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Vampire Circus (1972)
Starring Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters & Anthony
Higgins, John Moulder-Brown & Laurence Payne
Written by Judson Kinberg
Directed by Robert Young
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What better film to review for Halloween than a classic Hammer Horror? Infamous for being rather goddamn awful in true Hammer style, Vampire Circus is an endearing example of classic British horror at its... erm... worst. Set in a nineteenth century, European town - the inhabitants of which all speak with very distinct upper class English accents and sport fetching 1970's style haircuts. Vampire Circus's storyline is a bit of a twist on the atypical vampire genre. When said townsfolk slay an evil count that has been exacting a reign of terror over them, he swears to wreak a bloody revenge by in turn, killing all of their children.
Well, fast forward a few years and suddenly villagers are turning up dead here there and everywhere, victims of a mysterious plague. Fearing the worst the inhabitants start to panic and are quarantined within the town, however, things start to get even stranger when a mysterious circus rolls into town.
For a short while their mesmerizing, sexually charged shows prove to be a welcome diversion for the locals, to the horrific events which have been slowly unfolding around them. It soon becomes clear though that The Circus of Night may have something to do with a) the Count from days of olde and b) the ever dwindling townspeople.
The Circus of Nights most alluring member, curly mop topped sleaze maestro Emil, shape shifts into a panther (my kind of guy!) and sets about seducing the local vir(yeah right)gins. Cue more deaths and carnage before a suitably bloody (for the period it was made, tame by modern standards) finale. Some of the local upstarts, I mean youths, and town elders, in the meantime had been doing a little detective work, alongside all the drama and come to the conclusion that The Circus of Night were in fact working for the deceased Count, to bring death and misery to those who struck him down (now I didn't see that one coming!). Cue pats on the backs all round, praise the lord for intelligent English people!
At 82 minutes long, this film does definitely start to drag some thirty or so minutes in. However, amusement can be found in the satisfyingly clunky script and poor acting. Campy, silly and over the top, Vampire Circus is more likely to have you chuckling in bemusement than hiding behind the cushions; a sound reminder that the tacky taste of the 70's didn't just stop at fashion. Have a lighthearted Halloween, watch Vampire Circus and aspire to look like vampiric Adonis Emil; he gets all the girls y'know, even me. Mwah Haha!
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sophia