Vampire Circus
Robert Young, 1972
Fifteen years after the townspeople dispose of an evil vampiric baron, a group of vampires comes to town disguised as a traveling circus to take revenge and resurrect their master.
Vampire Circus really never gets better than its opening sequence. The vampire's attack on a young girl and the subsequent assault on his castle is thrilling stuff, and could easily serve as the climax to a mid-grade Hammer film. The bulk of the film, though, is pretty standard fare, as the vampires pick off the children one-by-one and people grow more and more suspicious. To be honest, there's more fun to be had identifying familiar actors from other roles (Hey, it's Darth Vader! Ethan Rayne! Romana II!) than in following the story, although it is livened up a bit by the producers' willingness to indulge in levels of blood and nudity that would have been unthinkable at Hammer Studios ten years earlier. The ending is fairly typical of Hammer fare, although somewhat more violent than usual, with one moment that gave me a chuckle - once the final vampire is dispatched, our surviving heroes pause for a moment to look around the room, and we see that the floor is literally covered with bodies. All in all, it's pretty typical of the studio's output in the 70's quality-wise, and makes for a decent afternoon matinee, but it's not going to stick with you.
6.5/10
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