Circus of Horrors (1960)

Really Surprised!

People are voting emotionally.

Film Perfection

Expected more

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up for the greatest show on Earth! It's 1947. England. Witness as naughty old plastic surgeon Dr. Rossiter (Anton Diffring) changes his identity to hide from the police following a bodged, illegal operation he has performed! Gasp as he starts a new life in France under the name of Dr Bernard Shuler with his too-keen-to- please assistants (Griffith and Hylton). And scream as he takes ownership of a failing circus after watching its previous owner Vanet (Donald Pleasance) be mauled by his own bear!Using the circus as a means to continue his plastic surgery he takes criminals (deformed or otherwise) under his wing, altering their visage and turning them into circus performers. However whenever one of them threatens to leave, Shuler / Rossiter arranges for them to die via an arranged 'accident' which brings the circus to the attention of a reporter and Scotland Yard.With Hammer enjoying some success by upping the gore and sexual content in their movies, other film companies were keen to eat into that box office pie. Director Sidney Hayers' Circus of Horrors was one such product. Indeed so extreme was the content considered at its time of release that the movie was one of three British horror movies produced by Anglo-Amalgamated that was dubbed by film critic David Pirie as the 'Sadian Trilogy' (the other two movies are Peeping Tom and Horrors of the Black Museum - both 1959). The content may have been taboo at the time but its all old hat now, although none-the-less entertaining for it.Circus of Horrors moves at a nice pace and proves a lot more fun than Hayers' rather overwrought Night of the Eagle. There is much fun to be had with some of the more dated aspects of it, such as the dancing bear that ends up killing Donald Pleasance's character Vanet. It is so obviously someone wearing an ill-fitting costume, when it is not an inanimate prop that any possible gasp of shock that the scene may have intended to illicit gets lost under a barrage of sniggers. Even worse than the dancing bear is the ape thing we see permanently angry in its cage. It is wisely shown in brief shots or in shadow, but warrants a chuckle nonetheless.Anton Diffring (The Man Who Could Cheat Death) anchors the picture, making for a satisfying lead / villain. He brings to mind the actor Paul Freeman, best known for his role as Belloq in the first Indiana Jones movie. He is well supported by Kenneth Griffith and Jan Hylton as brother and sister, Martin and Angela. The characters in the movie are better defined than normal, although Yvonne Monlaur (Brides of Dracula) seems a little old to be playing the naive teenage Yvette Vanet.Circus of Horrors plays the odd surprise such as showing a knife in a girl's neck, which naturally would have been seen as more explicit or shocking on its original release, but still pleases now. There are also effective circus audience shots and trapeze performances to weigh up the absurdness of the basic plot.There is some fun to be had from seeing people tell Rossiter that they will leave after their next performance, when they know from past experience that anyone that tries to leave ends up dead during their last show. Wouldn't you just keep quiet and sneak off into the night rather than announce how dumb you are before being killed off? Also how Rossiter thinks he will not be recognised when his circus returns to London ten years later, regardless of whether people believe he is dead or not, also begs belief, with or without the earlier beard and moustache.The song used throughout called 'Look for a Star' is OK to begin with but begins to grate the more it is heard and it gets heard a lot. Funnily enough, the song went onto become a chart success on both sides of the Atlantic and was written by Mark Anthony, real name Tony Hatch - the same bugger that gave us such joys as the ancient TV series Crossroads theme. "Shudder".

I really like Circus Of Horrors (1960). This movie takes place in England in 1947. It's about a circus leader who is a plastic surgeon and well..........you'll have to watch the movie to find out what unfolds during this rather bizarre movie. This movie is pretty risqué for a 1960 movie. This movie reminds me so much of the Hammer horror films with the use of vibrant colors on the sets and colorful costumes. The acting is good and is similar to Hammer films, as is the musical score. This movie has the hit 1960 song "Look For A Star" by Garry Mills in it. Real circus acrobats were used in this film. In fact, footage was used from actual circus performances. This circus has it all - lions, trapeze artists, clowns, elephants, horses, you name it. There are a lot of tense moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat.This movie stars Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Conrad Phillips, Kenneth Griffith, Jane Hylton, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, and Colette Wilde.I highly recommend this movie.

