.