Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

oparocker The horror is; the money MGM wasted, putting their brand on this, wasted part of my life watching this. It's absolutely garbage as far as..... everything. If the people in this were the best out of all auditioning, wow. Can't even put this in the "B" movie category. This cringe worthy train wreck and waste of celluloid, is the 3rd to list of WTF? To go with; The car (1977) About Schmidt ( Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates) You can't unsee her topless. Can i sue for PTSD? Ugh.

Scott LeBrun "Vampire Circus" tells the story of a village plagued by the curse of a vampire. As the residents are doing away with the evil Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman), he swears that he will "live" again to savage their children. 15 years later, a circus comes to town while a plague of a different sort is ravaging the countryside. It's all connected, of course: most of the performers in this circus are vampires themselves. While the disease spreads, some foolish villagers try to flee, but it's all for nothing. No, these people are going to pay the price.While it does suffer from a story (by Judson Kinberg) that isn't always terribly coherent or well thought out, "Vampire Circus" is still engaging horror-fantasy from those fine people at Hammer. It does benefit from absolutely intoxicating atmosphere, grandiose music (by David Whitaker), and a merciless body count that includes a number of kids. Its characters are decently defined, whether they are heroes like young Anton (John Moulder-Brown), or completely vile like the Count and his minions (such as Emil (Anthony Higgins) and the malevolent midget clown Michael (Skip Martin)). The special effects are occasionally dodgy, and some of the gore is hilariously tacky, but in general the makeup (by Jill Carpenter) is pretty good, especially on a female performer painted like a tiger.Once again, Hammer assembles an elegant British cast that plays the material for everything that it's worth. Actors such as Adrienne Corri (as the Gypsy Woman who presides over the circus), Martin, Tayman, and Higgins are clearly relishing their villainous roles. Moulder-Brown is a likeable young hero, and Thorley Walters (as the Burgermeister), Laurence Payne (as Mueller the schoolteacher), Richard Owens (as the brave Dr. Kersh), and Robin Hunter (as Hauser) are all excellent. Lynne Frederick is positively ravishing in the role of Dora. David "Darth Vader" Prowse shows off his incredible physique as the circus' silent strongman.Showcasing the kind of sex appeal and gore that would mark later entries in Hammers' filmography, "Vampire Circus" isn't a great shocker, but it certainly is fun.Seven out of 10.

Vomitron_G As I watched it, 'Vampire Circus' makes up for a fun double bill with Hammer's 'Lust For A Vampire' (1971). Equally seasoned with a fair amount of nudity and a tad bit gorier than 'Lust For A Vampire', Hammer's 'Vampire Circus' doesn't fail to entertain. A plague-ridden town witnesses the arrival of a circus. Yes, it's the titular circus, so naturally blood will flow. And for a particular reason too: some prominent townsmen managed to slay Count Mitterhaus fifteen years prior to the events about to unfold. The vampire circus folks are descendants of the count and are here to exact revenge and resurrect their master, whose remains are still taking up residence in the caves beneath the hilltop castle. It all adds up to some fun Hammer horror pulp, delivering the goods that fans had grown accustomed to by that time.

gavin6942 A village in Nineteenth Century Europe is at first relieved when a circus breaks through the quarantine to take the locals' minds off the plague... but only at first.The concept here is pretty clever. We have people who fear the plague, but let a circus in to entertain (which seems unwise, but you can understand the desire for fun). And then, the circus provides a completely different kind of plague.The story might have been more fun if we (the audience) did not know that the circus was trouble right from the beginning, and had to wait for the mystery to be solved. Instead, we have to wait to find out how it can be stopped -- if it can be stopped at all. They pretty much gave the circus away right in the title.