Carnival of Blood

Way back in the early days of home video you had to cough up $59 to own this movie. Now you can find it on DVD for a fraction of that amount; isn't technology wonderful?

Okay seriously now. I first got this film because I hoped it might actually be MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD. It wasn't (duh!) but I certainly got my money's worth. Set in a Coney Island carnival most of our attention is focused on Tom (Earle Edgerton) who runs a booth where you throw darts at balloons to win a prize and his fire scarred pal Gimpy (he's billed as John Harris but WE know he's really Burt Young). Tom seems like a nice enough guy but you have to wonder how he gets through the day when the people who come to his booth all seem to be obnoxious, ill-mannered, drunken loudmouths.

There is also a mad killer stalking the midway. Whoever it is commits some very brutal, but not entirely convincing, murders. I mean, Andy Milligan had more believable gore in his films and you REALLY have to be at the bottom of the barrel to be less effective than Andy! A knifing on the beach is very bloody but the camera stays on the victim so long we get too close a look at what must be a rubber dummy and Karo-syrup blood. Another victim is killed by a dart . . . oh when will low budget directors learn that you need a mighty good pitching arm to throw a dart through a persons skull, and even so a wound like that would probably not be fatal? Oh well, just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . ."

So what did I mean about disturbing in parts? Well near the end when we find out not only who the killer is (no, I am not going to tell you! Sit through this movie and suffer like I did if you want to know!) but why he is doing it (a violent mental shock when he was a child; no wonder psychologists love to analyse these movies!) there is a scene of the heroine (Judith Resnick) finding a teddy bear stuffed with human entrails! That is the scene I remember most over all the previous cheap gore moments, it is unexpectedly effective and emotionally jarring. Tis' a pity the rest of the movie could not keep up.

Truly this is one for junk movie completest only. I'll bet once Burt Young hit it big in the ROCKY movies he crossed this title off his resume.

PS: Did I ever find MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD? I sure did! Check out my review of that one sometime.

True it is not the best movie and the plot is somewhat mundane, it's actually kind of bad even if you are into schlocky gore trash, but this movie does have some great, fun characters.

There is the the amazingly obnoxious "dumpy lady" who sets out to harass everyone she runs into, the insanely drunk Sailor and his trampy girlfriend (who keeps stuffing his cash into her panties whenever he isn't looking), the creepy fortune teller who warns everyone to go home & "Gimpy", the impaired weirdo with the mysteriously sore covered space. All of whom get theirs as a psycho stalks them through a beachside carnival.

It even has a few gimmicky over the top gore scenes, like a nasty gizzard filled teddy bear. The movie plays out like a tribute to HG Lewis with it's gross-out stalker killings.

It also has some interesting odd electronica in the background that sounds like it was lifted directly from the Forbidden Planet soundtrack.

As far as late night schlock this is certainly not the greatest but definitely not the worst ....

Someone is stalking the patrons of a seedy, ramshackle carnival amusement park, murdering and mutilating them in a variety of gruesome ways. The multitude of suspects weighs heavy with iniquitous reprobates, but nobody is above suspicion.

CARNIVAL OF BLOOD is the "beau ideal" of early 70s grassroots film-making...there isn't the slightest hint of virtuoso evident in so much as a single frame of this picture, but it certainly does shine as a sort of attestation to resourceful creative vitality. This turkey here is about as Spartan a production as ever there was, but the clever use of a carnival for the story's nucleus creates an illusion of the movie being something substantially "bigger" than it actually is...a breadline, bush-league, bottom of the barrel crock-o-schlock.

While it certainly owes stylistically to the cinematrocious exploits of trash-film pundits like H. G. Lewis and Andy Milligan, CARNIVAL actually marches drunkenly to the freaky beat of a spaced-out drummer all it's own. As bad as it is, it's hard not to like...or at least be amused by...this gore-soaked, beggared lump of collective incompetence.

5.5/10...I think just about anyone with a good sense of humor could find this enjoyable.

When a patron is decapitated while enjoying the "spook house" ride, we know we've entered the CARNIVAL OF BLOOD. Said riders should have listened to the midway fortune teller (Kaly Mills), who had "bad vibes" about their situation. They won't be the last, since whoever the killer is is just getting started!

For its era, this is a fairly grisly movie. In addition to the aforementioned noggin removal (aka: a dummy head with extra ketchup), there's a rather disgusting disembowelment that could send the easily-sickened racing for the restroom!

In spite of its low-low budget and long stretches of nothingness between murders, CARNIVAL manages to remain semi-entertaining throughout. It gets extra points for its proto-slasher status, especially for the gushy -most likely pig- guts! Some releases don't include them, so, buyer beware!...

There is something that kept me watching, entertained by this "Z" grade horror film. I love creepy carnivals so that is what drew me into watching this film - but the overall psycho-delic look and strange story kept me watching it. I got hooked from the start and actually finished watching this film and would watch it again!

OK some of this film does not make sense - best example: (The girl and guy that are engaged) She refuses to go back to the carnival after murders happened there. He comes into her apartment with a mask and it scares her and they argue, he leaves. She then goes down to the carnival alone to speak to her friend who's a carny there. --- WTF? She wouldn't go with her boyfriend, she fought him over going (then broke up with him) then she goes by herself to the carnival to tell her carny friend?!! Hhahaa. I guess her boyfriend did what he set out to do - get her over the murders and get on with her life - unafraid!!

As carny, err corny, as this film is I actually enjoyed it!

6/10