User reviews

Fifteen years after staking Count Mitterhaus, the vampire that had been preying upon their children, the people of a remote European village suffer once again as a mysterious plague begins to claim their lives. With roadblocks in place to stop the disease from spreading, they are cut off from the outside world.

When a gypsy circus somehow beats the quarantine to put on nightly shows at the village, the locals are happy that they have something to take their minds off the illness. But soon, the now-grown-up children of those who killed the Count begin to turn up dead, and the villagers start to suspect that the circus folk are somehow responsible. It eventually transpires that the creepy entertainers, some of whom are vampires, are out to seek revenge for Mitterhaus's death, and ultimately aim to raise the Count from his tomb.

A better-than-average offering from Hammer studios, Vampire Circus offers all of their trademark elements—lush visuals, lavish sets and costumes, beautiful women, handsome heroes and Gothic atmosphere to spare—plus quite a bit of blood and gore, and a generous amount of gratuitous nudity from several beautiful babes (although the stunning Lynne Frederick unfortunately remains fully clothed).

Director Robert Young ensures that the film is effectively creepy from start to finish, paying special attention to the scenes featuring the bizarre circus folk, which prove to be genuinely freaky (the dwarf, with his evil grin and painted face, is particularly disturbing). Occasionally the film suffers from some poor special effects, and the odd spot of hammy acting, but this does not detract from one's enjoyment (on the contrary, they actually made the whole experience more fun for me).

Best watched at night, with the curtains drawn, lights out, and accompanied by a big box of popcorn, this solidly entertaining vampire yarn is well worth checking out.

... And you'll find a pretty good story in there

It's interesting to note that just about everyone on this page enjoyed VAMPIRE CIRCUS . I can take or leave horror movies especially ones involving vampires because they're self limiting , ( I mean how scary is a person with false teeth ? ) and for much of this movie we're treated to some substandard production values typical of Hammer studios in the early 1970s , the circus arena is supposed to be in the open air but is obviously filmed on an interior film set , the editing and special effects are really poor , there's a sequence with villagers being thrashed to death with a rug ( Well that's what it looked like to me ) while the cast are very uneven with John Moulder-Brown as Anton being just about the most unlikely hero I've ever seen in a horror movie . Oh and there's plenty of scenes with people with false teeth like those ones you buy at a joke shop

But... ...despite all this VAMPIRE CIRCUS is a very entertaining horror movie . I don't know if it's because I've seen too many smart ass post modernist American horror flicks recently but a story featuring a Central European village being cut off from the outside world because of plague and its inhabitants being killed one by one by a bunch of vengeful vampires appeals to me more than a self referrential story set in 21st century America . In fact many of the killings are paedophillic murders so this gives the movie a disturbingly adult strength in what could easily be dismissed as a silly movie

Not sure why 'Vampire Circus' isn't mentioned when people talk about the best Hammer movies, because it certainly deserves to be. As usual the studio manages to create a lot of period atmosphere and chills on, one assumes, not a very large budget, and like most of their movies the acting is uniformly good. The story concerns a village being attacked by a mysterious lethal plague which may or may not be connected with a dark episode in the small communities past concerning an evil Count who once terrorized all and sundry. The village is cut off from the outside world, and while they anxiously await some outside medical attention, a strange traveling circus arrives. The villagers leap upon anything to tale their minds off their awful predicament, but as you can tell from the title, the circus folk aren't exactly what they appear to be and have secret plans of justice and revenge. The performers themselves are much more interesting and sensual than the uptight villagers, and this creates an unusual tension in the viewer compared to many vampire movies, where good vs. evil is black and white with no troubling ambiguities. This is a very unusual twist on the familiar subject matter, and in my opinion one of the most underrated and overlooked vampire movies ever made. Trainspotters note: the supporting cast includes David 'Darth Vader' Prowse as the circus strongman, and Lalla Ward (who replaced Mary Tamm as Romana in 'Dr Who') as a pretty sexy vampire.

Vampire Circus (1972) is currently available on Tubi and Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a traveling circus that arrives in a small town. Shortly after arriving children around the city start disappearing. The local towns people decide to start investigating the circus whether they're responsible or not.... This movie is directed by Robert Young (Hostage) and stars Thorley Walters (Adventure of Sherlock Holmes), Adrienne Corri (A Clockwork Orange), Anthony Higgins (Indiana Jones) and Richard Owens (Sense and Sensibility). The circus set, props and backdrops in this were awesome and they did a good job playing off it to create horror elements. The kills in this are pretty bad, especially when the animals do the killing. The cast is solid and the actors do a great job, especially the clown. There are some great nudity and sex scenes throughout the movie. Overall this is an uneven movie that is an above average addition to the horror genre that is worth watching once for horror enthusiasts. I'd score this a solid 6.5/10.