Potential viewers of the 1960 British thriller "Circus of Horrors" should not be put off by its cast of relative unknowns; it is a real winner, despite that. This film tells the fascinating story of Dr. Rossiter, who, after performing a botched plastic surgery operation in post-War England, flees to France with his two associates, changes his name to Schuler, acquires a seedy circus, and supplies it with War-scarred women who he's made beautiful using his surgical skills. Those uppity women who get the itch to leave their performing berths soon suffer unfortunate ends, inevitably giving Schuler's show the nickname of "the jinxed circus." The picture features some suspenseful and mildly grisly deaths for several of the female performers--the knife-throwing bit is particularly nail biting--and builds to an extremely exciting finale in its last 20 minutes or so. Though the only name I knew in the cast going in was that of Donald Pleasence, I also soon recognized Kenneth Griffith and Peter Swanwick from one of my favorite TV programs of all time, "The Prisoner"; welcome presences, indeed. But this film certainly belongs to Anton Diffring, as the crazed and unethical Rossiter; he is truly excellent in the lead role, giving his completely unsympathetic character depth and even some pathos by the end. Many viewers who speak of this film can't seem to resist mentioning the "Look For A Star" tune that permeates it. This song is schmaltzy and cheesy as can be, and yes, will annoyingly stay with you for days afterwards. Still, the film itself is well plotted, colorful, moves along briskly, and has a strange undercurrent of sex and grotesque mutilation that must have made it really stand out in 1960. I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would, I must say!

Circus of Horrors starts in England during 1947 where Evelyn Morley (Colette Wilde) sees the mess that demented plastic surgeon Dr. Rossiter (Anton Diffring) has left her face in after an unsuccessful operation, Rossiter manages to escape the country & ends up somewhere in France with two allies Angela (Jane Hylton) & Martin (Kenneth Griffith). They try to make their way across France & meet up with Vanet (Donald Pleasance) who runs a circus & has a young daughter named Nicole (Yvonne Monlaur) who has scars on her face, Rossiter who now goes by the name of Dr. Schueler senses an opportunity & offers to perform an operation on Nicole to repair the damage. The operation is a success but Schueler thinks he's on to a good thing & after he lets Vanet be killed by a bear he takes control of the circus as a front to hide behind while he continues his experiments on various criminals who he then turns into performers in his circus...This English production was directed by Sidney Hayers & I'm amazed at how many people seem to like it, I don't really care that I have a different opinion of it but it didn't do anything for me at all & it took me two attempts to sit through it. The script by George Baxt doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, is it a horror or a thriller? I think the film doesn't manage to balance the two that well. I'd say it's more of a thriller than a horror as it's not scary, it focuses more on the investigations surrounding Schueler's plastic surgery rather than any more traditional horror elements. What it boils down to is that I simply didn't like the film & it's as simple & straight forward as that. The character's & dialogue seem stiff & very dated much like the rest of the film, it plods along at a reasonable pace but it's not what one would call quick & it just failed to engage or entertain me in any way. I was also thinking why did Schueler carry on with his experiments? I mean judging by the film the circus was doing rather well & must have been making decent money so why not just stick with that & not try to attract any unwanted attention while on the other hand if he did want to be a plastic surgeon why didn't he just reveal his 'groundbreaking' findings & get a grant & of course he'd become famous within the medical profession which is what he seems to want anyway.Director Hayers does OK I suppose, another problem with Circus of Horrors is that I can't relate to circus' as an attraction & the constant clips of the performances & crowd reactions bored to to death. I've never wanted to go to a circus & after watching Circus of Horrors I still don't. There's virtually no gore despite what anyone says, there's a shot of a woman with a knife in her neck but nothing else & there's a hilarious bit where a woman is attacked by a snake but this snake looks so uninterested, slow & nonthreatening that the scene falls flat on it's face & the best it can do is wrap itself around her feet.Technically the film is alright, it has a nice bright colour scheme & is quite garish, the production values are good although some of the sets are a bit fake looking & as a whole the film has dated quite badly. The special effects are poor & the man in a fury bear suit looks terrible. The acting is OK although I thought Diffring's accent was annoying.Circus of Horrors was a disappointment to me, as far as I'm concerned there's nothing here that I particularly enjoyed. A lot of people seem to like it so maybe it's me but overall I didn't think much of it.