Carny (2009)

Boring

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Doesn't anyone read anymore? The creature, setting, and story line were lifted whole cloth from F. Paul Wilson's "Repairman Jack" series. The creature is called a "rakosh", a demon from Indian mythology. Read the Wilson story (it's available on a free download from the Guttenberg Project) Then re-watch the movie. When plots and other things are lifted from other sources and no credit is given, it's very irritating, if not downright dishonest. Imagine if someone made a film about a scientist who tried to animate a dead monster that he stitched together from stolen body parts, and tried to pass it off as an original plot. If the screenwriter had Wilson's permission, then why not list it in the credits? Shame on you SyFy.

Though somewhat rushed to conclusion, what precedes it is good. Good flying monster, good story, good character development, and good location photography. Lou Diamond Phillips is totally acceptable as the small town sheriff, and the evil carny owner is well played by Alan C. Peterson. There are some unexpected twists, and some pretty good jump scares. "Carny" is superior to two other "Jersey Devil" movies, "The 13th Child Legend of the Jersey Devil" (2003), which is terrible, and the somewhat interesting "The Last Broadcast" (2006). Thus, this is flat out the best "Jersey Devil" movie out there. ................... - MERK

When side-show circus owned by Cap (A.C. Peterson) arrives in Reliance, the greedy owner kills the driver that brings the new attraction – the Jersey Devil – and his henchman dumps the severed body in the woods and the trunk in the muddy lake. The local sheriff Atlas (Lou Diamond Phillips) checks the permits of the carnival under the protests of the deranged pastor Owen (Vlasta Vrana) that does not want the abominations in the small town. In the opening show, the Jersey Devil escapes and attacks the audience, killing Owen's son. Atlas organizes a hunting party to kill the monster, while Cap and his partner try to capture it alive to sell to a wealthy investor. Meanwhile Owen rises up the locals against the monster and the performers of the freak show with tragic consequences. "Carny" is really a terrible movie. The story and the screenplay are awful, with a ridiculous conclusion; the development of the one- dimensional characters is shallow, even for the lead ones; and the Jersey Devil and the special effects are very poor. The acting is affected by the script and the silly lines and the poor actors and actresses unfortunately can not do better than they do. I like B-movies but this one sucks. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Carnívoro" ("Carnivore")

This is one of the most mean spirited movies I have ever seen. Most of the characters are unsympathetic. The head of the carnival is someone who'll murder anyone who stands between him and making a profit. His helper is stupid and just as willing to kill. The town's pastor rants on and on about the carnival even before he has a good reason to. He apparently thinks that just because some people were born differently, i.e. are circus "freaks", that means they're evil and deserve to die. The townspeople at the end are both stupid and unsympathetic as they promptly turn their efforts to killing people at the carnival rather than making sure the creature is dead. We never really get to know the circus "freaks" as they are apparently just there for shock value. The few sympathetic characters are treated horribly. A young man is completely traumatized and then later killed in front of his mother in a completely unnecessary scene. A deputy is brutally murdered. This movie was a very unpleasant experience that I wish I could wipe entirely from my mind. I don't know what the scriptwriters were thinking. Certainly not about being entertaining or having any value to their film what so ever.