"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.

This film begins with a man sitting outside writing while at the same time keeping an eye on his young daughter who is playing in a field. When he looks up he notices a young woman walking off with his daughter and immediately gives chase. Unfortunately, he is unable to prevent the two of them from entering through the doors of a castle which close upon his arrival. Since there have been several child abductions recently he immediately gets help from the local village who decide to take matters into their own hands without regard to the fact that the inhabitant of the castle happens to be an extremely powerful and influential nobleman by the name of "Count Mitterhaus" (Robert Tayman). Be that as it may, upon successfully forcing their way into the castle they find the little girl already dead and although several men are killed in the process they end up eventually slaying the vampire by driving a stake through his heart. However, right before he dies he utters a curse upon them and promises to return to slay their children sometime in the future. The scene then shifts to 15 years later where that same village has been cut off from the rest of society due to a severe case of the bubonic plague which is killing off a number of the people there. Strangely enough, however, a small band of gypsies manage to pass through the roadblocks and enter the village as if it were no problem. And not long afterward several young people begin to die-but not because of any disease. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent vampire film which--as is often the case with Hammer productions--had a good Gothic feel to it and managed to maintain my attention throughout. Admittedly, while I didn't like the fact that the plot deviated from the typical vampire traditions, I still enjoyed this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

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.

Title: Vampire Circus

Director: Robert Young

Cast: Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Anthony Higgins

Review:

Vampire Circus is one of those hard to find, elusive Hammer Vampire flicks. I had been looking for it for the longest time having heard nothing but good things about this uncommon vampire movie. I finally got my hands on it and I feel that I have somehow found the holy grail or something.

It starts out like many vampire flicks. The towns people storming the castle of a vampire who has been feeding on the towns young women and children. They decide to take justice into their own hands and rid the world of Count Mitterhouse.

When I say that this movie starts out like many other vampire flicks, I don't mean that in a bad way. This opening is a very fast paced one, filled with lots of confrontations...somehow you get the feeling that you are walking in on the ending of the film. Count Mitterhouse is a very vicious vampire, he seems almost more fierce then Lee's Dracula in many scenes. Great way to open a movie! In the first 12 minutes you get a couple of towns folk slaughtered full frontal nudity and a little girl killed by Mitterhouse. But when the towns people finally do get to kill him, he says he will one day come to life again and just before he dies he curses the town with a plague.

Fast forward fifteen years later...and people are dying from a horrible curse, the town is quarantined and no one is allowed to leave. If you do try to leave the town...you get shot down! Anyhows in comes the "Circus of Night" a circus that the towns people welcome with open arms...something to take their minds away from all the death that the plague has brought upon them. The "circus of night" has their own little plan under their sleeves but that is for you to find out when you see the movie.

Well people thats the set up for what was surely one of the strangest vampire flicks I have ever seen. I mean...come on....vampires and a weird circus in the same movie, how can you go wrong with a mix like that? Does the movie manage to be interesting after a fast paced action packed opening sequence like that? It sure does.

Like many films with the circus/carnival setting one of the main attractions on this movie were the circus performers. This "circus of night" is filled with your usual circus folk. The Strong Man, The Twins Who turn into bats, The Midget Clown and The Panther who turns into a man, The Body Paint Dancers, Um...OK, maybe they are not your usual circus folk, but they sure do make for an interesting and freaky film. All the characters in the circus are very intriguing simply because of their freakishness, they are certainly more likable then the towns folk.

This Hammer production has more boob shots then usual. The nudity was very abundant in Vampire Circus. Another really cool thing about the flick: the vampires have huuuge fangs. I mean when they open their mouths you get to wondering how they are ever going to close them again with fangs that big. Cool image.

The movie is accompanied by a feeling of surrealism. Be on the lookout for some really freaky performances during the show. Specially those scenes involving "The Mirror of Life". Also those scenes with the naked/body paint/dancing lady. Add to this that the ring master is a midget clown and you have a night of weird bizarro cinema assured. Oh, and it also has one of the coolest and most original vampire death scenes I have seen! Not gonna spoil it for you guys but be on the look out for that.

