Moviecut—Circus of Horrors

source: Circus of Horrors

Circus of Horrors

In the early sixties Anglo-Amalgamated became the alternative to Hammer for cheap horror thrills but in a more contemporary setting and "Circus of Horrors" was one of their better enteries, (the use of a real-life circus, in this case Billy Smart's, certainly helped). Anton Diffring is the psychopathic surgeon who takes over a circus as a front for his activities but who still can't keep death from his door. There's a greater emphasis on sex than in the Hammer films and director Sidney Hayers serves up a bevvy of European beauties as actual and potential victims. Hardly ground-breaking but fun nevertheless.

Fairly routine circus horror story well executed. There are a few scenes featuring the lady rope swinger set to bizarre music that are really breathtaking. The story concerns some radical plastic surgeons (with possible nazi connections) who take over a circus and populate it entirely with their patients/victims, who are killed one by one. Beautiful color photography. Anchor Bay has a very nice DVD of this one that fans should pick up.

A potent, well-paced and oddly memorable horror film with an outstanding leading performance from Anton Diffring, who could play cold and crude characters for fun. The circus background (a venue synonymous with enjoyment and family entertainment) effectively enhances the nastiness in this film. The illicit reasons behind the use of plastic surgery also add to the general aura of horror. A nastily effective British horror film - easily Diffring's best performance - and still watchable today.....

Anton Diffring plays the definitive psycho-narcissist, using all those around him as pawns for his personal pleasures and goals. I saw this film on it's initial theatrical release in 1960. (As a young boy of 10,I recall,I was pleasantly shocked at seeing the scantily clad female circus performers!) And I now own the film on laserdisc. The suspense still holds up well, and though the violence is not as explicit as you find in today's horror films, it is still on the gruesome side. Call me sentimental, but I like the theme song that is sung during the performance of the circus's female headliner ("Look for a Star"). It is typical early 60's love song ala Frankie Avalon, but it is a pretty song inserted within all the gruesome murder and violence around it. Very effective if you think about it. My rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Trying to emulate the success of Hammer Films, Anglo-Amalgamated made a series of gruesome contemporary horror shockers around 1959/60 (others included "Peeping Tom" & "Horrors of the Black Museum"). This cheerfully lurid shocker exploits the mixed emotions we feel when watching circus performers - the idea of something going terribly wrong is horrible, yet exciting. But crude as the concept is, cast and crew play it for all it's got : Anton Diffring is excellent in the lead role and Sidney Hayers' direction is slick and effective. The all-stops-out climax is great stuff and there's an effective final scene. The frequently-heard background song, "Reach For A Star", is corny but you won't be able to shake it out of your head!

One of the best horror films of the 1960s is this entry with its interesting mix of suspense, sex and mysterious deaths that has the benefit of real circus settings and fine work by Anton Diffring as the outlaw plastic surgeon. Diffring is the erudite but flawed medical genius whose past is littered with botched operations but continues his work behind the prop of a circus staffed with female performers whose faces he has restored in exchange for fealty and silence. Diffring gives the film its pulse as the resourceful and controlling renegade who keeps his flawed females on a very short leash. The film moves along at a good pace with no filler or wasted scenes. Donald Pleasance, erstwhile owner of the circus, is among the good supporting cast that includes the buxom ladies who are at great risk under Diffring's watchful, evil eye.

I recall seeing this film as a child in 1960. My mother was quite angry at dad for taking us to a movie that was "definitely not for children". This is a grim story of a doctor fleeing some botched plastic surgeries. He takes over a backwoods circus and populates it with beautiful, yet disfigured female performers whom he restores to beauty and rescues from lives of prostitution and rejection. Of course, once the circus becomes successful, the ladies no longer feel like putting up with, or putting out for him, so he devises elaborate circus "accidents" to deal with their ingratitude. The song "Look For A Star" permeates the movie at various times. At first, it's almost unnoticeable, a seemingly lame early sixties pop tune. However, as the movie progresses it takes on a sinister, disturbing aspect and circulates the brain long after it is over. The film is well acted and truly suspenseful. A must for those who like their sex and violence done in a literate, intelligent manner.