Circus of the Dead

WE WANT CLOWNS! Said no audience in the history of entertainment. If you dig sadism, this is for you. And you like extremely stupid cops and main characters. Someone is a huge fan of Rob Zombie here and thought "Captain Spaulding + 4 other clowns." And apparently the clown posse murders and rapes in every town they stop on, yet NO one thought of any connection? Surveillance cameras EVERYWHERE? The writers know that we have telephones and computers, right?

I will say most of these other user reviews must be people working on the production or hired bots.

I really wanted to enjoy this movie. There have been some good reviews and I can understand how people had a good time, but I guess I just felt like it didn't go far enough in many ways. Violence for the sake of just making the film disgusting just doesn't work for me, and given how barren of humor this film is, I just felt nasty and bored. Many deaths seem similar and for a film like this, didn't really shine. Bill Oberst Jr. is very good here and he really carries the film. Otherwise, the clowns can be creepy, but they lose their scary steam and there seems to be no consequences and no connection to reality. The film is polished and it looks like they spent some money. It has some nice camera and lighting work and I think this director can do well in the future. Maybe come up with a more compelling story with less torture and more suspense.

If you like bad horror movies this is a must watch. I'm a fan of poorly done b horror but this is like D or E level. Everyone that had anything to do with this film is terrible at that job. The actors or beyond bad, the filming is bad the story is bad the costume department is bad, but whenever everything is bad it sometimes makes for an entertaining experience and this movie accidentally does that. My favorite part is the dad who appears to maybe be 60 but is trying to look like hulk hogan with bleaching his hair then making his facial hair jet black. Once he comes on screen you know you are in for a real terribly funny movie.

We have to say that this was a film to watch by yourself or with other people with the same morbid curiosity as we did. modern grindhouse film with scenes that will offend more than a few. The story did start off a bit slow, but once we got rolling it was pretty much non stop. We wished it would have developed the family dynamics just a bit more so when time came you would definitely feel more for the primary character. We do love the crazy, demented and psychosis of the main antagonist and an does he put the cringe in the back of your neck. There were one or two parts where the music was cut off or didn't mesh well, but not enough to make it a point to take you completely out of the film. the attention to detail on set design and small details like costumes make it a real treat! Overall a really gritty, dark and well made film and worth a watch a few times. Looking forward to see if they make a second part.

A bunch of circus clowns kidnap a guy, kill his wife, and hold his children hostage to ensure his compliance as they bring him along on a killing spree.

First, the good stuff. Technical work is proficient. No notable problems with editing or sound. Lighting is dark, but most likely was intentional. It was nice to learn about the existence of the strange arcade game, Gals Panic.

Second, the bad stuff. The movie doesn't have that much in way of plot or development of anything. It's one violent encounter into the next. It's mostly an exercise in testing the viewer limits. I don't have resistance to that in particular - after all, I was able to watch this without issue.

But there seems to be a breakdown in understanding what makes thing scary. We should care about the captive, and his children. Without time spent developing him and giving him character, the movie amounts to a big shrug.

The budget limitations are mostly apparent with the lack of any other acts at the "circus". There are extras for an audience, but there only seems to be a ringmaster.

There are a handful of movies that seem to be influences. In particular, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Devil's Rejects. And for some reason, I'm reminded of Bloodsucking Freaks.

By the end of this, the viewer is left wondering where the story was. For a movie that runs over an hour and a half, with the lack of development, the whole thing could have been trimmed down to about 30-40 minutes without much loss to how effective it is.

Why am I bothering to write this review? Because the 5.9 on iMDB right now is seriously misleading. Even for fans of pushing horror to extremes would be disappointed.