As you can see, I don't have a great many bad things to say about this one. Maybe they screwed around with the vampire mythos a little too much, I mean a were-panther/vampire dude? Maybe that was a little too much. But I guess it just adds to the bizarre feeling this movie has.

Also some of the acting wasn't so good, mainly from the young guy who plays the son of the doctor in the film. He delivers his lines with a lot of overacting. But thats just a minor flaw, it was an all around good Hammer flick.

So, in conclusion. I'm glad I finally got to see Vampire Circus its a film that was fun because its weird freaky carnival feel and its likable villains. Too bad this film is often times ignored and doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Why release films like "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" which are just plain hurtful to look at, and then just completely ignore a gem like this? Sadly this film isn't even available in the United States.

It certainly is one of the most unique vampire films to come out of Hammers House of Horror, and one that any Vampire/Hammer lover should not miss.

Rating: 4 out of 5

I first saw this movie years ago in a chopped-up edited for television form, although I was recently able to see it in what looks like its complete version.

I remember distinctly that Vampire Circus got terrible reviews in the 1970s. Our TV Guide rated it at ZERO stars, but time seems to have softened that harsh criticism, and it's now regarded as a semi-classic.

It's got the great look and feel of classic Hammer horror, and it gets by without Lee, Cushing and the rest. David Prowse makes an appearance as the strongman, one of the few times you see him not heavily made up. For what it's worth, the script is actually a little better than some other more highly regarded horror films.

While it's not the best thing Hammer ever produced, you'll want to see it at least once if you're a fan of those movies.

When you think of Hammer Horror films I bet this one doesn't spring to mind. It's a great movie and highly original. It is a little dated and stilted at times but it's a great watch. I also detect that this maybe be a bit of an influence to The League of Gentlemen. Give it a watch and you'll see what I mean,

An small village somewhere in Europe, where the villagers can't leave their small town. Because of the recent plague, then an mysterious group of circus people (Lead by Adrienne Corri) are coming to this village to bring happiness and joy to make them forgot the plague. But they are there to bring misery and murder instead. Since this carnival people are actually vampires (even the animals are vampires and could transforms to human begins!) getting their revenge of their master Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman) got staked in the heart 15 years ago. Which their master, they were killed by the villagers and now this vampires are trying to kill all the woman and children. So, their master could comeback to life.

Directed by Robert Young (Splitting Heirs) made an fascinating vampire horror movie, despite its poor production values. But this movie has some light erotic moments and some arresting scenes as well. It is also amusing Tongue in Cheek as well. But the British cast are good here and actually well written also. But i felt, there's something missing in the movie. But it's satisfying enough and die-hard fans of the famous "Hammer" production will enjoy this. David Prowse, who plays "The Strongman" in the movie. Prowse is best known for playing "Darth Vader" in the suit in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. (*** ½/*****).

In Nineteenth Century Europe , at a Servian little town called Schtettle and surroundings have been committed several murders and neighbours think the guilty seems to be the count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman) . When professor Albert Muller (Laurence Payne) watches how his wife Anna and daughter go into a castle , townsfolk (Thorley Walters , among others) enter to rescue them . They get to kill the sinister vampire count but he promises a grisly curse . Fifteen years later the bloodsucker's curse is carried out on descendants (John Moulder-Brown , Lynne Frederick) . Schtettle (same place from 'Twins of evil') people are dieing for strange illness and the place is quarantined . A village is at first relieved when a circus breaks through the quarantine to take the local's minds off the plague . Only the ¨Circus of nights¨ (Adrienne Corri , Anthony Corlan , David Prowse) passes the limits to bring happiness and joy . The circus appears in the isolated location , but early instead of bringing fun and amusement , the circus brings only misery , mutilation and death . ¨The circus has various animals and attractions as 'Hall of Mirrors', and 'Mirror of life' . It seems all the members are bloodsuckers who have the unique ability to become themselves into animals . They intend to take vendetta on the village , whose inhabitants murdered their ancestor several years formerly .

