Vampire Circus (1972)

The horror is; the money MGM wasted, putting their brand on this, wasted part of my life watching this. It's absolutely garbage as far as..... everything. If the people in this were the best out of all auditioning, wow. Can't even put this in the "B" movie category. This cringe worthy train wreck and waste of celluloid, is the 3rd to list of WTF? To go with; The car (1977) About Schmidt ( Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates) You can't unsee her topless. Can i sue for PTSD? Ugh.

Rumour has it that filming was shut down on Vampire Circus with several important sequences still to be shot. The director had gone over schedule and Hammer simply assembled the film from what footage had already been taken. And to be frank, it shows.The film is full of illogical ideas. A plague which turns out to be rabies carried by bats can be cured by "Medicine" from the capital, although the film never shows bats attacking people, and the villages occasionally are to be seen with bubonic-style pustules over their faces. A small plot point but the film is full of such silliness.The main story concerns the revenge of Count Mitterhouse upon said village - he's a vampire staked 15 years earlier in a prologue which allows for nudity, gore, and sadism (the vampire's willing female accomplice is whipped and birched.)Enter the circus, mysteriously dodging road blocks set up by the surrounding villages to keep the plague contained, which turns out to be full of vampires who use their powers to put on a circus act! These scenes are nicely staged but quickly become repetitive as the villages seem to go there every single night, despite mysterious deaths galore and the plague spreading panic.I could point out many other inconsistencies in the plot but I'm trying to keep it short. Unaccountably this film has gained a decent reputation over the years, but in all honesty it's not very good, and not a patch on earlier Hammers such as Dracula, Plague of The Zombies and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed.Historical note: this was the last of Hammer's period vampire movies to be shot.

This was an entertaining Hammer film that I recently watched. Essentially, the plot is about revenge. The film starts with the townspeople assaulting the castle of the nearby count who has been preying upon the people of the town for some time. After a fight, they are able to drive a stake through his heart. Then they burn the castle down, but not before the dying vampire utters a curse on the townspeople.Spoilers:Additionally, the count tells one of his women to seek out his cousin who lives with the Circus of Nights, that he will know what to do.15 years later, the circus arrives (no idea why it took 15 years for the circus to avenge the count but no matter). The town is already suffering from a strange illness (part of the curse) and the circus is there to finish the job by slowly killing off the children of those who attacked the count. Evidently, once everyone has been killed, the count will rise again.There are some great death scenes (slightly cheesy with cheap effects, but fun regardless). What I liked about this movie was that it was just fun. The sets were well-done for a cheap budget and the whole tone of the film was creepy. This movie has what a lot of modern horror movies lack, which is a genuine horror feel to it. I think you have to watch one of these old Hammer horror films with a few things in your mind upfront. The first is that in the 70's, they didn't believe in having their actors LOOK like they were from a different time period. A lot of the actors in this film have 70's hair, which give it that dated look that most 70's films have. Doesn't ruin the movie, just funny.The second is that the blood if obviously fake...bright red, but hey, at the time, it was enough to almost make these movies un-releasable.The third is that at times, the acting can be rather poor. Again, it doesn't ruin the movie, just kinda funny.Also much has been made about the very graphic nudity/sex scenes, but the version I watched apparently has been edited as the early scene with the young girl did not include much of what the parental advisory indicated. Also, the sex scene appeared to be truncated as well...so I think there are edited versions out there, if that matters to you.

This film has some good ideas. There's the freaky circus (always a good foundation of a horror film), there's some quite bold eroticism, and it could have worked out well. Unfortunately it seems obvious that there wasn't any money. The problem isn't with the bad effects, nor with the various goofs, nor that the villain looks kind of funny. Mainly, it seems like the plot isn't developed enough, making leaps because we can't afford to make a fuller version of the story. Too cheap for the average viewer, but a Hammer horror fan will appreciate it. The kind of movie that may be worthy of a good remake so it can reach its full potential.