Berserk! (1967)

hyped garbage

good back-story, and good acting

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

You know what the real horror here was? Joan Crawford as the sixty two year old ringmaster of The Great Rivers Circus being romanced by thirty seven year old Ty Hardin! Sure he was looking for a cut of the circus but come on, how low can you go? I caught Crawford's 1964 flick "Strait-Jacket" not long ago and the resolution to both films is remarkably similar. This one stretches credibility a bit more though, in as much as a couple of the early murders occurred before Angela Rivers (Judy Geeson) ever showed up; I guess we weren't supposed to notice that. Speaking of those murders, that was a pretty gruesome way for old Dorando (Michael Gough) to go out. Man, talk about getting nailed. There are actually some entertaining circus interludes in the story for the kiddies like Phyllis Allen with her intelligent poodles and lion tamer Ingmar the Fearless. But gee, could Gustavo (Peter Burton) the knife guy get any closer to the spinning target when he was doing his act with Angela? With a little practice I think I might be able to pull it off just as well.Say, did I see Batman and Robin as part of the lineup making their way to the big top in the latter part of the picture? In an odd coincidence, British actor Michael Gough wound up playing Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred in the Tim Burton 'Batman' flicks a couple decades later.So anyway, with this film I'm pretty much secure in knowing I've completed the Joan Crawford trifecta, having seen "Berserk", "Strait-Jacket" and "Trog", all in recent months. It's hard to pick a 'best' out of this bunch, like trying to watch all the acts in a three ring circus.

Murders are taking place at a circus, and people are suspecting that Joan Crawford's character Monica Rivers (owner of the circus) is going "Berserk!". We see one of the circus performers murdered right at the film starts, but most people think it's just an accident. It's after a second man is viciously killed that everyone realizes there is a killer among them. Monica is suspected right away. People believe she's killing people in order to gain a larger audience.We get some circus acts in the film too, pretty lengthy as well. We see circus animals (elephants, lions) perform, cute puppies do tricks, high- wire acts, the bearded lady, etc. Sometimes during these acts, murders are committed. For example, a woman is cut in half in which should've been a routine act after the killer fiddles with the box she lies in. It was around the middle frame that I figured out who the murderer was. Probably the weakest part of "Berserk!" was the writing around the suspects. There aren't that many, and the one's which the film try to lead us to suspecting don't really have great motives. Even the killer's identity was pretty weak.Overall, "Berserk!" is one of Joan Crawford's weaker films. When put up against 'Baby Jane' and 'Strait Jacket', it doesn't have the same excitement or sparkling performance to it. Crawford's character Monica was sort of bland. I'd still check this out though, it's worth at least one viewing. The murder scenes are pretty gruesome for it's time (1967) and the circus acts are very well done.6/10

The circus tent had been the stage for violence and melodrama ever since the Lon Chaney vehicle THE UNKNOWN (1927); as late as 1966, there had been the average Edgar Wallace yarn starring Christopher Lee CIRCUS OF FEAR – most notoriously, however, was CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960), whose grisliness matches that of HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959)…with which the film under review shares its producer (Herman Cohen) and male lead (the late Michael Gough). Still, the latter's appearance here is rather brief – being merely a victim of the killer-on-the-loose this time around: his demise (the back of his head is perforated by a large nail hammered through the hole in a block of wood against which he was resting!), however, is almost as outrageous as the spiked binoculars from BLACK MUSEUM! Anyway, the true star here is Joan Crawford (61 years old but still showing off her legs!) – going through her horror (and final) phase: in fact, she would bow out in 1970 with TROG i.e. yet another (and even more preposterous) Cohen/Gough offering! She is the owner of a traveling circus (eventually joined by rebellious daughter Judy Geeson, who would soon flourish within the genre herself) whose star attractions and associates begin to die on her. Their non-accidental nature obviously draws the Police to the tent (represented by Robert Hardy, later of Hammer's DEMONS OF THE MIND [1972])…but Crawford herself is unperturbed, as she relishes the mass of crowds coming in every night in the hope of capturing another sensational 'accident' live! Needless to say, her callousness makes her the No. 1 suspect, especially after her rival for new performer Ty Hardin's attentions, Diana Dors (in one of the last roles where she would retain her last shapely figure), is literally sawed in half! As often happens with this type of fare, a dwarf virtually acts as Chorus throughout the proceedings; still, the identity of the killer was not hard to guess – especially since this particular character's grudge against Crawford (however honest it may have been) is spelt out some time before the actual denouement!

Sigh… Sometimes the outcome of a movie viewing goes beyond being a mere "disappointment" or just "something you expected more from". Sometimes it actually HURTS to acknowledge that a certain title wasn't as great as you initially thought or hoped. For me, this was definitely the case with "Berserk!". I'm a sucker for British horror movies released during the 60's and 70's, I think a circus or carnival forms the absolute greatest setting to tell a sinister tale (just think of "Freaks", "Carnival of Souls" and "Santa Sangre") and I'm a huge fan of both Joan Crawford and Michael Gough. Taking into account all these positive omens, I honestly thought "Berskerk!" couldn't possibly go wrong, and yet it did. You know you're in trouble when the extended padding sequences, which actually don't contribute anything to the overall story, form the highlights of the film. That's like openly admitting to the viewer that the main story lines are too thin to fill up the entire playtime, or that they desperately need the padding in order to distract you from the incoherent and implausible plot. In "Berserk!" the padding footage serves both purposes. A lot of the circus acts, albeit impressive, are integrally shown (like an army of poodles performing neat tricks, elephant dancing, a lion tamer and a knife-throwing act) and the circus' freaks even sing an entire song from start to finish! "Berserk!" nevertheless opens splendidly, with the tense and gruesome death of a tightrope walker before the opening credits even roll over the screen. His death might just have been an unfortunate accident, but when a second and far more eminent member of the circus crew is murdered, Scotland Yard sends its finest agent along on the tour to Liverpool and London. The circus' owner and ringmaster Mrs. Monica Rivers (Joan Crawford wearing tights!) is a harsh and relentless business woman and it looks as if someone intends to put her traveling circus spectacle in a bad spotlight. The concept literally bursts with great potential and possibilities but the film quickly becomes a tedious, inane and totally illogical mess. After the second murder, nothing even remotely exciting happens for nearly 45 minutes and the screenplay loosely hangs together through weak dialogs and Crawford's naturally uncanny presence. The revelation of the killer's identity as well as his/her motivation is downright imbecilic, and you better not contemplate too much about how he/she was even capable of committing the vile crimes. The carnage should have been bloodier and more grotesque, even considering the limited budget and era of release, and the film totally lacks the mysterious and oddly unsettling ambiance of other contemporary circus-horror efforts. Director Jim O'Connelly also made the fantastically over-the-top demented horror gem "Tower of Evil" and, since both films are rather obscure, I recommend tracking down that one instead of "Berserk!".