Vampire Circus
1972 Directed by Roger Young
Synopsis
After a spate of murders, the villagers of Schtettel kill the depraved perpetrator, Count Mitterhouse. Fifteen years later the Circus of Nights appeared in the plague-ridden village and its performers include Mitterhouse's mistress, children and cousins. They have come to Schtettel to fulfil the Count's last words, an evil, vicious curse of death and destruction on those who participated in his impaling. The children of Schtettel become the targets for a brutal and devastating revenge as the Vampire Circus rehearses for its most deadly performance.
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Film 36 of "The December Project" 2012
87 minutesThis is the first Hammer film that I've ever seen, and I watched it because I remember hearing the guys on the High & Low Brow podcastt. Without a doubt, I thank them for mentioning it, this movie was fucking awesome. You get some fun action and a good entertaining story.
The story in this is great, very fun vampire tale that doesn't get into a bunch of detail about the vampires history, but it doesn't matter since that makes it easy to watch and even easier to have fun with.
Of course the acting was nothing to cheer for, but the performances made this very enjoyable, and I think the actors…
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Definitely not for those who like their vampire films subtle, "Vampire Circus" is a colorful and gory production whose title adequately sums up the plot. It's good, gothic vampire fun.
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Highly entertaining early 70's Hammer effort, slightly more gory and boobtastic than I'd expected. In some ill-defined, possibly 19th century Mittel-European country, the citizens of a small town band together to destroy the vampire eating their children. In his dying moments, he promises to return and destroy the village and take their children. 15 years later, the town is suffering under a terrible plague. In the midst of this, a circus arrives, led by a gypsy woman. They promise to entertain the town, but their real mission is to revive the vampire and help him carry out his revenge.
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to, though truth be told, I was rooting for the vampires, who were…
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Vampire circus tells the story of the mysterious Circus Of Nights, a travelling horde of shape shifting vampires (and a very evil midget) that arrive in a 19th century village and are hellbent on the corruption of the villages innocent children in order to avenge the death of Count Mitterhaus, staked through the heart a decade earlier.
In the early 70's Hammers at one time hugely successful gothic horror formula was becoming rather tired for mainstream audiences so the studio began to experiment with various ideas in order to freshen up the mix. Vampire Circus is a pretty solid entry in this canon and is one of my favourites. It's a darkly gothic fairytale that has a distinctly European (and…
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With regards to the plot, the clue is in the title. Vengeance seeking vampires use their travelling circus to wreak havoc on a European village. As with Bram Stoker's Dracula, the vampires here can transform into animals and seduce young maidens with mad skills. So mad in fact that I think the film makers were gaining for some kind of record with the amount of unnecessary boob'age on screen (as was typical with 1970's Hammer productions).
It's certainly gory enough and despite an extremely hammy, action-packed pre credits sequence it actually pulls together quite nicely. Also, look out for a mostly naked and mute Darth Vader (David Prowse). I was pleasantly surprised to see him here after he appeared as the creation in Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (which I saw last night). -
Fuck.. why were the people surprised these were vampires after they saw them jump into the air and turn in to bats? Fuck Hammer.
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one of my favorite films of all time, no doubt! Hammer Horror at its wildest!
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Fnags, panthers, and boobies.
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Problematic late period Hammer film. Great atmosphere runs up against plot issues. I wanted to like this but it requires so much mental gymnastics to get on board. The attempt to devise something novel in the vampire genre falls short as you try to figure out reasons for why the turn of events is even happening. If the pacing was just a bit snappier you would not be asking why. An intriguing failure.
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Film 36 of "The December Project" 2012
87 minutesThis is the first Hammer film that I've ever seen, and I watched it because I remember hearing the guys on the High & Low Brow podcastt. Without a doubt, I thank them for mentioning it, this movie was fucking awesome. You get some fun action and a good entertaining story.
The story in this is great, very fun vampire tale that doesn't get into a bunch of detail about the vampires history, but it doesn't matter since that makes it easy to watch and even easier to have fun with.
Of course the acting was nothing to cheer for, but the performances made this very enjoyable, and I think the actors…
-
Highly entertaining early 70's Hammer effort, slightly more gory and boobtastic than I'd expected. In some ill-defined, possibly 19th century Mittel-European country, the citizens of a small town band together to destroy the vampire eating their children. In his dying moments, he promises to return and destroy the village and take their children. 15 years later, the town is suffering under a terrible plague. In the midst of this, a circus arrives, led by a gypsy woman. They promise to entertain the town, but their real mission is to revive the vampire and help him carry out his revenge.
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to, though truth be told, I was rooting for the vampires, who were…
-
Vampire circus tells the story of the mysterious Circus Of Nights, a travelling horde of shape shifting vampires (and a very evil midget) that arrive in a 19th century village and are hellbent on the corruption of the villages innocent children in order to avenge the death of Count Mitterhaus, staked through the heart a decade earlier.
In the early 70's Hammers at one time hugely successful gothic horror formula was becoming rather tired for mainstream audiences so the studio began to experiment with various ideas in order to freshen up the mix. Vampire Circus is a pretty solid entry in this canon and is one of my favourites. It's a darkly gothic fairytale that has a distinctly European (and…
-
Definitely not for those who like their vampire films subtle, "Vampire Circus" is a colorful and gory production whose title adequately sums up the plot. It's good, gothic vampire fun.
-
So far, my favorite of the Hammer Films.
-
With regards to the plot, the clue is in the title. Vengeance seeking vampires use their travelling circus to wreak havoc on a European village. As with Bram Stoker's Dracula, the vampires here can transform into animals and seduce young maidens with mad skills. So mad in fact that I think the film makers were gaining for some kind of record with the amount of unnecessary boob'age on screen (as was typical with 1970's Hammer productions).
It's certainly gory enough and despite an extremely hammy, action-packed pre credits sequence it actually pulls together quite nicely. Also, look out for a mostly naked and mute Darth Vader (David Prowse). I was pleasantly surprised to see him here after he appeared as the creation in Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (which I saw last night).