Vampire Circus (1972)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pretty Good

One of my all time favorites.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

"Vampire Circus" has received generally high reviews, but it is really nothing more than a run-of-the-mill horror flick on a subject that has been done to undeath. Having said that, it is worth watching. It begins with a young virgin being lured away by a servant of the undead. Virgin as in too young to even mention the word sex. Once inside the castle, her fate is sealed, but one of the villagers manages with some difficulty to recruit a posse to storm the castle and kill the wicked count. No, not that count.With his undying breath he curses them all and vows he will return. Fast forward fifteen years, and the circus comes to town. There is a bit more to it than that, but not a lot more. We see the usual themes: mirrors in which the undead don't reflect, crucifixes, skeptics, and a bit of cleavage for those who are more interested in live women than dead men.

This is part of Hammer Films later output, when they finally figured out they could put nudity in their movies instead of just implied sexuality What you have is sort of a confused mess of a story where a bunch of villagers kill off their Vampire Count, who swears revenge before they blow up his castle. His human mistress goes off to find his cousin, and for some reason, she gave birth to two vampire twins who are fully grown 15 years later. (One of them played by Doctor Who's Lalla Ward.) So apparently, these villagers don't think anything is strange about a circus showing up and people mysteriously disappearing or dying in their midst.So some nudity, some gore, some nice Hammer stylistic visuals, but lacking the gravitas that Cushing and Christopher Lee usually brought to these things.

Vampire Circus (1972) is an excellent Hammer horror film that mixes vampires and a circus. It stars Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Anthony Higgins, and David Prowse (Darth Vader in Star Wars episodes IV, V, and VI).Basically, the movie takes place in an Austrian village in the 19th century. A little girl is killed by a vampire, Count Mitterhaus. The villagers kill this vampire in revenge for killing the girl. Years later this village suffers from the ravages of the plague. Some fifteen years later, a circus comes to town which actually consists of vampires. That's all I want to say about the plot so I don't spoil everything for you. Watch to find out what happens.This movie has lots of blood and gore, some full nudity, and some decent special effects for a low budget Hammer movie. The circus atmosphere and props are pretty decent, as are the costumes. The circus animals are amazing and appear to be well trained. Watch for the dancing tiger woman. She's a sight to see. This movie possesses a sort of dark fairy tale atmosphere mixed with pure circus horror. The movie has that classic low budget Hammer look and feel to it - somewhat cheaply made, but the cheapness is made up for with the story, attitude, and scariness.I recommend this movie because it's one of the better Hammer films and is a film that ranks pretty high on the all-time list of best vampire flicks in movie history, according to many fans.

After witnessing his wife take a child into the castle of Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman), Albert Muller (Laurence Payne) rouses the villagers to his cause, and they stake Mitterhaus, a vampire, killing him. With his last dying breath, the Count curses the villagers, claiming they and their children will all die to bring him back to life. Fifteen years later, the village is riddled with plague, but the arrival of a travelling circus lifts their spirits. During one of their performances, the village is treated to a panther who turns into a man, Emil (Anthony Higgins), a clown dwarf, a strongman (played by Darth Vader himself, David Prowse), and twins that can change into bats. But when the mayor (Thorley Walters) goes into the hall of mirrors, he has vision of the returning Count Mitterhaus.By 1972, Hammer Studios was on the decline. Audiences were gaining more sophisticated tastes, and their lust for blood was being appeased in mainstream films, who were beginning adopt a more realistic approach towards violence. Hammer, naturally, tried to evolve and survive, and were abandoning their traditional period settings (one of the things they were known for), updating things to 'Swinging' London. This led to the catastrophic Dracula, A.D. 1972 (1972), and so they opted to focus more on the sexual side to draw the audiences. Thankfully, they had one good film left in them, which went back to a period setting, and told a slightly macabre, unconventional vampire story, that is rich in both gore and sexual content.This tale of lust-ridden vampires who gleefully kill children amongst a plague-ridden landscape is surprisingly dark given my previous experience of Hammer's output. Not to say previous films are 'camp', but they are played out with such theatrical vigour that they do have elements of camp, and although there are moments of this in Vampire Circus, this has a much more sinister feel to it. However, as lovely as the cinematography is (as always), and as pleasingly twisted the plot happens to be, this is still very predictable fair, most of which has been done far better in the past. But there is a clear reason why this has a strong cult following, it is certainly memorable, and despite it's many flaws, has all the elements present to why I love Hammer.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com