Vampire Circus (1972)

Director:

Robert Young

Writer:

Judson Kinberg (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

11 October 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Human fangs ripping throats - no sawdust can soak up the torrent of blood!

Plot:

A village in Nineteenth Century Europe is at first relieved when a circus breaks through the quarantine to take the local's minds off the plague...

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Plague | Beautiful Woman | Death | Tiger

Cast

Adrienne Corri	...	Gypsy Woman
Thorley Walters	...	Burgermeister
Anthony Higgins	...	Emil (as Anthony Corlan)
John Moulder-Brown	...	Anton Kersh
Laurence Payne	...	Prof. Albert Mueller
Richard Owens	...	Dr. Kersh
Lynne Frederick	...	Dora Mueller
Elizabeth Seal	...	Gerta Hauser
Robin Hunter	...	Hauser
Domini Blythe	...	Anna Mueller
Robert Tayman	...	Count Mitterhaus
John Bown	...	Schilt
Mary Wimbush	...	Elvira
Christine Paul-Podlasky	...	Rosa
Robin Sachs	...	Heinrich
Lalla Ward	...	Helga
Skip Martin	...	Michael
David Prowse	...	Strongman (as Dave Prowse)
Roderick Shaw	...	Jon Hauser
Barnaby Shaw	...	Gustav Hauser
Milovan	...	The Webers - Male Dancer (as Milovan and Serena)
Serena	...	The Webers - Female Dancer (as Milovan and Serena)
Jane Darby	...	Jenny Schilt
Sibylla Kay	...	Mrs. Schilt
Dorothy Frere	...	Granma Schilt
Sean Hewitt	...	First Soldier
Giles Phibbs	...	Sexton
Jason James	...	Foreman
Arnold Locke	...	Old Villager
Bradforts-Amaros		(as Bradforts - Amaros)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anna Bentinck	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)
David de Keyser	...	Mitterhaus's Curse (voice) (uncredited)
Nina Francis	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Drina Pavlovic	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Jenny Twigge	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Young		(as Robert William Young)

Writing credits
Judson Kinberg		(screenplay)
George Baxt		story (uncredited)
Wilbur Stark		story (uncredited)

Produced by
Wilbur Stark	....	producer
Michael Carreras	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
David Whitaker

Cinematography by
Moray Grant		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Musgrave

Casting by
James Liggat

Art Direction by
Scott MacGregor		(as Scott Macgregor)

Makeup Department
Jill Carpenter	....	makeup artist
Anne McFadyen	....	hairdressing

Production Management
Tom Sachs	....	production manager
Roy Skeggs	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Derek Whitehurst	....	assistant director
Graham Easton	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Lindsey Vickers	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Arthur Banks	....	construction manager
Don Picton	....	assistant art director
Jimmy Carreras	....	art department runner (uncredited)
Richard Rambaut	....	chief draughtsman (uncredited)
Edward Rodrigo	....	props buyer (uncredited)
Danny Skundric	....	chargehand props (uncredited)
Peter Wallis	....	stand-by props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Ken Barker	....	dubbing mixer
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
Roy Hyde	....	sound editor
Ken Barker	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Keith Batten	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Graham V. Hartstone	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Chris Munro	....	assistant boom operator (uncredited)
Laurie Reed	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Les Bowie	....	special effects

Stunts
Bradforts-Amaros	....	stunt doubles: Robin Sachs & Lalla Ward (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Wally Byatt	....	camera operator (as Walter Byatt)
Peter Carmody	....	clapper (uncredited)
Peter Carmody	....	loader (uncredited)
Ted Lockhart	....	grip (uncredited)
Bob Smith	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Vic Smith	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Brian Owen-Smith	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Roger Wilson	....	first assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Philip Martell	....	music supervisor
Philip Martell	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
Mary Chipperfield	....	animal adviser
June Randall	....	continuity
Adrian Delahaye	....	unit runner (uncredited)
Frank Law	....	publicity director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hammer Film Productions
• Rank Organisation, The (presents)

Distributors

• J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1972) (UK) (theatrical) (as Rank Film Distributors Ltd)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (197?) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Carlton International (1972) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• 2 Entertain Video (1995) (UK) (VHS)
• Barium Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)
• Cinematográfica F.J. (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Divisa Home Video (2011) (Spain) (DVD)
• Elephant Films (2012) (France) (video)
• Filmax (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2003) (Germany) (DVD)
• MRA Entertainment Group (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• MTV Home Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)
• Mad Movies (200?) (France) (DVD)
• Synapse Films (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Works Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Berliner Synchron  post-synchronization: German dubbed version (uncredited)
• Billy Smart's Circus  Bradforts - Amaros by courtesy of

Also Known As:

Runtime:

87 min | USA:84 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Germany:18 | UK:X (original rating) | France:-12 | Finland:K-15 (video rating) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | UK:15 (re-rating) | Italy:VM18 | Australia:R | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:PG (certificate #23072)

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

According to various books on Hammer films, this film went over schedule and some key scenes were never filmed. Ironically Rank called it Hammer's best film in a decade.

Quotes:

Michael:The Circus of Nights! A hundred delights!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Monster Squad (1987)

One of the best vampire movies of all time

A small village uprises against Count Mitterhouse, their vampiric lord. He vows a curse upon the town as he is being destroyed.Years later the town is struck by an outbreak of disease.

Among this horror a travelling circus comes to town. As we slowly find out most of the circus performers are vampires.Some of the animals are vampiric humans! They begin to wreak vengeance upon the village slaughtering indiscriminately.

There is a rousing finish to this as vampires and villagers square off to do battle.Who will survive?

I was lucky enough to see an uncut foreign laserdisk of this film.Plot confusion stemming from the cut video is cleared up. The colors are lush.The direction is tight and there really isn't a wasted moment in this classic.The acting is top notch as well.This is even better than Horror Of Dracula in my opinion.

Sadly this is only available on laserdisk in the USA at this time. Hopefully Anchor Bay will release a complete version of this film to the video market.All you can do is wait...