Harefooted Halloween: Vampire Circus

What I Liked: In typical Hammer fashion the film involves familiar horror tropes used in a story that’s just different enough to be interesting.  This time it’s about a town that kills the local malicious vampire and fifteen years later a vampire circus comes rolling through seeking revenge.  They specifically target the group who did the slaying and their families.  The vampires go through the entire routine of seeming like an ordinary circus which is kinda funny.  I mean I don’t know how they landed on the circus as their cover but it’s nice to see dedication to the part.  They even hire a few non-vampire henchmen to fill the rolls out like the strong man (David Prowse (Darth Vader from Star Wars)) and the dwarf clown (Skip Martin (The Masque of the Red Death)).

Again, as per usual with a Hammer production the cinematography is colorful, the effects are charmingly cheap, the acting is solid and the pacing is great.

What I Didn’t Like: While the base plot is fine the circus element makes the picture pretty hard to take seriously.  I don’t have anything against the circus per se (except for making animals do tricks, whipping them and keeping them in small cages) but it’s not something that excites me or that I’m interested in.  In fact it makes me less likely to check a movie out.  But that’s personal preference and not a real knock against the film.

The vampire at the beginning that sets this whole thing in motion is way too 70’s looking for what’s supposed to be the 1800’s.  It might be the haircut primarily.  Although the choker necklace is weird too.

Overall Impressions: Among the handful of Hammer pictures I’ve seen this is a weaker one.  It’s still fun and engaging though.  When the vamps flash their fangs, hiss and go for the jugular it’s immensely satisfying because this is classic bloodsucker aesthetic and behavior.  Instead of reinventing this type of character Hammer likes to put them in different situations.  Like with Dracula A.D. 1972 they predicted how the main man himself would react to (then) modern day London.  Or with The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires they took the show on the road and wondered what a gang of ancient Chinese vampires would be like.  It’s fantastic that somebody was willing to explore these ideas and throw an actual budget and talent behind them.

Vampire Circus is in line with the brand and an easy watch.  If you’re looking for a vampire film with a slight new twist you could do worse.  However, if you’re looking for a movie that has an interpretive dance between a naked woman painted to look like a large green cat and her tamer then this is probably one of the best in that category.