Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Nigel P Some of Hammer's most interesting films were made during their perceived decline and 'Vampire Circus' is one of the defining examples of this. It's also probably the company's bloodiest feature.It also features their longest ever prologue. Set in the Austrian village of Stetl, director Robert Young dresses the sets and location with convincing detail. The curious practice at the time of dubbing voices is rampant here, with seemingly every actor re-dubbed (not always successfully), mostly by the original actor. There was, notoriously, not enough time in the schedule for Young to complete all his scenes – perhaps it was more economical to re-dub everything than re-take certain scenes.That the film is quite disjointed in places works to the general weirdness prevalent in this macabre fairy-tale. It doesn't quite flow as films usually do – especially in one scene. There are some students boarding in rooms upstairs to where the beautiful Dora is staying. They are only mentioned in passing and we never see them. We see the vampires converging at the house, witness some impressively subtle human-to-animal transformations but see nothing more. The attack on these unseen students occurs off-camera. The sound-effects Dora reacts to make the scenes border on parody. But that is the only obvious casualty of the impossibly tight schedule.I wonder if Young had been allowed to film those last scenes, could the results really have been any better? 'Vampire Circus' is a sumptuous, occasionally ethereal weird bloodbath. The cast are faultless (only the dubbing threatens to spoil things), with the evil circus people emerging as more interesting than our heroes. Emil is played brilliantly by Anthony Higgins/Corlan – smiling and stroking the face of Albert (Laurence Payne) as they throttle each other; Lalla Ward and Robin Sachs as the two dancers, are twins both seductive and deadly (dare I suggest Rollin-esque?) and fresh-faced, young and sweet Lynne Frederick makes the most of innocent Dora; Robert Tayman is Count Mitterhaus and does very well considering he is definitely dubbed by a different actor and has to wrestle with some very outsized fangs. James Whittaker's rich, layered score is among the most haunting Hammer ever featured. Sumptuous and atmospheric, this confident film belies the company's fortunes at the time of release.

JoeB131 This is part of Hammer Films later output, when they finally figured out they could put nudity in their movies instead of just implied sexuality What you have is sort of a confused mess of a story where a bunch of villagers kill off their Vampire Count, who swears revenge before they blow up his castle. His human mistress goes off to find his cousin, and for some reason, she gave birth to two vampire twins who are fully grown 15 years later. (One of them played by Doctor Who's Lalla Ward.) So apparently, these villagers don't think anything is strange about a circus showing up and people mysteriously disappearing or dying in their midst.So some nudity, some gore, some nice Hammer stylistic visuals, but lacking the gravitas that Cushing and Christopher Lee usually brought to these things.

psychocosmic-1 ***MIGHT INCLUDE SPOILERS!***Here it is! A great horror film from the sexy and wild 1970's! No slow build-up! The film even begins with the typical end of a Gothic horror movie, but after that, there is no slow segment of character development. As soon as one villager says "- ...Vampires only exist in legends..." we hear the sounds and noises from the vampire caravan! The film has unusually many characters for us to deal with and many we care of. It is fantastic! Delivers horror and vampire scenes in loads! As soon as the thrills and creepiness are over, we are exposed to sensual or right down sexy scenes! Romantic take on creepy looking vampires as if they would like to take you along on this very unchristian ride! The stunning thing in this film is that the vampires seem to gladly victimize the young, really just children! A vampire has a beautiful erotic scene with a woman slave! A gorgeous panther man and a huge magnificent tiger, the crazy but witty dwarf, the silent strong man, the womanleader of the circus (Corri's best filmrole!) A plague causing a village to go quarantine! Never a dull moment! A seminude woman in reptileskin in an animalistic supersexy dance scene! Beautiful girls and women! Psychic sibling twins that are transformed into bats! The Darth Vader actor! The Mirror of Life...a mirror that...No, I won't tell you! Pleasure mixed with blood, bloodsuckers and wild animals! Seduction of the underage! Colorful acting! You care as much for the poor villagers as you do for the sexy and beautiful vampire men and women! Highly imaginative film making! It actually engages us to enjoy these satanic things! If you feel that Hammer films bore you! Forget it! This is it! Give it a special viewing! The film has ONLY sex, boobs, sensual lovemaking, blood, chock, ugly vampires, nudity, violence, heads, the mocking laughter of the nasty vampires, thrills, mutilations, vampire stakings, huge fangs, corpses, eyeballs, wonderful 70's colours, great music and atmosphere! AND a 2 seconds scene where a mans shadow is transformed into a black panther in the middle of the stairs..This is a classic! If you don't like it, you either don't like horror films or your libido hasn't matured yet! Wonderful! I Must see it at least once a year!

