Carnival of Blood (1970)

A Masterpiece!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Carnival of Blood is not irredeemable by all means. The Coney Island setting is a good setting with a real sense of fun and atmosphere and Gloria Spivak while overacting to maximum degrees is hilarious. And there is a little entertainment value, though mostly unintentionally. The rest of Carnival of Blood is very schlocky however. The movie is very clumsily edited with lighting that does nothing to enhance the mood and very amateurish-looking effects. The music is repetitive, irritating and out of place more often than not and the killings are not that inventive and further marred by some of the worst gore effects in the history of movies. Carnival of Blood also comes across personally as a classic case of too much talk and not enough horror or suspense. There is a lot of dialogue, and pretty much all of it sounds clunky and improvised, the pauses and constant stumbling over lines being tell-tale signs. The story was a silly one to begin with but for a horror there is nothing here horrifying, tense or suspenseful, everything is far too predictable and pedestrian(often not much happening). The direction is very flat, while the acting is atrocious with only Spivak and the teddy bears(menacing and somewhat cute) showing signs of personality, it just looks unrehearsed and like nobody cares about what's happening to them. And the killer is acted in such a hammy way that they can't be taken seriously. On the whole, occasionally entertaining but in almost all ways there is very little to recommend Carnival of Blood. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Perhaps a single notch above Herschell Gordon Lewis in terms of production value, and that is not saying much at all, Carnival of Blood is one of the few horror films set in a place where I want to see horror, namely, the carnival.Without much in-between, the film has a handful of locations used and re-used to try and make a movie. The balloon stand, the boardwalk, the interior homes of the heroes and the killer(which, given the budget, are probably the same house), and the tunnel of love. Oh, did I forget the gypsy who can never seem to give a decent palm reading? Anyway, yes, it is a slasher film, with a lame motive and a few red herrings, including Burt Young in a terrible role as Gimpy, a crippled guy with facial burns. I was surprised to see some disemboweling here. Oh, and teddy bears filled with guts. It seems a weirdo is on the loose at the carnival(of blood) and he kills people who have the teddy bears won at a certain games booth, where Gimpy works with his friend.There's a stabbing, a beheading, a skull crushed with a rock or brick, followed by eye removal. But none of the effects are any good, though there is a certain sympathy to some of the characters and their distaste for each other seemed surprisingly genuine.You better have nothing better to do if you're going to watch this movie. Like, if there are clothes in the wash, the dog needs to be brushed, or something like that. However, this film is currently available with the ultra horrid Curse of the Headless Horseman which not only doesn't deserve a review, it doesn't deserve a viewing. So, if you find this double bill, stick with Carnival and you'll be, well, sort of OK.

Yes, the splatter effects are cheesy and yes, there is some bad acting, and yes, the dialog is stupid in most parts, and yes, there are jump cuts and cheesy music. I wouldn't call this movie great but it does have some entertainment value. Gee, I wonder why Burt Young went uncredited on this one...hehe. That being said, it's not really that bad. Believe it or not I can see how someone might not know right away who the real killer is. The location of Coney Island in Brooklyn worked nicely. The story is basically this -- There is a murderer loose in Coney Island who kills women. The funny thing is, he kills mostly obnoxious patrons of the carnival. One of the victims is very memorable. She cuts lines, snarls at people, and steals every frame of film she's in. Another memorable character is the fortune teller. Anyway, the main character of the movie is of course a young woman who loves spending time at the carnival. Burt Young plays Gimpy, a weirdo who runs one of the booths. Worth watching once for camp value.

'Carnival of Blood' is a schlocky piece of 70's trash, that I grudgingly admit I enjoyed. Don't get me wrong, this movie is bad in almost every technical aspect, has horrible acting, and a plot that is mind-numbingly dumb. The obviously fake gore in the movie reminds me of a Herschel Gordon Lewis flick. However, there is a certain strange charm to the movie. I'm a big fan of bad horror movies that can make me laugh unintenionally. There's just a ton of little things that made the movie laughably enjoyable for me. First of all, the midget 'Gimpy'. His dialogue is hilarious and the scene where he goes over to Tom's place had me rolling on the floor. Then, there's the very inappropriate choice of using folk music for the movie. There's the hilariously cheesy love scenes between our lead hero and heroine. Our hero proving he's a Mr. Sensitive-type when he wants to take his girlfriend, on their anniversary, to the amusement park where a murder happened the night previously. Then, his confused reaction when she is too scared to go. Then there's the overweight, New Joisey woman and her over-the-top role. She doesn't have much screen-time, but boy does she make the most of it. Watch as she cuts in line in the food stand and badgers the man behind the counter because she wants her shrimp. Oh, and there's so much more....The worst 'drunken' performance ever recorded on film by a man playing a sailor. And then there's the creepy fair ground worker, Tom, who just happens to be friends with our heroine. I think it's implied they live in the same building. I hope so at least, because I see no other reason why she would want to be friends with a creepy carny-type and his midget helper. If you love bad movies like I do, check this one out.