Carny (TV 2009)

A devilish creature escapes from a carnival to wreak havoc on a small town.

Director:

Sheldon Wilson

Writer:

Douglas G. Davis

Stars:

Lou Diamond Phillips, Alan C. Peterson, Vlasta Vrana

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lou Diamond Phillips	...	Atlas
Alan C. Peterson	...	Cap (as A.C. Peterson)
Vlasta Vrana	...	Owen
Dominic Cuzzocrea	...	Quinn
Simone-Élise Girard	...	Samara
Dan Petronijevic	...	Luke (as Daniel Petronijevic)
Joe Cobden	...	Rogers
Felicia Shulman	...	Estelle
Matt Murray	...	Taylor
Kyle Gatehouse	...	Jesse
Pedro Salvín	...	Driskal
Dani Kind	...	Leopard Woman
Shaun McComb	...	Split-Faced Man
Giant Gustav Claude Ouimet	...	The Gentle Giant (as Gustave Ouimet)
Yvette Harper Pouliotte	...	Congregant

Storyline

A devilish creature escapes from a carnival to wreak havoc on a small town.

---

Plot Keywords:

multiple murders | fortune teller | carnival | sheriff | freak of nature | 

---

Taglines:

Step Right Up ... And Die.

---

Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jersey Devil

Filming Locations:

Metcalfe, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

RHI Entertainment, Muse Entertainment Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The Preacher whatever is wearing a Priest collar in a typical Southern Baptist town.

---

Connections

References Predator (1987)

User Reviews

Flawed, but still pretty good

Out of sheer boredom, I flipped the TV onto yet another Sci-Fi Channel B movie, expecting nothing more than pure dreck. Luckily, I was wrong.

Carny has an interesting--if typical--plot. As the story begins, we're treated to brief glimpses of the creature--a snarling, demonic beast. "Oh no," I cry. "It's another one of THOSE films where the creature is only shown in brief, shaky camera shots to avoid special effects costs." Luckily, I was wrong.

Of course the creature escapes, just like you'd expect in a horror movie, beginning a fairly typical "monster on the loose" scenario--because really, you can't make a movie unless the monster is on the loose. Who'd like a movie where the monster just stayed in its cage and ate mice all day??? Bah! There are three things that set Carny apart from the typical Sci-Fi B movie.

1) The characters. Several characters have a fair amount of depth to them. Not a lot, but really, this is a monster-on-the-loose film. The characters aren't -just- there to be eaten; you get a feeling like they're actual people. Additionally--and not to spoil things--but it's not just the monster who's evil in this story!

2) The monster. Ordinarily, beasties such as this look like crap, or look much too powerful. This one looks menacing without one getting the feeling that it's omnipotent.

3) The dialogue. It's not Shakespeare, but like another commenter wrote, it does avoid many clichés and pitfalls of other B movies. And again, monster-on-the-loose flicks really don't require a lot of deep, existential dialogue.

Give Carny a chance. There are far worse out there. If nothing else, feast thine eyes upon the creature!