bensonmum2 The 1970s are almost universally regarded as the weakest period in Hammer Films' history. Yet as I sit and think about Hammer's output in their last few years, I'm amazed at how many of the movies I genuinely enjoy. Twins of Evil, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Dracula A.D 1972 (I know I may be alone in rating this one as highly as I do), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell – all made in the 70s and all solidly entertaining films. Add to that list Vampire Circus. In fact, it might be the best of the bunch.In a small 19th century Serbian village, Stetl, the locals finally find the courage and band together to put an end to the blood thirsty rule of Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman). Count Mitterhaus, you see, was a vampire (But in a Hammer film, isn't every Count a vampire?). As the stake is driven through the heart and the light is fading, he puts a curse on the village and vows to return and seek his revenge. Fifteen years later, with Stetl beset by a plague so bad that other nearby villages have set-up armed roadblocks to keep the people in, it seems that the Count's curse has come to pass. Just when things look their bleakest, the Circus of Nights comes to town. Looking for a relief from their despair, the townspeople are delighted to have this diversion in their midst and welcome the newcomers. Clowns, dancers, animals, and a strongman - the circus is a success. But when some of the town's locals, including the children, turn up with dead, the circus performers are immediately blamed. Are these innocent circus folk or are they something more sinister with another purpose altogether – like resurrecting the body of Count Mitterhaus? From the very opening scene where the little girl is led in what seems to be the most innocent manner into a nearby castle only to meet her fate at the hands of the blood-thirsty Count, Vampire Circus gets off to a great start and never really lets up. That opening scene sets the tone of much of what's to come. Honestly, I just loved it. While it starts out innocently enough, it features a rather startling and unexpected conclusion. Robery Tayman's Count Mitterhaus may just be the most fiendish, savage vampire to appear in a Hammer film - and that includes the work of Christopher Lee. Not even the children are safe in Vampire Circus. For example, even though we don't see it, it's implied that a whole school of children are ripped to shreds by Emil's (Anthony Higgins) black panther persona. There's probably as much claret spilled, necks ripped open, and limbs taken off in Vampire Circus as any Hammer film I can think of. But it's not all graphic violence. There's some real atmosphere at work here as well. The whole movie has a creepy sort of vibe to it that really works. The circus is just odd enough to be eerie without going overboard. And I love the liberties Hammer took in Vampire Circus with the traditional vampire lore. Circus performers turning form animal into vampire, humans and vampires living (and loving) together, etc. make Vampire Circus a unique experience. The acting is, for the most part, as good as you'll find in any Hammer film. Even though you won't find any of the big name Hammer stars, Tayman, Higgins, Adrienne Corri, and several others give outstanding performances. Finally, though I've seen some reviewers dismiss the "amateurish" special effects, they really worked quite well for me. Emil's transformation to panther or the twins flying transformations into bats are amazingly well done. I realize it's not all perfect (I didn't care for Thorley Walters' performance, John Moulder-Brown seemed way too young, and too many scenes were too obviously filmed in a studio), but this is one of my Hammer favorites. Vampire Circus is a real treat.