After a spate of murders, the villagers of Schtettel kill the depraved perpetrator, Count Mitterhouse. Fifteen years later the Circus of Nights appeared in the plague-ridden village and its performers include Mitterhouse's mistress, children and cousins. They have come to Schtettel to fulfil the Count's last words, an evil, vicious curse of death and destruction on those who participated in his impaling. The children of Schtettel become the targets for a brutal and devastating revenge as the Vampire Circus rehearses for its most deadly performance.
Practical Effects
Actual tiger transformations and circus stunts done without CGI—messy and magnificent.
Production
Sweaty, claustrophobic carnival sets that reek of sawdust and doom.
Direction
Robert Young stages murders like twisted circus acts you'll want to look away from.
Director
Robert Young
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hammer Films was hemorrhaging money in 1972 and slashed this shoot to 19 days, which explains the gloriously unhinged energy.
This was Hammer's attempt to compete with more explicit European horror like 'Daughters of Darkness,' resulting in their most sexually charged vampire film.
GB
