I watched Repo - a genetic opera about a year ago just before it left Prime, and immediately ordered a DVD copy - I was that delighted and impressed. When I heard rumors about Carnival naturally I was excited and as soon as possible I watched it.... huh? For the sake of clarity and fairness I will only be comparing this film to its predecessor, as Zdunich is a realm unto himself, and any comparison to other artists would be apples to nutmeg.* * * spoilers ahead * * *First the good. The visual aesthetics were easily on a par with Repo, quirky and ambitious and fun. The music, while not quite up to the standards of Repo was at least consistent with the overall milieu - overly colorful, occasionally discordant and yet somehow likable. The acting was generally satisfactory, occasionally excellent. Based strictly on visuals and sound I would have given this at least a strong 7/10 The not so good. Unfortunately the story lost me. Repo created a strong, vital and internally consistent world, where there is no black and white - just myriad shades of murk - and it worked fabulously. In Carnival, however, I was left theologically baffled, consistency confused and ultimately dissatisfied. OK, the grieving and obsessed father, as a suicide, would qualify for Hell according to traditional Catholic beliefs (just as a point of reference, I adhere to no formal religion, but am not atheist), so while personally problematic as a sympathetic character, at least his presence was logical. The kleptomaniac was likewise an obvious "sinner" in the traditional sense, and so her presence was in keeping with the usual standard for Hell. The naive teen, however, was guilty only of what amounted to terminal stupidity - excessive trust in the face of perpetual betrayal. I for one have often felt that stupidity ought to be painful, but making the idea of "criminal stupidity" into a 'going to Hell level sin' just did not ring true for me and made the already tissue-paper fragile cohesiveness of the story dissolve into shreds of melodramatic lint. Then there was the never explained issue of the little boy - was this the son, and if so why was he in Hell? The motivation of the Devil at the end was the only semblance of coherence in the latter portion of the story. Whether the child even really existed, was bait for the father, was a red herring or a diablo ex machina was never clarified. Perhaps it will all become clear in the second installment. I sincerely hope so, as I am rather a fan of Zdunich and this film was a bit of a let down.

I am a very big fan of another movie this director did, Repo The Genetic Opera, and comparing this movie to that movie makes this movie come up short; Repo was a fantastic movie. That being said, if I try to put Repo out of my mind, this was a very good movie. The songs in this weren't as catchy as they were in Repo (except the last song, that one was pretty awesome) but they were still well written. The makeup was pretty good, and even though this movie seemed a little low budget, I think they still did a great job making it seem bigger than it was. I know there is a second one, and I am fully intending on watching it as I have heard that it is way better than this one. I am also a huge fan of Terrance Zdunich, so Ill pretty much watch him in anything.

Just because your movie brings together two fairly unrelated genres doesn't mean it is free from criticism, and "The Devil's Carnival" is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.The film follows the tales of three people as they explore the titular Devil's Carnival and they replay three classic fables. An interesting set-up with a lot of potential, but the writing is so heavy-handed that the message falls flat on its face.As far as the plot is concerned there are a lot of good ideas, but watching the finished product is like a slow-motion train wreck. Nothing ends-up coming together. It doesn't matter if you have any good ideas for your movie if they aren't executed well. For example, there is this one gatekeeper-type character that keeps banging-on about "the rules" sporadically throughout the movie, but this never ends-up coming to anything and is left as one of many loose ends.Most of the actors seem to be phoning it in for most of the film, which is particularly sad because there are a few people in this movie that working their hardest at giving a good performance.All the shots are the same cookie-cutter bore: close up of the singer, cut to carnival audience, back to singer, slowly pan up from ground, repeat. This movie is "safe"--it takes no risks and gets nothing back from the audience as a result.The music all sounds the same and the lyrics are not clever nor engaging. Rocky Horror Picture Show is a masterpiece of film, and I actually feel bad for having to compare it to this nonsense. Rocky Horror was clever and energetic--Devil's Carnival is just plain boring, with immediately forgettable song-writing and lacking any "spirit" of its own."The Devil's Carnival" is a terrible movie. Good makeup and good ideas are completely overshadowed by clunky writing, samey lyrics, unremarkable songs, and terrible acting and execution. Give it a miss.

First of all, I've read through some of the reviews already on here and it just made me realise that the majority of these people didn't actually watch the film. I mean, they must have not? Some of the things they say are just completely ridiculous and wouldn't be said if they had watched the film.First of all, someone said this movie promotes victim-blaming. Uh, no it does not. The young girl goes to hell because she is naive, she trusts her abusive boyfriend over and over until it leads to her death. Her naivety even when she knows better is her sin, as is made blatant when she trusts Scorpion even after he kisses Painted Doll, and when she puts her trust in Lucifer at the end of the movie.The victims are tortured and ridiculed because it's hell. It's the age old assumption of what could be worse than death, and the older woman's nakedness and ridicule is, to her, what is worse than death. She is stripped literally and metaphorically of everything that corrupted her. It isn't mindless titillation, anyone who thinks so clearly has no analytically skills whatsoever.The aesthetics are incredible and the way they've combined Aesop's Fables with a Gothic-esque atmosphere works very well.The only complaint I have is it was too short. There wasn't enough time for character development and the only character I felt any connection at all with was the male victim.