☆ ☆ ☆
Vampire Circus (1972) – R. Young
Late Hammer entry with more graphic violence and
nudity than earlier allowed by the censors. The opening is unnervingly creepy, featuring
a young girl being kidnapped and offered to the local vampire count (for
snacking) by a woman clearly under his influence. The woman’s husband gathers a
posse and they drive a stake through the count’s heart and burn down his castle.
His last words are a curse that he places on the village and all of the descendants
of his attackers. Fast forward 15 years
and the village has been quarantined because of the plague – no one can get in
or out because of a roadblock. However,
a mysterious circus does arrive and soon people are disappearing. We know that
the circus contains vampires who can shapeshift into wild animals but it takes
the villagers a while to figure this out. Somehow the blood of the villagers is
also able to be used to resurrect the long dead count who seeks a final
showdown. The production feels slightly looser and shaggier than your usual
Hammer outing and things do get pretty weird. The absence of any recognizable actors
also tilts this away from the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee era – perhaps they
would have seemed out of place although stronger acting would have helped here.
An early 70s curio but not without interest.
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