This vampire film contains thrills , chills , suspense , creepy events and is quite entertaining . From important production companies as ¨Rank¨ and ¨Hammer Films¨ that took two plots , one about an eerie circus and the other about bloodsucker depredations and cobbled them together enough well . There are some fine scenes , as the dancing of the panther woman and and other fantastic ones as the deeds in a Hall of Mirrors . Enjoyable performance for all casting , Adrienne Corri as a circus ringmaster , she subsequently worked in 'Clockwork orange' ; Anthony Corlan as a panther man , he has a long career as Anthony Higgings ; Thorley Walters , a Hammer usual ; Lynne Frederick who married and inherited to Peter Sellers , though she died early ; David Prowse as a strongman , he posteriorly became famous as Darth Vader's Star Wars . Colorful cinematography by Grant , made at Pinewood studios , Shepperton , London , England . Creepy and frightening musical score by David Whitaker .

The motion picture produced by Michael Carreras is well directed by Robert W. Young who has a mediocre career with average titles as ¨Hostage¨ , ¨Scandalous ¨, The world is full of married men¨ ; however ¨Vampire circus¨ is a good yarn and results to be his best film . Hammer film buffs will no doubt recognise this film is one of the best of the Terror House .

I gave in to my desire to resee Twins of Evil and check out Vampire Circus & Countess Dracula which I had never seen and ordered the "Hammer Vampire Collection" from UK. (If you're considering purchase, the discs are coded Region 2, so you can't play them on a lot of USA-sold DVD players. I watch Region 2 on my computer.) I loved Twins of Evil but the real winner was Vampire Circus, an intelligent and fun treatment of a curse upon a village which had the temerity to call an abrupt halt to the fun of the local feudal lord. It's suspenseful and fast moving. I agree with previous commenters that the villagers are so pompous that they earned their fates. Unlike most other posters, I welcomed the opportunity to see John Moulder-Brown in a (for me) new movie, albeit 32 years old. VC is beautifully photographed and the special effects are terrific. Clearly the folks at Hammer Studios did not need computers to create stunning visual images. If you can view Region 2 discs, go for it! You'll get a great thrill out of VC, probably their best vampire flick after Taste the Blood of Dracula!

When the population of a small village decides to invade the castle of the Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman), who is a vampire that is killing the local children, the villagers and their families are cursed by him. His mistress escapes to the rage of the locals, hides the count's body in a cave and fifteen years later, she returns with a circus owned by the count's cousin and also vampire Emil (Anthony Higgings), to fulfill the count's prophecy and bring him back to life.

"Vampire Circus" is a very reasonable vampire movie from Hammer. There are some nudity, the story is not bad, but John Moulder-Brown and Anthony Higgings are horrible and almost spoil the film. These two ham actors make many situations very funny with their movements, grimaces and expressions. Anyway, I am a fan of Hammer studios and I liked this very low-budget movie, which does not spare the children or other lead characters. There are also some attractive erotic scenes, such as the dance of the tiger-woman, or the initial scene of Count Mitterhaus and his lover in bed. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Circo dos Vapiros"("The Vampires Circus")

A woman leads a child into a vampire's home, and her husband rallies the villagers to finally do something about the vampire. They kills the vampire Count, but the vampire swears revenge.

Years later, vampires are mostly forgotten as the village deals with a disease that has them shut off from the rest of the world by roadblocks that shoot at anyone trying to come in or out. A circus arrives "to take the coins from dead men's eyes." "The Circus of Nights! A hundred delights!" shouts the barker/clown little person.

In the circus are male/female psychic twin vampire tumblers who turn into bats in their act (which curiously doesn't revive the villagers' concerns about vampires), a vampire tumbler who can turn into a panther who is the Count's cousin, a gypsy woman, a mute strongman, the little person, a tiger, a monkey, and perhaps a couple others. One act involves a nude bald woman in feline body paint, an odd act for the mixed company with children in this period piece, I thought. There's also a mysterious tent called "The Mirror of Life." Not everyone in the circus is a vampire, but the humans are under the vampires' control. The villagers, of course, don't realize that there are vampires, but we the audience know since the Count mentioned it.

Some people try to leave the town to get medical help, others try to flee but now have the vampires to contend with along with the roadblocks. The vampires prey on the villagers and try to revive the count.

This is a fairly good vampire movie, typical Hammer fare with some nudity, blood and gore, nice colorful sets, and good acting. Nevertheless, it didn't really capture me, perhaps because the story was just too simple and predictable.

