Well now. I'd heard a lot about "Vampire Circus" since it's disappearance back in the early 70s. Now, the blu-ray of this oddity has surfaced and we can all see what the cultists are raving about.
Strictly a drive-in movie, which should have been double-billed with something like "Return of the Dwarf Clown Vampire Circus Performers of Evil" or something like that. FREE donuts at dawn for everyone brave enough to stay all nite!!! That's where this flick should be seen.
"Circus" isn't all that terrible, but it was filmed and released around the time that Hammer was descending into bankruptcy and a lot of bare breasts were uncovered to pay the bills. The new DVD is nice, clear, and reveals all those things we like about Hammer vampires. Good color,enormous fangs, indifferent pacing, stock dimwitted characters, and those annoying twisted columns from Dracula's castle back in 1958. Hammer really got their money's worth out of that particular set, as it appears over and over in all their vampire films.
"Circus" opens nicely, with the locals aghast over the peccadilloes of resident castle-dweller Count Mitterhouse. He's a bloodsucker, sex fiend, and a pedophile! His excesses have outraged the locals, who put his reign of terror to rest. Purists here will notice that when the Count is staked from behind in bloody fashion, later shots of him rolling around on his bed show that his shirt is intact and well, pretty clean for a guy leaking blood all over. He succumbs to the stake, but curses the town. Fifteen years pass and a "disease" has come to claim the town. Pity that they never got around to clearing the mess they made by exploding the Count's castle, isn't it? They might have discovered his body lounging around in a snazzy coffin.
So, a village with plague is cut off from the rest of the world, but a threadbare circus rolls into town unimpeded. The dimwitted villagers are entranced and end up as the victims of the circus performers, who are all.....vampires!! No one saw that coming, let me tell you. Stock townies are cut down as the undead try to revive Count Mitterhouse. Will they prevail or just slink away to another Hammer flick, like "Twins of Evil" or something that depends on boobs instead of scares to keep audiences awake?
This is strictly for Hammer fans, although it's a jazzy take on the vampire mythos. The sets are claustrophobic, as you might imagine. All Hammer films end up feeling like high school plays with a tiny budget. Why do all the stricken townies attend the circus every night? Who cleaned up the litter boxes for the were-panther and the were-tiger? Evidently all the townies are fairly stupid despite warnings from the veterans of Mission Mitterhouse. Absolutely no one seems to connect the past ghoulish goings-on back to Count Mitterhouse and his faithful concubine who was allowed to run away fifteen years earlier. The climax of this tale of terror is a yawner. Everyone tries to best the bloodsuckers, but everyone has forgotten the lore. The dumb townies get knocked down and bitten like falling dominoes. It all takes place in what seems like slow motion.
A strange take on the vampire mythos from your friends at Hammer, who tried the sex-and-horror thing long before mainstream studios realized that nudity trumped scares. The rest of us in our cars at soggy Midwestern drive-ins just snoozed and waited for those free donuts at dawn. "Vampire Circus" isn't that bad, but it's not that good either.
Strictly a drive-in movie, which should have been double-billed with something like "Return of the Dwarf Clown Vampire Circus Performers of Evil" or something like that. FREE donuts at dawn for everyone brave enough to stay all nite!!! That's where this flick should be seen.
"Circus" isn't all that terrible, but it was filmed and released around the time that Hammer was descending into bankruptcy and a lot of bare breasts were uncovered to pay the bills. The new DVD is nice, clear, and reveals all those things we like about Hammer vampires. Good color,enormous fangs, indifferent pacing, stock dimwitted characters, and those annoying twisted columns from Dracula's castle back in 1958. Hammer really got their money's worth out of that particular set, as it appears over and over in all their vampire films.
"Circus" opens nicely, with the locals aghast over the peccadilloes of resident castle-dweller Count Mitterhouse. He's a bloodsucker, sex fiend, and a pedophile! His excesses have outraged the locals, who put his reign of terror to rest. Purists here will notice that when the Count is staked from behind in bloody fashion, later shots of him rolling around on his bed show that his shirt is intact and well, pretty clean for a guy leaking blood all over. He succumbs to the stake, but curses the town. Fifteen years pass and a "disease" has come to claim the town. Pity that they never got around to clearing the mess they made by exploding the Count's castle, isn't it? They might have discovered his body lounging around in a snazzy coffin.
So, a village with plague is cut off from the rest of the world, but a threadbare circus rolls into town unimpeded. The dimwitted villagers are entranced and end up as the victims of the circus performers, who are all.....vampires!! No one saw that coming, let me tell you. Stock townies are cut down as the undead try to revive Count Mitterhouse. Will they prevail or just slink away to another Hammer flick, like "Twins of Evil" or something that depends on boobs instead of scares to keep audiences awake?
This is strictly for Hammer fans, although it's a jazzy take on the vampire mythos. The sets are claustrophobic, as you might imagine. All Hammer films end up feeling like high school plays with a tiny budget. Why do all the stricken townies attend the circus every night? Who cleaned up the litter boxes for the were-panther and the were-tiger? Evidently all the townies are fairly stupid despite warnings from the veterans of Mission Mitterhouse. Absolutely no one seems to connect the past ghoulish goings-on back to Count Mitterhouse and his faithful concubine who was allowed to run away fifteen years earlier. The climax of this tale of terror is a yawner. Everyone tries to best the bloodsuckers, but everyone has forgotten the lore. The dumb townies get knocked down and bitten like falling dominoes. It all takes place in what seems like slow motion.
A strange take on the vampire mythos from your friends at Hammer, who tried the sex-and-horror thing long before mainstream studios realized that nudity trumped scares. The rest of us in our cars at soggy Midwestern drive-ins just snoozed and waited for those free donuts at dawn. "Vampire Circus" isn't that bad, but it's not that good either.