One the most vicious, bloody, and downbeat of the Hammer horrors, 1972's Vampire Circus is these days held in relatively high regard by fans, but despite its attempts to differ from the Hammer norm in many respects, it displays the scars of its relatively troubled production quite plainly and is by no means the mini-masterpiece it is often hailed as.Telling the story of a plague-ridden Central European village visited by the Ray Bradbury-influenced Circus of Nights, a vengeance-fuelled carnival troupe of child-murdering, animalistic, and randier-than-normal blood-drinkers, it is both intriguingly offbeat and at the same time very typical of the standard early-1970s' Hammer output in terms of its setting, locations, and visual style. By 1972, the usual mock-Transylvanian hinterland of castles, inns, cleavage and a ridiculous number of men named 'Hans' as seen in the vast majority of their period horror flicks was practically a parody of itself; though several of the company's later movies attempted to shake things up with some extra violence, nudity, and a much less 'conservative' storyline than had previously been the case, they were still limited by the rigid conventions of their brand of period Gothic, and as such Hammer struggled to move with the times as quickly and easily as they should have, which Vampire Circus illustrates all too well.Everything about the movie, in fact, is a game of two halves. Some of the action is intense and satisfyingly full-on (such as the villagers' initial encounter with Robert Tayman's ludicrous-looking Count Mitterhaus, who resembles not a decadent aristocrat from the previous century but rather a rakish Chelsea pimp), whilst other scenes are baggy and poorly-edited (particularly true of the climax). Internal logic is unclear, as for a village as terrified of the supernatural as this vampire-haunted hamlet professes to be, they have an awful lot of tolerance (at first anyway) for the Circus of Nights, whose performers are visibly capable of genuinely impossible feats like turning into animals before the audience's eyes, but to which this set of dolts just laugh and clap; also, what amounts to a live sex show between a man with a whip and a naked woman painted like a tiger is greeted with quiet acceptance by the assembled throng of parents and children (!), which makes their subsequent pious wittering and gripping of crucifixes when people start turning up dead (a tedious horror cliché at the best of times) appear somewhat out-of-character.The performances are a mixture of the good, the bad, and the OTT. Adrienne Corri and Laurence Payne are both relatively strong, as is Anthony 'Higgins' Corlan as the nastiest of the vampiric gypos, whilst good old Dave Prowse and little Skip Martin from The Masque of the Red Death (1964) at least bring something different to the party. However, juvenile lead John Moulder-Brown (Deep End) is very wooden, the various young females are interchangeable, and Thorley Walters, a favourite at Hammer who blighted many a horror film with his deliberately buffoonish 'comic' turns, is only marginally less annoying than usual.You can see where the money ran out, too (Hammer boss Michael Carreras pulled the plug on director Robert Young after a six-week shooting schedule left several scenes unfinished); most notably, a supposedly horrific massacre of a dormitory full of students is referred to in quite matter-of-fact terms, but nothing of it is seen. Despite some wholly unrealistic but still disturbing gore imagery and the fragmented nature of the piece giving it a suitably nightmarish effect, it feels as though Vampire Circus isn't all it could have been; mind you, everything is relative – it looks like Let the Right One In (2008) when compared to rubbish like its original US release co-feature, Peter Sasdy's witless Ingrid Pitt vehicle Countess Dracula.

Rumour has it that filming was shut down on Vampire Circus with several important sequences still to be shot. The director had gone over schedule and Hammer simply assembled the film from what footage had already been taken. And to be frank, it shows.The film is full of illogical ideas. A plague which turns out to be rabies carried by bats can be cured by "Medicine" from the capital, although the film never shows bats attacking people, and the villages occasionally are to be seen with bubonic-style pustules over their faces. A small plot point but the film is full of such silliness.The main story concerns the revenge of Count Mitterhouse upon said village - he's a vampire staked 15 years earlier in a prologue which allows for nudity, gore, and sadism (the vampire's willing female accomplice is whipped and birched.)Enter the circus, mysteriously dodging road blocks set up by the surrounding villages to keep the plague contained, which turns out to be full of vampires who use their powers to put on a circus act! These scenes are nicely staged but quickly become repetitive as the villages seem to go there every single night, despite mysterious deaths galore and the plague spreading panic.I could point out many other inconsistencies in the plot but I'm trying to keep it short. Unaccountably this film has gained a decent reputation over the years, but in all honesty it's not very good, and not a patch on earlier Hammers such as Dracula, Plague of The Zombies and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed.Historical note: this was the last of Hammer's period vampire movies to be shot.

Vampire Circus (1972) is an excellent Hammer horror film that mixes vampires and a circus. It stars Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Anthony Higgins, and David Prowse (Darth Vader in Star Wars episodes IV, V, and VI).Basically, the movie takes place in an Austrian village in the 19th century. A little girl is killed by a vampire, Count Mitterhaus. The villagers kill this vampire in revenge for killing the girl. Years later this village suffers from the ravages of the plague. Some fifteen years later, a circus comes to town which actually consists of vampires. That's all I want to say about the plot so I don't spoil everything for you. Watch to find out what happens.This movie has lots of blood and gore, some full nudity, and some decent special effects for a low budget Hammer movie. The circus atmosphere and props are pretty decent, as are the costumes. The circus animals are amazing and appear to be well trained. Watch for the dancing tiger woman. She's a sight to see. This movie possesses a sort of dark fairy tale atmosphere mixed with pure circus horror. The movie has that classic low budget Hammer look and feel to it - somewhat cheaply made, but the cheapness is made up for with the story, attitude, and scariness.I recommend this movie because it's one of the better Hammer films and is a film that ranks pretty high on the all-time list of best vampire flicks in movie history, according to many fans.

***MIGHT INCLUDE SPOILERS!***Here it is! A great horror film from the sexy and wild 1970's! No slow build-up! The film even begins with the typical end of a Gothic horror movie, but after that, there is no slow segment of character development. As soon as one villager says "- ...Vampires only exist in legends..." we hear the sounds and noises from the vampire caravan! The film has unusually many characters for us to deal with and many we care of. It is fantastic! Delivers horror and vampire scenes in loads! As soon as the thrills and creepiness are over, we are exposed to sensual or right down sexy scenes! Romantic take on creepy looking vampires as if they would like to take you along on this very unchristian ride! The stunning thing in this film is that the vampires seem to gladly victimize the young, really just children! A vampire has a beautiful erotic scene with a woman slave! A gorgeous panther man and a huge magnificent tiger, the crazy but witty dwarf, the silent strong man, the womanleader of the circus (Corri's best filmrole!) A plague causing a village to go quarantine! Never a dull moment! A seminude woman in reptileskin in an animalistic supersexy dance scene! Beautiful girls and women! Psychic sibling twins that are transformed into bats! The Darth Vader actor! The Mirror of Life...a mirror that...No, I won't tell you! Pleasure mixed with blood, bloodsuckers and wild animals! Seduction of the underage! Colorful acting! You care as much for the poor villagers as you do for the sexy and beautiful vampire men and women! Highly imaginative film making! It actually engages us to enjoy these satanic things! If you feel that Hammer films bore you! Forget it! This is it! Give it a special viewing! The film has ONLY sex, boobs, sensual lovemaking, blood, chock, ugly vampires, nudity, violence, heads, the mocking laughter of the nasty vampires, thrills, mutilations, vampire stakings, huge fangs, corpses, eyeballs, wonderful 70's colours, great music and atmosphere! AND a 2 seconds scene where a mans shadow is transformed into a black panther in the middle of the stairs..This is a classic! If you don't like it, you either don't like horror films or your libido hasn't matured yet! Wonderful! I Must see it at least once a year!