I'll give this credit for being better than "Carnival Story" and "Berserk" (forgettable outside of Joan Crawford's participation), but it is a rather boring big top grand guignole that in spite of a few horrific scenes is quite dull. Anton Diffring does what he can to create a fascinating villain, but the film itself is slow-moving and mostly filmed with circus act that we've seen a hundred times before. It does show what circus life is like, but we are not watching "The Greatest Show on Earth" or "Circus World" or even "Big Top Pee Wee". Audiences who watch horror movies require elements of terror, and this only provides a few.
I enjoyed this more the second time around, although not by much because the first time I saw it, I rated it a bomb. So it is not as bad as all that, but outside the opening scene where a female circus star screams when she realizes that her face has been badly scarred and a few horrifying murders during live acts, this is nothing but a cheap exploitative thriller that promises a lot but delivers little outside of cliched characters and a modern sounding crooner repeating the song "Look For a Star" throughout to great annoyance.
The best aspects of the film outside of the circus acts if you come in wanting that sort of thing is the colorful photography and some of the flamboyant costumes. Other than that, it is not very thrilling and jealous why circuses have dwindled in popularity over the past few decades. As far as the tension is concerned, there are so few moments that bring on anxiety that when they do occur, the audience can only think of themselves, it's about time. That means that we are aware that nothing is really going to happen until the last few minutes of the film, and that the windows any interest in what does on beforehand.
I enjoyed this more the second time around, although not by much because the first time I saw it, I rated it a bomb. So it is not as bad as all that, but outside the opening scene where a female circus star screams when she realizes that her face has been badly scarred and a few horrifying murders during live acts, this is nothing but a cheap exploitative thriller that promises a lot but delivers little outside of cliched characters and a modern sounding crooner repeating the song "Look For a Star" throughout to great annoyance.
The best aspects of the film outside of the circus acts if you come in wanting that sort of thing is the colorful photography and some of the flamboyant costumes. Other than that, it is not very thrilling and jealous why circuses have dwindled in popularity over the past few decades. As far as the tension is concerned, there are so few moments that bring on anxiety that when they do occur, the audience can only think of themselves, it's about time. That means that we are aware that nothing is really going to happen until the last few minutes of the film, and that the windows any interest in what does on beforehand.