I Like to Watch (Instantly): Circus of Horrors

Halloween Countdown Edition

Jerry Cornelius [ Mon Oct 31 2011 5:36 PM ]

Circus of Horrors (1960)

Directed by Sidney Hayers

Cast: Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Conrad Phillips, Jack Gwillim, Vanda Hudson, Colette Wilde, William Mervyn

Are you an insane plastic surgeon on the run for pursuing your unethical experiments? Have you directed your own facial reconstructive surgery in a mirror using only a local anesthesic? Do you enjoy dallying with the lovely ladies whose deformed features your skill has made whole again? Are you willing to cut down anyone in your path who dares defy your iron will? Well, have you ever considered running a circus?

Spoiler alert!

Hawk-faced Anton Diffring (Fahrenheit 451, The Blue Max) excels as the cruel, oddly sympathetic and totally bonkers Dr. Schüler (or is it Rossiter?), mad doctor turned circus master, in this outrageous, non-supernatural, vibrantly technicolor horror film (from the producers of Michael Powell’s notorious Peeping Tom). The ridiculousness of the scenario (Schüler collects scarred criminals—mostly women—heals them and binds them to perpetual service in his circus) is made compelling by its twisted character studies, particularly the doctor’s toady-like accomplices (Kenneth Griffith and Jane Hylton) who seethe with mixed worship and revulsion for their master. Hurried exposition (especially at the beginning) and laughable animal costumery detract only slightly from psychodrama, blood and intrigue. Great actual circus performances and a genuine pop hit (“Look for a Star”) round out the lurid entertainment.

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Public Comments (3)

- faun lebowitz
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The Wild Hunt [ Tue Nov 1 2011 11:11 AM ]

My recommendation for Instant Watch.
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SCA to the nth degree. Real yet fantasy. Humorous yet dark. This film is really well done. And the scabbard for this sword- it's Canadian.
- faun lebowitz
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... [ Tue Nov 1 2011 11:23 AM ]

here's another viewer's take of The Wild Hunt that I agree with...
"...the pace is a bit slow, which makes it difficult at first to get into it. But something about it drew me in, and if you are patient enough, I think you will be rewarded. The beginning is mainly devoted to depicting LARP'ers (Live Action Role Players) as childish, delusional, and ridiculous (which of course they sometimes are). But slowly, the film begins to show you the deeper, darker side of things, as the story steadily spirals out of control."
- Greenley
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- Since 2006-06-01
- right behind you
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Hawk-faced Anton Diffring, or [ Wed Nov 2 2011 2:00 PM ]

scarecrow face?
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