Associate producer: Norman Priggen. Producers: Julian Wintle, Leslie Parkyn. A Lynx Films/Independent Artists Production, released in the U.K. by Anglo Amalgamated: 26 June 1960; in Australia by British Empire Films: 19 May 1961; in the U.S.A. by American International: 1 September 1960. Sydney release at The Victory. New York opening at neighborhood theaters: 31 August 1960. Registered: April 1960. "X" certificate. 8,234 feet. 91 minutes. Australian release title: "Phantom of the Circus".SYNOPSIS: A series of unfortunate and terrible accidents have made the Continental police interested in Schuler's circus, but they are never able to prove anything against him.COMMENT: One of the best of the Hammer horrors. The plot is ingenious and well developed. If the dialogue seems a little flat, this is scarcely noticeable because the pace moves so fast. Direction is unobtrusive yet remarkably skillful. The players are more than capable, the girls are most attractive, and the color photography is richly dramatic. (Available on an adequate Optimum, or excellent Anchor Bay DVD).OTHER VIEWS: Anglo Amalgamated's Circus of Horrors is lavishly mounted, richly produced and dramatically directed in exquisite Eastman Colour. In Circus of Horrors, menace and romance fly on the high trapeze, danger and deceit, murder and love grotesquely hide behind a clown's hilarious make-up and a mad surgeon's scalpel, crosses swords with a knife-thrower's deadly arm, while ugliness trades places with beauty.Anton Diffring, magnificent in the main role, plays the role of a mad surgeon who gains control of a derelict circus and builds it into one of the finest in Europe. Unscrupulousness and his mania for beauty prove his undoing. — Anglo Amalgamated Publicity.

A cult classic with Anton Diffring, outrageous Donald Pleasance, and a weirdly sexy Kenneth Griffith. Oh, and a gaggle of scantily clad babes.It's surprisingly lurid for 1959/60 -- and yet in a sanguine manner only a '60s films could achieve.Diffring plays an excruciatingly unethical plastic surgeon on the run throughout Europe, hiding behind his traveling carnival of death as a front.Oh, and that song! The movie is everything Joan Crawford's later BERSERK should have been. In fact, I tend to combine both movies in my head into one magnificently rococo, downmarket picture. Which totally works for me.

I really like Circus Of Horrors (1960). This movie takes place in England in 1947. It's about a circus leader who is a plastic surgeon and well..........you'll have to watch the movie to find out what unfolds during this rather bizarre movie. This movie is pretty risqué for a 1960 movie. This movie reminds me so much of the Hammer horror films with the use of vibrant colors on the sets and colorful costumes. The acting is good and is similar to Hammer films, as is the musical score. This movie has the hit 1960 song "Look For A Star" by Garry Mills in it. Real circus acrobats were used in this film. In fact, footage was used from actual circus performances. This circus has it all - lions, trapeze artists, clowns, elephants, horses, you name it. There are a lot of tense moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat.This movie stars Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Conrad Phillips, Kenneth Griffith, Jane Hylton, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, and Colette Wilde.I highly recommend this movie.

This horror film stars Anton Diffring, a name you probably won't recognize though it's very likely you'll recognize his chiseled Nordic face. He was a prolific actor in supporting roles but was most often cast as German soldiers in such films as WHERE EAGLES DARE, THE BLUE MAX, OPERATION CROSSBOW, THE HEROES OF TELEMARK and ZEPPELIN (among others). You also might remember him as Montag's boss in FAHRENHEIT 451. He one of those familiar and reliable actors that you had to have seen if you saw many films made in the 1960s.The film begins with Diffring and his two friends traveling throughout Europe. He is obviously on the run--but from who and what we don't know. On a lark, the three hide out by taking over a small circus and casting disfigured women in the leading roles. It seems that Diffring is a plastic surgeon and once made beautiful, the ladies learn the trade and stay with the circus. However, oddly, when any of these women try to leave the show, an 'accident' occurs to them--killing them. The first they show is particularly nasty and vivid for 1960. We can see that one of Diffring's friends is behind the murders but whether he (Diffring) knew this was the case is uncertain. While the idea of the murders at the circus is interesting, why Diffring and his friends invest so much energy in the scheme is odd--I mean, why do this?! And, after several of these murders, how could the black-haired lady been so insane as to make threats against the circus?! You'd think she'd tread lightly in light of the killings--there's already been 11 before this one!! And, for that matter, why didn't they just close that horrible circus?! And, the guy in the cheesy gorilla suit was not one of the film's better moments. And, when the doctor was trying to stab the hero, why did the young lady just stand there and watch?!? Sloppy--especially near the end, though the speeding car was kind of cool.While I wanted to really like this film, there was a problem that I began to notice after a while. There really were not that many killings--they talk about there having been some but only show a couple. This is quite unlike excellent horror films like THEATRE OF BLOOD or the Dr. Phibes films or the similar plotted CIRCUS OF TERROR (which, actually isn't all that excellent). Plus, there was lots and lots of talking--a bad thing for a film in the genre. I was aching for more action--more action and less inconsistencies in the script. Still, despite these problems, it is interesting enough to merit watching.