This film has some good ideas. There's the freaky circus (always a good foundation of a horror film), there's some quite bold eroticism, and it could have worked out well. Unfortunately it seems obvious that there wasn't any money. The problem isn't with the bad effects, nor with the various goofs, nor that the villain looks kind of funny. Mainly, it seems like the plot isn't developed enough, making leaps because we can't afford to make a fuller version of the story. Too cheap for the average viewer, but a Hammer horror fan will appreciate it. The kind of movie that may be worthy of a good remake so it can reach its full potential.

A small village uprises against Count Mitterhouse, their vampiric lord. He vows a curse upon the town as he is being destroyed.Years later the town is struck by an outbreak of disease.

Among this horror a travelling circus comes to town. As we slowly find out most of the circus performers are vampires.Some of the animals are vampiric humans! They begin to wreak vengeance upon the village slaughtering indiscriminately.

There is a rousing finish to this as vampires and villagers square off to do battle.Who will survive?

I was lucky enough to see an uncut foreign laserdisk of this film.Plot confusion stemming from the cut video is cleared up. The colors are lush.The direction is tight and there really isn't a wasted moment in this classic.The acting is top notch as well.This is even better than Horror Of Dracula in my opinion.

Sadly this is only available on laserdisk in the USA at this time. Hopefully Anchor Bay will release a complete version of this film to the video market.All you can do is wait...

"Vampire Circus" has received generally high reviews, but it is really nothing more than a run-of-the-mill horror flick on a subject that has been done to undeath. Having said that, it is worth watching. It begins with a young virgin being lured away by a servant of the undead. Virgin as in too young to even mention the word sex. Once inside the castle, her fate is sealed, but one of the villagers manages with some difficulty to recruit a posse to storm the castle and kill the wicked count. No, not that count.

With his undying breath he curses them all and vows he will return. Fast forward fifteen years, and the circus comes to town. There is a bit more to it than that, but not a lot more. We see the usual themes: mirrors in which the undead don't reflect, crucifixes, skeptics, and a bit of cleavage for those who are more interested in live women than dead men.

People are always mentioning the Dracula series when talking about Hammer's best Vampire flicks and, every once and a while, `The Vampire Lovers' and `Twins of Evil' are named. But I never heard anyone praising Vampire Circus before… And yet this is one of the greatest vampire movies I've seen so far. A very structured and ingenious story with frightening characters, nasty gore and constant action. The most fantastic aspects about this film are the genuine strangeness and fairytale-like atmosphere. Yet, the solid tension-level of this film depends on a simple principle: circus people are eerie, and the idea of a travelling bunch of circus freaks is ominous. The legendary director Tod Browning already knew this back in 1932 and the overlooked chiller `Circus of Horrors' also follows this principle closely. Personally, I get a lot more uncomfortable at the sight of a painted-face midget than when seeing aliens, bogeymen or whatever other overblown horror characters.

Vampire Circus is terrifically set in 19th century Serbia. 15 years after the townsfolk of a little community killed an evil count, they live in complete misery. The Plague has isolated them from the rest of the world and they live under the believe they're cursed. A travelling circus finally seems to bring some diversity into the lives of the poor townspeople with their amusing tricks of changing into nightly animals back and forth. But, there seems to be an horrific connection between the eerie circus and the destroyed count… Most members of the circus are vampires too, coming to avenge the Count's death and to make him rise from his tomb. For once in your life, look beyond the poor production values! Vampire circus looks laughable and cheesy, but it really does have a compelling story to tell. A story with all the necessary horror ingredients: tension, gore (surprisingly much), great music, good-looking girls and even a bit of nudity. The more Hammer movies I see, the more I think this production company rules!! Even their most underrated ones, like it's definitely the case for Vampire Circus, must be seen by every horror fan. Highly recommended!

Poorly paced and edited horror film lacks any genuine terror or suspense though it's suitably atmospheric and downbeat with erotic overtones, including some nudity which may have been cut from the PG version. There's not too much originality on display, and the film doesn't live up to the expectations set in the rather lengthy pre-title sequence. The direction and most of the performances are seldom more than barely adequate, and the vampire fangs which might do for a Halloween costume are distractingly fake and cheap looking. The characters are not compelling though John Moulder Brown of The House that Screamed and Deep End and Lynn Frederick display youthful charm as the ostensible hero and his fair lady. However, all of the the characters take so long to figure out the obvious that they test both patience and credulity. With so many variations on the vampire legend around it's hard to recommend Vampire Circus; it's occasionally diverting, but ultimately weak and not worthwhile.