Il circo degli orrori

I believe it was Frank "Basketcase" Henlotter who once named this as

his all time favorite film, solely based on the absurdity of the wildly

purple plot.

He's got a point, what with a wanted man hiding by becoming

ringmaster of "the jinx" circus, where the star attractions have a way

of getting knocked off. If you saw this, like me, years ago on a little black and white

T.V.(on UHF) the great, loaded, letterboxed DVD of this colorful film

will come as a real revelation. This is great, well acted, B movie fun a lot of people are yet to

discover. The thin, still with hair Donald Plesence had already been in

films for many years when he did his memorable small part in this. Check

it out!

Trying to emulate the success of Hammer Films, Anglo-Amalgamated made a series of gruesome contemporary horror shockers around 1959/60 (others included "Peeping Tom" & "Horrors of the Black Museum").

This cheerfully lurid shocker exploits the mixed emotions we feel when watching circus performers - the idea of something going terribly wrong is horrible, yet exciting. But crude as the concept is, cast and crew play it for all it's got : Anton Diffring is excellent in the lead role and Sidney Hayers' direction is slick and effective.

The all-stops-out climax is great stuff and there's an effective final scene. The frequently-heard background song, "Reach For A Star", is corny but you won't be able to shake it out of your head!

Anton Diffring plays the definitive psycho-narcissist, using all those around him as pawns for his personal pleasures and goals. I saw this film on it's initial theatrical release in 1960. (As a young boy of 10,I recall,I was pleasantly shocked at seeing the scantily clad female circus performers!) And I now own the film on laserdisc. The suspense still holds up well, and though the violence is not as explicit as you find in today's horror films, it is still on the gruesome side. Call me sentimental, but I like the theme song that is sung during the performance of the circus's female headliner ("Look for a Star"). It is typical early 60's love song ala Frankie Avalon, but it is a pretty song inserted within all the gruesome murder and violence around it. Very effective if you think about it. My rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

I recall seeing this film as a child in 1960. My mother was quite angry at dad for taking us to a movie that was "definitely not for children". This is a grim story of a doctor fleeing some botched plastic surgeries. He takes over a backwoods circus and populates it with beautiful, yet disfigured female performers whom he restores to beauty and rescues from lives of prostitution and rejection. Of course, once the circus becomes successful, the ladies no longer feel like putting up with, or putting out for him, so he devises elaborate circus "accidents" to deal with their ingratitude.

The song "Look For A Star" permeates the movie at various times. At first, it's almost unnoticeable, a seemingly lame early sixties pop tune. However, as the movie progresses it takes on a sinister, disturbing aspect and circulates the brain long after it is over.

The film is well acted and truly suspenseful. A must for those who like their sex and violence done in a literate, intelligent manner.

This is a strange little horror gem from the early sixties about a mad plastic surgeon who must flee England because of some not very sound surgery practices. Once out of England, he(played by Anton Diffring with aplomb) and his two cohorts murder their way into owning a run-down circus whilst in France. From there on ten years pass as the doctor fixes the disfigured faces of thieves and prostitutes in return for their services in the circus. Well...I am not making this up but the doctor and his renegade circus performers then travel all over Europe and become a huge success. Problems start to happen though as the beautiful female star attractions want out of the circus...and the bed of Diffring...only to find their solace in bizarre deaths...circus-related of course. One female is killed in a knife-throwing accident while another falls while trapezing. This is a credulous scenario to be sure, but the film is quite fun. The acting is good: Diffring is marvelous as the mad physician plagued with his obsession for perfection in beauty, Donald Pleasance is quite good in a small role, and the female leads are quite stunning...visually of course. The music is rather hokey...very sixties, but atmosphere is otherwise rather well-staged. All in all I think I would prefer this over spending my time in a real circus...what a "real" horror. Enjoy.