Vampire Circus

Made during the declining years of Britain's Hammer Film—the once-reigning horror studio—1972's Vampire Circus finds director Robert Young adding psychedelic flourishes along with an undercurrent of sadism to the company's trademark mix of bloody gothic tales featuring nudity and sex. In an opening prologue, villagers in a quaint European hamlet attack the vampire Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman) after discovering that he's been using his lover—the schoolmaster's wife (Domini Blythe)—to lure and kill children. Years later, the vile nobleman's dying curse manifests itself in a plague, during which the beleaguered citizens welcome the possibility of distraction in the form of a traveling circus that breaks through the quarantine. But it turns out that the performers—including a gypsy woman (Adrienne Corri) and the shape-shifting Emil (Anthony Corlan)—have their own power over the doomed citizenry. Production issues resulted in some scenes not being filmed and some special effects unfinished, which give Vampire Circus a jagged, rushed quality; but some parts are eerily effective and others quite lovely. Although a genre footnote, Vampire Circus has remained one of the most sought after of Hammer's previously unavailable films. Synapse offers the home video debut of this rarity—restored to its original, uncut European form for the first time in the U.S.—in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack, with extras including “The Bloodiest Show on Earth” making-of featurette, as well as segments on circus horrors and House of Hammer magazine, a motion comic book, and a stills/poster gallery. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)