Sideshow

The film has kind of a cool concept, but suffers from a poor script and extremely slow pacing. Some of the performers are fun to watch especially with the material they were given. One standout is Jeana Blackman who plays the role of Jeanie. Even with the problems with the script, she manages to bring a depth to her character and finds some very nice moments - especially in the scene where she and Jamie Martz are buying the popcorn.

All told, I'd probably rate this movie a C-/C.

While marginally better than most of director Fred Olen Ray's and executive producer Charles Band's most recent output, SIDESHOW still emerges as only a mediocre rendering of a decent concept.

Five teens (two guys and two girls on blind dates and the wheelchair-bound kid brother of one of the boys) spend the evening at a traveling carnival and end up p1ssing off dwarf Abbot Graves (Phil Fondacaro, the contemporary answer to Angelo Rossitto), who runs the "Doctor Graves Horrors of Nature" sideshow exhibit--an attraction which features such freaks as Conjoin-O (a guy with a monster in his belly), Aelita the inside-out girl, Hans the bug boy and Digestina (a woman who lives in a pool of digestive fluid) (?!) Abbot doesn't take too kindly to being pushed around by one of the kids and decides to get even with them all by turning their worst fears or insecurities into reality.

The characters aren't fully developed enough to get elicit much sympathy or interest and their eventual transformations are unfortunately rather predictable (a girl who hates being touched is turned into a doll in a glass cage, another who is insecure about her body is turned into a faceless woman with a nice body, etc.), but the film is reasonably well-made given the budget, the acting is acceptable and the make-up FX by Gabe Bartalos are pretty good. Also bit parts are played by Ray regulars Ross Hagen (as the sheriff), Brinke Stevens (fortune teller), Pete Spellos (freak with a monster in his belly) and Richard Gabai (game huckster).

Out of the three newest Fullmoon films Im aware of(Dead Hate the Living,Killjoy,and Sideshow) I'd say sideshow is the best out of them. If you like so bad so good horror movies,this one is ok....it doesnt suck,its not a Plan from Outerspace or Troll 2.The dwarf was awfully good and Digestina was HOTTTTTT!!!!!This movie is worthy of a bad movie night with your friends. If you want an actual good horror movie then what the HELL are you doing watching Fullmoon films for? Oh yeah for cheese fans....STAY AWAY FROM DEAD HATE THE LIVING!!!!!

Sideshow was one of the later Full Moon outings so that means it had a lot of potential to suck. It did, but it's better than most of the drivel they were putting out around this time (Ragdoll, I'm talking about you). We've got the usual 30-somethings masquerading as high school students who visit a traveling carnival and become permanent members of the freak show. The make-up isn't that bad, but some of the freaks don't make sense. I mean, Digestina? She lives in a vat of stomach acid and excretes toasters. What the hell? About the acting, let's just say it was bad and leave it at that. Phil Fondacaro is my favorite minuscule actor and he's the only one coming off as a professional. The movie ended very abruptly and just left me feeling stupid for watching it. But what else did I expect from a Fred Olen Ray movie? Oh, and I almost forgot Brinke Stevens is wasted in a bit cameo. The Videozone after the feature was very informative, however. It revealed that Fred Olen Ray was at one time a carnie. I knew it all along!!!

Someone else called this film a "fable-horror" movie, and I think that fits pretty well. That's the concept at least. A group of teenagers, each with their own vice, catch the eye of a twisted sideshow barker. He decides to teach the teens a lesson by making them part of the freak show. A cool idea, but could have been executed better. The fate for some of the teens is shoved in your face too obviously, while other characters could have been fleshed out more. Also, the ending was a serious let down. No resolution or big twist or anything.

But as a low budget horror movie, it's pretty fun to watch. If you're into cheesy spookfests, you should have a laugh watching this one. I think one of it's faults though... that it takes itself too seriously. It's a silly movie, and if it was a little more self-aware when it comes to that, I think it would have been better. But at least there's enough neat carnival themes and b-movie monster makeup to keep you watching.