Le Cirque des vampires

Not sure why 'Vampire Circus' isn't mentioned when people talk about the best Hammer movies, because it certainly deserves to be. As usual the studio manages to create a lot of period atmosphere and chills on, one assumes, not a very large budget, and like most of their movies the acting is uniformly good. The story concerns a village being attacked by a mysterious lethal plague which may or may not be connected with a dark episode in the small communities past concerning an evil Count who once terrorized all and sundry. The village is cut off from the outside world, and while they anxiously await some outside medical attention, a strange traveling circus arrives. The villagers leap upon anything to tale their minds off their awful predicament, but as you can tell from the title, the circus folk aren't exactly what they appear to be and have secret plans of justice and revenge. The performers themselves are much more interesting and sensual than the uptight villagers, and this creates an unusual tension in the viewer compared to many vampire movies, where good vs. evil is black and white with no troubling ambiguities. This is a very unusual twist on the familiar subject matter, and in my opinion one of the most underrated and overlooked vampire movies ever made. Trainspotters note: the supporting cast includes David 'Darth Vader' Prowse as the circus strongman, and Lalla Ward (who replaced Mary Tamm as Romana in 'Dr Who') as a pretty sexy vampire.

I gave in to my desire to resee Twins of Evil and check out Vampire Circus & Countess Dracula which I had never seen and ordered the "Hammer Vampire Collection" from UK. (If you're considering purchase, the discs are coded Region 2, so you can't play them on a lot of USA-sold DVD players. I watch Region 2 on my computer.) I loved Twins of Evil but the real winner was Vampire Circus, an intelligent and fun treatment of a curse upon a village which had the temerity to call an abrupt halt to the fun of the local feudal lord. It's suspenseful and fast moving. I agree with previous commenters that the villagers are so pompous that they earned their fates. Unlike most other posters, I welcomed the opportunity to see John Moulder-Brown in a (for me) new movie, albeit 32 years old. VC is beautifully photographed and the special effects are terrific. Clearly the folks at Hammer Studios did not need computers to create stunning visual images. If you can view Region 2 discs, go for it! You'll get a great thrill out of VC, probably their best vampire flick after Taste the Blood of Dracula!

Fifteen years after staking Count Mitterhaus, the vampire that had been preying upon their children, the people of a remote European village suffer once again as a mysterious plague begins to claim their lives. With roadblocks in place to stop the disease from spreading, they are cut off from the outside world.

When a gypsy circus somehow beats the quarantine to put on nightly shows at the village, the locals are happy that they have something to take their minds off the illness. But soon, the now-grown-up children of those who killed the Count begin to turn up dead, and the villagers start to suspect that the circus folk are somehow responsible. It eventually transpires that the creepy entertainers, some of whom are vampires, are out to seek revenge for Mitterhaus's death, and ultimately aim to raise the Count from his tomb.

A better-than-average offering from Hammer studios, Vampire Circus offers all of their trademark elements—lush visuals, lavish sets and costumes, beautiful women, handsome heroes and Gothic atmosphere to spare—plus quite a bit of blood and gore, and a generous amount of gratuitous nudity from several beautiful babes (although the stunning Lynne Frederick unfortunately remains fully clothed).

Director Robert Young ensures that the film is effectively creepy from start to finish, paying special attention to the scenes featuring the bizarre circus folk, which prove to be genuinely freaky (the dwarf, with his evil grin and painted face, is particularly disturbing). Occasionally the film suffers from some poor special effects, and the odd spot of hammy acting, but this does not detract from one's enjoyment (on the contrary, they actually made the whole experience more fun for me).

Best watched at night, with the curtains drawn, lights out, and accompanied by a big box of popcorn, this solidly entertaining vampire yarn is well worth checking out.

A small village uprises against Count Mitterhouse, their vampiric lord. He vows a curse upon the town as he is being destroyed.Years later the town is struck by an outbreak of disease.

Among this horror a travelling circus comes to town. As we slowly find out most of the circus performers are vampires.Some of the animals are vampiric humans! They begin to wreak vengeance upon the village slaughtering indiscriminately.

There is a rousing finish to this as vampires and villagers square off to do battle.Who will survive?

I was lucky enough to see an uncut foreign laserdisk of this film.Plot confusion stemming from the cut video is cleared up. The colors are lush.The direction is tight and there really isn't a wasted moment in this classic.The acting is top notch as well.This is even better than Horror Of Dracula in my opinion.

Sadly this is only available on laserdisk in the USA at this time. Hopefully Anchor Bay will release a complete version of this film to the video market.All you can do is wait...

People are always mentioning the Dracula series when talking about Hammer's best Vampire flicks and, every once and a while, `The Vampire Lovers' and `Twins of Evil' are named. But I never heard anyone praising Vampire Circus before… And yet this is one of the greatest vampire movies I've seen so far. A very structured and ingenious story with frightening characters, nasty gore and constant action. The most fantastic aspects about this film are the genuine strangeness and fairytale-like atmosphere. Yet, the solid tension-level of this film depends on a simple principle: circus people are eerie, and the idea of a travelling bunch of circus freaks is ominous. The legendary director Tod Browning already knew this back in 1932 and the overlooked chiller `Circus of Horrors' also follows this principle closely. Personally, I get a lot more uncomfortable at the sight of a painted-face midget than when seeing aliens, bogeymen or whatever other overblown horror characters.

Vampire Circus is terrifically set in 19th century Serbia. 15 years after the townsfolk of a little community killed an evil count, they live in complete misery. The Plague has isolated them from the rest of the world and they live under the believe they're cursed. A travelling circus finally seems to bring some diversity into the lives of the poor townspeople with their amusing tricks of changing into nightly animals back and forth. But, there seems to be an horrific connection between the eerie circus and the destroyed count… Most members of the circus are vampires too, coming to avenge the Count's death and to make him rise from his tomb. For once in your life, look beyond the poor production values! Vampire circus looks laughable and cheesy, but it really does have a compelling story to tell. A story with all the necessary horror ingredients: tension, gore (surprisingly much), great music, good-looking girls and even a bit of nudity. The more Hammer movies I see, the more I think this production company rules!! Even their most underrated ones, like it's definitely the case for Vampire Circus, must be seen by every horror fan. Highly recommended!