VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)

 DIRECTED by Robert Young

SCREENPLAY by Judson Kinberg from a story by George Baxt & Wilbur Stark

STARRING  - Adrienne Corri as Gypsey Woman,  Laurence Payne as Professor Albert Muller,  Thorley Walters as The Burgomeister,  Lynne Frederick as Dora Muller,  John Molder-Brown as Anton Kersh,  Elizabeth Seal as Gerta Hauser,  Anthony Corlan as Emil,  Richard Owens as Dr. Kersh,  Domini Blythe as Anna Muller,  Robin Hunter as Mr. Hauser,  Robert Tayman as Count Mitterhaus,  Robin Sachs as Heinrich,  Lalla Ward as Helga,  Skip Martin as Michael the Dwarf,  Dave Prowse as The Strongman,  Mary Winbush as Elvira.

PLOT - The Serbian village of Stetl in the late 19th Century. Fifteen years ago, the good people of Stetl destroyed an evil that was lurking in thier midst - the vampiric Count Mitterhaus. They staked the vampire through the heart and burnt his castle to the ground. Little did the citizens of Stetl know that Mitterhaus cursed them with his dying breath - vowing that he will have revenge on them and thier children...

Fifteen years later and Stetl is in the grip of a virulent plague. The village is in quarantine and cut off from surrounding territories by an armed corden. The people of Stetl are sick, fearful and slowly dieing. Into this situation arrives The Circus Of Nights - a group of travelling gypsey carnival players to whom there is more than meets the eye. For the mysterious carnival folk hide a deadly secret - they are the vampire brood of Count Mitterhaus come to take thier revenge and fullfill the vampire's deadly deathbed prophecy. Be afraid good people of Stetl for the Vampire Circus is in town...

DIALOUGE  - Michael - "The Circus Of Nights...A HUNDRED DELIGHTS !!!!"

PERFORMANCES  - As great as Hammer horror films where in the 60's/70's there was one thing that consistently let them down - The casting of thier younger male heroes. If Hammer needed an older leading male character they hit it spot on - Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee even Andre Morel would be on hand in a jiffy to provide the studio's latest movie with a compelling and charismatic mature leading man. For some reason this same Midas touch never seemed to extend to thier younger heroes. Bar a couple of noteable exceptions (Ralph Bates, Shane Briant and Barry Andrews) Hammer's young male stars all seemed to have undergone charisma bypass operations, resulting in weak characterisations and protagonists who came over as being a little bit "wet" shall we say.

Case in point is Vampire Circus' leading man John Molder-Brown as Anton. Firstly - it's not apparent that he's actually going to be the film's hero until about half way through. The first quarter or so of the film is led more by an ensemble cast (Anton just seems to be a slightly petulant kid at this point). Whilst its interesting to see Hammer experiment with the format the fact that the main character doesn't become the main character until later on means that by the time he does step up to the mark you're really not that invested in him. This just robs the character of any agency he may have had in the first place.

Secondly (and more of a problem) Molder-Brown as Anton just comes over as a smart alec "know-it-all" kid. He hasn't got the charisma required to start ordering around men twice his age as he does later on in the film. Everyone seems to turn to him like he's some kind of "natural leader" and he really, really isn't. He's just too "Little Lord Fauntelroy" in his appearance and mannerisms to take seriously,  I'm afraid...

Much better is Laurence Payne as Professor Albert Muller - he's at least got the gravitas of a Cushing or Lee as he plays the tortured academic (his wife ran off with Count Mitterhaus and became his lover, betraying her husband and the entire village in the process - Muller still bears the mental scars of this betrayal). The problem is he has to play second fiddle to Molder-Brown. Muller should have been the main character NOT Anton - he's a far more interesting character played by a far better actor. Alas it just wasn't to be.

Fortunately the villians in this film work far better. First we get Robert Tayman as Count Mitterhaus who's a marvelously feral vampire. He comes across as a total predator (both as a hunter and sexually). Theres a great fight scene early on where he takes down a group of Vampire hunters swiftly and efficiently - this is one Vampire who doesn't mess about. He's only in the film in the opening prologue and right at the very end but he certainly makes his mark on the movie.

Also good is Anthony Corlan as Emil - Mitterhaus' cousin and leader of the Circus vampires. Like Mitterhaus he's got the whole predator aspect down to a tee - a fact helped by him frequently transforming into a black Panther. Corlan gives Emil graceful cat like movements, he doesn't speak much but then he doesn't really need to, his physical presence is enough.

Mitterhaus and Emil are also backed up by some interesting supporting villians including Adrienne Corri as the mysterious "gypsy woman" who turns out to be Muller's wife come back to revive her lover Mitterhaus (her face has been changed to disguise her - presumably by Vampire "magic" or perhaps servants of the undead can regenerate like Doctor Who). We also get sinister dwarf clown Michael (Skip Martin) who gets some nicely creepy scenes to himself (especially when he peels his own "face" off)...

Rounding out the villians we also get Dave "Darth Vader" Prowse as an evil carnival Strongman and future Doctor Who companion (and wife of Tom Baker for all of five minutes) Lalla Ward playing Mitterhaus' vampiric daughter - Helga -  who also doubles as a shape-shifting acrobat along with her twin brother Heinrich (Robin Sachs).

SFX - Lots of bright red emulsion paint blood in the classic Hammer style.

There's a scene where Emil attacks and kills a family whilst in his panther form. Unfortunately said "panther" is actually a glove puppet...

When the vampires transform into animals - this "effect" is achieved by the actors walking behind something and then the animal they've supposedly just transformed into walking (or jumping) out in thier place.

SEX & VIOLENCE  - There is quite a bit of female topless nudity (this was when Hammer was in it's breasts=box office phase).

There's lots of classic neck biting and vamp-staking (the fight with Mitterhaus in the prologue is great). Other highlights include - The attack of the killer glove puppet leaving behind a very gory mess...

A giant crucifix falls on Helga - staking her. Her twin brother Heinrich "feels" what she feels and also dies as a result of this staking. Its shit to be Heinrich...

Darth Prowse gets shot by angry villagers (causing a very well done exit wound), the evil dwarf gets his neck broken.

One thing I really liked about the film is the neck wounds from the vampire attacks - they look really sore and bruised and bloodied. Great work from Hammer's make up department there...

Finally Mitterhaus has a mishap with a crossbow and ends up being quite convincingly decapitated (unfortunately leading to Molder-Brown giving us an OTT look of revulsion - a terrible piece of acting).

RATING - Vampire Circus is a pretty good late period Hammer vampire flick. It's got great villians and a weird sinister fairground atmosphere that's very effective. The film is only let down by it's miscast and annoying main character. 

4 undead carnies out of 5.

ART -

The House Of Hammer magazine adapted Vampire Circus into comic strip form. Below is the front cover and some art from the strip done by legendary 2000ad artist Brian Bolland.

Vampire Circus also made the cover of HoH's sister publication - Monster Mag.

In the early 2000's a novelisation/reimagining of Vampire Circus was released by Hammer Books.