Vampire Circus (1972)

My rating - 7.5/10

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A small European village in the 1800s is cut off from the rest of Europe by an outbreak of the plague. A circus somehow arrives one day and soon people start vanishing then turning up dead. Could this have something to do with the elders in the village destroying an ancient evil that dwelled there a couple of decades earlier?.

It often struck me as strange that when people talk about the Hammer studio's vampire movies like Dracula, etc that Vampire Circus often gets overlooked. This is a wonderfully strange movie that features quite a bit of gratuitous nudity and sex that wasn't really seen to this extent in other Hammer films. There's also a decent bit of gore, albeit of the classic red paint style from the era. Saying that, some of the effects here are pretty good. It's pretty creepy too, especially at the start where a young girl is preyed upon by the main vampire. The way he touches her and plays with her hair before he kills her is quite shocking, even more so today than it was back then and it carries a surreal pedophillic vibe to it, whether intentional or not.

The cast all look like they're having fun in this one. Adrienne Corri is excellent as always, as is the stunningly beautiful Lynne Frederick who sadly passed away at only 39 years old after divorce, addictions and being blacklisted all contributed to her sad, short life.

The film does have a cheap look to it with some sets that are suppoed to represent outside looking pretty obvious, but that doesn't really spoil things and we get some good atmosphere and a few genuinely creepy scenes. I've always loved this film and would highly recommend it!.

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