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      Vampire Circus

      PG 1972 1h 27m Horror List
      80% 5 Reviews Tomatometer 64% 1,000+ Ratings Audience Score Traveling performers take revenge against the Serbian villagers whose ancestors killed their leader 100 years ago. Read More Read Less

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      Critics Reviews

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      Bill Gibron PopMatters Erotic, grotesque, chilling, bloody, suspenseful, and loaded with doom and gloom atmosphere, this is the kind of experiment in terror that reinvigorates your love of the scary movie artform. Rated: 4/5 Feb 4, 2011 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Gory, cliched, silly and inventive. Rated: B- Feb 2, 2011 Full Review John Beifuss Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Hammer's most elusive Gothic horror movie contains frequent nudity, but its arthouse kinkiness -- its hints of pedophilia, bestiality and incest -- offers a more likely explanation for its limited distribution than its exposed skin. Rated: 3/4 Jan 18, 2011 Full Review Bryant Frazer Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus Never recovers the concentrated erotic-violent high ground of [its] delirious overture, which stands as a wildly entertaining example of over-the-top horror filmmaking. Rated: B- May 19, 2008 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 23, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Thom G A campy vampire movie with a great atmosphere. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/24 Full Review Audience Member Thank God for 70s horror Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/13/21 Full Review Audience Member Vampire Circus has a strange blend of elements. The vampire Count in the opening scene looks like a glam rocker who tried to turn his bangs into a widow's peak. The circus that arrives to aid him in fulfilling his curse is complete with a dwarf clown, a loin-cloth-wearing strong man, erotic dancers, and shapeshifting leopard vampire, cousin to the count. The special effects are less than acceptable especially in a laughable leopard attack scene and the characters stretch what can be used as a vampire-repelling cross. Still the movie is enjoyable even if it isn't a standout of the genre, with some eerie mirror tricks and a shocking beginning. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Ever since Polidori's "The Vampyre," and culturally codified in Stoker's "Dracula," vampires, with their gothic mansions and flowing capes, have long been associated with the secretive (which is to say: Jewish) elite feasting on the poor, stealing their lifeblood to maintain their power. Here, however in this campy Hammer oddity—a better take on the folkloric creature than more serious films—the trope (like a bat hanging from the ceiling) gets turned on its head: The people have risen up and cast off the shackles of their oppression at the hands of the wealthy and undead, only now to be threatened by (now as wandering Jews) the abject outcasts, freaks and entertainers, curly haired and sensually animalistic. As if shifting, avant la lettre, Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" from science fiction to the horror genre, lowbrow spectacle and tricks of editing become the thing that threatens society as vampires suck up our attention and and command our gaze to the mirrors that, like TV screens, present but do not reflect the undead. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member An intriguing concept and a great crew of villains make this a worthy entry in Hammer’s catalogue. The only thing holding this back would be interesting protagonists to follow. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member the villagers fighting is inept in the extreme and they are quite stupid but other than these irritations, it's a fairly good movie. there is some quite attractive female nudity and plenty of gore. the adorable lynne frederick is a treat, but is not given nude scenes...sigh. the effects are lame even for the times but along with the superior "captain kronos, vampire hunter" are good additions to the hammer vampire library. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Vampire Circus

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Traveling performers take revenge against the Serbian villagers whose ancestors killed their leader 100 years ago.
      Director
      Robert Young
      Screenwriter
      Judson Kinberg
      Production Co
      Hammer Films
      Rating
      PG
      Genre
      Horror
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Jul 2, 2018
      Runtime
      1h 27m
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