CIRCUS OF THE DEAD
MOVIE REVIEW

		Review by E.C.McMullen Jr.
CIRCUS OF THE DEAD - 2014 USA Release: Jan. 13, 2017 Bell Cow Films, Bloody Bill Productions, Epic Pictures Rated: USA: N/A

Where fictional movie slashers and serial killers are concerned, Hollywood has had this long standing perversion.

The Victim deserves it.

The teens are all vapid and have premarital sex.

The spouse is committing adultery by sleeping with a homicidal maniac.

You're too easily seduced.

Your standards are too high.

Your standards are too low

You were caught having a low opinion of murderous inbreds.

You don't live your life up to the high moral standards of the killer.

And of course, the maniac killer(s) live in a Restricted neighborhood where your kind ain't wanted 'round hyar.

Should the movie go into sequels it doubles down on the worst. The Victims become more vapid, more useless, while the killer becomes a charming homicidal maniac, cracking jokes and one liners until even the audience can be satisfied with a mere body count.

Invariably, the Slasher and Serial Killer movies in this subset of Horror only become classics if the Victims don't deserve it and the Killers kill out of pleasure or because they're pure evil.

Such Victim is innocent movies are rare (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, SALO, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, HALLOWEEN, HOSTEL) and nearly always a foreign film or low budget independent.

Like CIRCUS OF THE DEAD, for example!

Shot in the vast far flung Texas outback of the Permian Basin, the story begins with the death of its first victim, a young clown girl, in the opening credits.

Yet in the first few seconds, CIRCUS OF THE DEAD had me. The crisp, incongruous and old timey music of the late 1920s or early 30s set the tone. Speaking of tone, this opening scene is shot so remarkably well in light, shadow, and blocking, I was nearly certain I was watching a big budget Hollywood production.

CIRCUS OF THE DEAD is not the kind of movie that a director like Guillermo Del Toro would make, but the lighting and camera angles, what's in sharp focus and what's blurred, is exactly what Del Toro goes for when he's making his personal movies (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, PAN'S LABRYNTH). Kudos to cinematographer, Gaeb Ramirez on his first feature!

The Production Design by Lee Ankrum (also co-writer) is eye-catching in its filthy flawlessness. The environment these vile creatures have created for themselves has a beautiful, barbaric quality to it.

The composer and final sound mix was done by Lauren Comel Morris (THE REINCARNATION OF JESSE BELLE).

All of the forgivable though amateurish flaws I'm used to: mediocre sound, mediocre lighting, blocking, camera, isn't found here. Visually and in sound, CIRCUS OF THE DEAD has a theatrical quality to it.

Also bear in mind that the reason I'm posting no or few credits is that, for most of them, this was their first feature or movie of any kind (according to IMDb).

The movie first focuses on two groups. The Johnson family, consisting of
Donald Johnson (Parrish Randall: DEAD OF KNIGHT, CHILLERAMA),
Tiffany Johnson (Chanel Ryan: SOCIETY),
and their daughters Hillary (Madi Lane) and Alyssa (Jordan Bell).

The second group is the homicidal clowns, consisting of
Papa Corn (Bill Oberst Jr.: COYOTE, 3 FROM HELL) ,
Mister Blister (Rusty Edwards. Also Graphic Designer for this movie),
Noodledome (Ryann Clapp. Also Visual and Digital Effects Artist for this movie),
Jumbo (Mike Williams).

Donald and Tiffany take their daughters to the traveling circus. This particular circus is a front for the killing clowns. Yes, they do an actual circus with the animals and all, but their big show is the clowns themselves and its here that their ringleader, Papa Corn, stares out into the audience and picks their next victims.

Papa Corn chose the Johnson family this night.

It isn't long before the home invasion. The Mother is sexually assaulted then murdered, the daughters are kidnapped, and so is their father. If he ever wants to see them again, he has to do everything Papa Corn says. Seeming to have no choice, he complies.

Thus begins the bloody meat of the movie as the clowns go on a blood soaked killing spree through all the small towns of the Texas Permian Basin.

All of that said, this is a harsh and brutal movie, and nihilistic to the 9th place - make no mistake.

These clowns are as depraved as they wanna be. Their crimes and actions as clownishly loud and public as possible. They leave sloppy clues of their trash and DNA everywhere. Their crimes headline the news, but they also have the supernatural ability to never be seen or heard until they want to be.

Further, all the law enforcement trying to catch the "unknown brutal slayers" are dumb as bricks.

The Clowns are also bullet proof.

This is a knock-out first feature from director Billy Pon, known as Bloody Bill.

Are there flaws?

Sure! Pon is a first timer!

The torture, torment, and screaming go on, and on, and on, for way too long. Yeah, if you were actually going through it, its one thing. But watching and hearing a a character turn back into an actor as he or she caterwauls for what began to seem like endless minutes at a time was pushed into tedium.

Also there's a sorely missed opportunity. Remember what I said about sequels making the monster/villain funny? Yeah. There's a reason why the most iconic Horror comes from two supernatural humans, Michael and Jason, who Never Speak.

That doesn't have to apply here because this rapey necrophilic band of happy misanthropes are all clowns. Having them just stand there, Stand There, mocking the suffering of their victims by laughing and laughing and laughing, might be cold, cruel, and irritating at first, but like watching a movie about a person eating a really delicious meal that you can neither taste or smell, boredom soon sets in with another killing and knowing the cast is going to the well with this yet again. And then again.

And again. And so on.

Highlights? Sure!

Besides all of the ones I've already mentioned, Actor Bill Oberst Jr. as Papa Corn is on fire! Just a dynamite, take no prisoners (though he does), hardcore performance. Wow!

He's not a brilliant criminal. He's no Hannibal the Cannibal or even John the Jigsaw. But Papa Corn is proudly commited to his terrorism.

He's and his band are free from the Hollywood hokum of being justified in their slaughter of innocents because their religious book tells them they are carrying out their god's will, or because they are twisted by a an old grievance,

"Well does anyone care about me and my boy?"

Which made me wish that the rest of the clowns also had some kind of personality they could have contributed, as they were on screen for so much time and were little more than wind-up automatons.

Sure, Papa Corn may get the most lines, but couldn't the other clowns at least be the Marx Brothers to his Groucho? The Stooges to his Moe? In every comedy troupe there's always that one person who rises to the top, but that never stops the rest from their own identities whether they're hysterical Harpos, crazy Curlys or looney Larrys.

That would have been miles better than gigabytes of disk space full of "Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!" and "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha" dragging the movie out way longer than it needed to be.

Still, Director Bill Pons, with his co-writer, Lee Ankrum, may not have hit a home run with CIRCUS OF THE DEAD, but he definitely got to First Base.

If you ever want a mean Horror movie night with HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, WOLF CREEK, or Lucio Fulci anything, CIRCUS OF THE DEAD will make a great two-fer for your friends!

3 Shriek Girls

This review copyright 2024 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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