Carny

An amusing diversion, the folks responsible for "Carny" trot out that staple of the Sci-Fi network, the monster that seems to not really be a science fiction imagining. One that causes mayhem, for certain, but not nearly as much as a few of the humans involved.

A carnival visiting a town has as its star sideshow attraction a beast which remains hidden from us until it escapes from its cage. The carnival master has assured Lou Diamond Phillips (the local sheriff) that there will be no problem with the sedated and incarcerated...thing.

We know different. There is another problem - a local preacher that hates all things carnival, and he particularly is interested in seeing that the escapee is captured.

I will leave it to you to find out how this whole thing ends. As tepid as this movie is, it will be far more interesting to the next generation of MST3000 fans.

One and a half stars.

Typical SyFy Channel crap, with one difference: some character development. Lou D.Philips plays a small-town sheriff who goes on the hunt for a winged creature that has escaped from a traveling carnival. The beast makes mincemeat of everyone in its path, and is your typical CGI creation. Ah, but the carny owner (Peterson) is an extremely nasty and hideous-looking fellow who doesn't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his path either. He imbues his character with a sort of Sidney Greenstreet sense of menace. And the local minister (didn't catch the actor's name) is hellbent on shutting down the carnival, even if it means burning it to the ground with all the carny folks inside their tents. In his own way, the minister is as bad as the ruthless carny owner. Both actors rise above their material. Sadly, Philips does not. He gives the same wooden, mail-it-in performance he gave in BATS (where he also played a small-town sheriff), with no indication he has learned anything new about acting in the interim. He needs a strong director, and he does not have one here. He simply is the one "name" actor in this low-budget Canadian quickie. Truth is, I only watched this quasi-turkey because of him. The ending is so poorly staged and filmed, you may be left wondering what the heck in fact happened.

Was a fair movie, i mean nothing really irritated or annoyed me but the creature was a poor excuse for a devil. The best devil is the one from the movie "the Barrens" you will want to look into that. This was one of the better Maneatser movies in the series though it doesn't beat Grizzly Rage or the tiger one with Busey.

I was actually pleasantly surprised watching Carny. It does have its problems, but for me is one of the more tolerable SyFy channel movies. It does have some beautiful-looking and atmospheric sets and lighting, giving an appropriate nightmarish feeling, good make-up, a surprisingly well-designed and menacing monster, credible performances and a score that doesn't feel at that generic and also fits with the film's tone. Of course it has its problems, the quality of the story and writing are actually vast improvements to previous and succeeding efforts but they are not perfect still. The story has a good if not groundbreaking(though it didn't need to be) concept and is actually mostly interesting, well-paced and with some scenes that are quite nail-biting. Where it is let down though is in the escape of the monster, which I also feel could've been introduced later and with more suspense, and an ending that feels rushed that contrived. The script is not as clichéd or as cheesy thankfully as most of SyFy's resume, but still could have done with more flow in terms of structure. The characters are not as irritating as before or since, however are an uneven mix, the leads are likable and have some depth but most of the supporting roles are rather shallow and not developed as well. The camera work does suffer also from some choppy editing and numerous instances where it zooms in and out which often gave it a rather overly claustrophobic sensation watching Carny. Overall, not perfect but tolerable, with even its flaws having been done worse elsewhere. 5/10 Bethany Cox

In Carny Lou Diamond Phillips is cast as the police chief of Reliance, New York a small town in the most rural part of upstate New York where the big event of the year is about to take place, a carnival has come to town. Not just any carnival, but one specializing in some of the rejects from the Creator/Deity work table. In this film's makers must have been inspired by Todd Browning's classic film, Freaks.

Would that this film was anywhere close to being as good as Freaks, but it sadly isn't. The biggest attraction in the show is some kind of gargoyle like creature billed as the New Jersey Devil. When it gets loose and starts terrorizing the area, Lou as the sheriff takes it upon himself to organize a hunting party.

This is where it really gets ridiculous. When he was a smalltown Texas sheriff in Bats at least he called in some help. Why he didn't in Carny is totally beyond me.

The film was shot in and around Ottawa to simulate the rural atmosphere of upstate New York which is not as rural as when Jimmy Stewart made upstate New York's fictional Bedford Falls famous. The rest of the cast is made up of Canadian players.

Of course getting this gargoyle proves to be a rough go for Lou and his posse of hunters who are used to more docile creatures like deer. I tell you this, George Bailey would have known when he was overmatched and would have sent for help should the gargoyle ever be threatening Bedford Falls. There's also a side story about a crazy preacher wanting to see the carnival destroyed before he even knew about the gargoyle.

Carny is one big mess of a film. Hopefully Lou Diamond Phillips got to get in some rural pursuits while making this feast for his next Thanksgiving table.