Vampire Circus is a 1971 British horror film, directed by Robert Young. It was written by Judson Kinberg, and produced by Wildburg Stark and Michael Carreras (who was uncredited) for Hammer Film Productions. It stars Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Lynne Frederick and Anthony Higgins (billed as Anthony Corlan). The story concerns a travelling carnival whose vampiric artists prey on the children of a 19th-century Austrian village.
Schoolmaster Albert Müller witnesses his wife Anna taking a little girl to the castle of vampire Count Mitterhaus, where the child is killed. The villagers, led by Müller and the mayor, invade the castle and attack the Count, driving a wooden stake through his heart. With his dying breath, Mitterhaus curses the villagers, vowing that their children will die to give him back his life. The villagers force Anna to run the gauntlet, after which she runs back to the castle, where the briefly-revived Count tells her to find his cousin Emil. Meanwhile the villagers set the castle on fire.
Fifteen years later, the village is ravaged by the plague and blockaded by the authorities. The citizens fear that the pestilence may be due to the Count’s curse. A travelling circus, led by a dwarf and a gypsy woman, arrives in the village and the villagers appreciate the distraction from their troubles. One of the artists, Emil, is actually a vampire and Count Mitterhaus’s cousin. Emil and the gypsy woman go to the castle, where they find the Count’s staked body and reiterate the curse, that all who attacked on his cousin and all their children must die…
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“one of the company’s last great classics”, writing, “erotic, grotesque, chilling, bloody, suspenseful and loaded with doom and gloom atmosphere, this is the kind of experiment in terror that reinvigorates your love of the scary movie art form.” PopMatters
“Hokum, maybe, but I challenge anyone not to enjoy it. Vampire Circus has stood the test of time – and today’s filmmakers could do worse than to take a look at it if they’re constructing a vampire tale of their own. It wears its crapness firmly on its sleeve, and adds a sense of crazy paced style sadly lacking in today’s turgid gore fests.” Chris Wood, British Horror Films
“Less a standard Hammer monster melodrama than a surreal journey through dark fantasy (reminiscent of Jean Rollin’s erotic vampire series), with an unexpected (but not entirely inappropriate) surplus of nudity and bloodletting. The film’s creepy highlights include the chilling extended prologue and scenes of vampire trapeze performers transforming into bats in mid-leap.” Gary W. Tooze, DVD Beaver
” … one of the best Hammer horror films of them all” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
Synapse Films Blu-ray features:
• Featurette: THE BLOODIEST SHOW ON EARTH: Making Vampire Circus – An all-new documentary featuring interviews with writer/director Joe Dante, Hammer documentarian Ted Newsom, Video Watchdog editor/author Tim Lucas, author/film historian Philip Nutman, and actor David Prowse (32:39 in HD!)
• Featurette: GALLERY OF GROTESQUERIES: A Brief History of Circus Horrors – A retrospective on circus/carnival themed horror productions (15:07 in HD!)
• Featurette: VISITING THE HOUSE OF HAMMER: Britain’s Legendary Horror Magazine – A retrospective on the popular British horror/comic publication featuring author Philip Nutman (9:48 in HD!)
• VAMPIRE CIRCUS: Interactive Comic Book- Featuring artwork by Brian Bolland (3:15 in HD!)
• POSTER AND STILLS GALLERY (1:58 in HD!)
• ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER (2:321 in HD!)
• Isolated Effects and Music score
DVD with same content/extras – in SD
Buy Vampire Circus on Blu-ray + DVD combo from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Buy Vampire Circus novelisation from Amazon.co.uk
- Laurence Payne as Professor Albert Müller
- Domini Blythe as Anna Müller, his wife
- Lynne Frederick as Dora Müller, their daughter
- Thorley Walters as Mayor
- Adrienne Corri as Gypsy woman
- Mary Wimbush as Elvira, the mayor’s wife
- Christina Paul as Rosa, the mayor’s daughter
- Robin Sachs as Heinrich (twin brother of Helga)
- Lalla Ward as Helga (twin sister of Heinrich)
- Richard Owens as Dr. Kersch
- John Moulder-Brown as Anton Kersch, his son
- Robin Hunter as Mr Hauser
- Elizabeth Seal as Gerta Hauser, his wife
- Barnaby Shaw as Gustav Hauser, their son
- John Bown as Mr Schilt
- Jane Darby as Jenny Schilt, his daughter
- Robert Tayman as Count Mitterhaus
- Skip Martin as Michael the dwarf
- Anthony Higgins (billed as Anthony Corlan) as Emil
- David Prowse as the Strongman
- Serena as the erotic tiger-woman dancer
