Circus of Fear

Director(s) - Werner Jacobs (Die Dubarry) and John Llewellyn Moxey (The City of the Dead)
Starring - Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), Leo Genn (The Bloody Judge), and Anthony Newlands (Thriller)
Release Date - 1966
Genre - Horror/Mystery/Crime
Tagline - "The most horrifying syndicate of evil in history"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I absolutely love writing reviews.  It is the high point of my day.  I enjoy work for the most part and I love spending time with my family but writing reviews is how I release stress and let my mind wonder.  Before I started writing reviews I was an avid collector.  Several companies were guaranteed my money.  One such company was Blue Underground. I absolutely loved their releases and would look forward to their newest releases.  When I started writing reviews I was lucky enough to get in contact with them and now I get to check out their releases before they hit the street.  This has been a blessing and a curse.  I get to check out their releases before anyone else but I sometimes have to write a bad review of their releases.  Today, I have to write a bad review.  Recently, Blue Underground releases a double feature of Circus of Fear and The Five Golden Dragons.  I tossed it in and the first film in the set, Circus of Fear, was a dud.
     The film begins with an armored car getting robbed by a group of men who then take off with the money.  There is a rift between the robbers and one of them hides the money is a failing circus.  The police are soon called when several bodies are discovered with throwing knives in them.  The police suspect that someone in the circus is connected to the robbery but what they don't know is two situations are coming together to make one nightmare.
     Have you ever got excited to see a film only to have it blow up in your face?  That was me with Circus of Fear.  I was hooked with this film when I saw that Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski was attached.  Sadly, the film was nowhere near the quality it should have been.  The acting in this one is decent for the most part.  The film's leads all do a a great job that gets the story movie but a grave injustice is done with this film.  Two legends, Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lee, are cast in the film but are not utilized.  Both actors are barely on screen and the biggest travesty is how Lee is forced to have his face covered in almost every scene he is in.  It makes no fucking sense.  The story for this one could have been a fun crime drama but couldn't make its mind up about what kind of film it wanted to be.  The film begins as a crime drama before propelling itself into a murder mystery follows the who done it motif.  Combining the two did not work that well but if the film would have followed one path it could have been one hell of a film.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills but they are not done that well.  The kills, mostly knife kills, are done using clever camera angles and cuts resulting in the kill taking place off camera with little or no blood.  The effects are non-existent which made the kills almost laughable.  Overall, Circus of Fear is one big ass disappointment.  The story is all over place, the acting was a let down, and the kill are atrocious.  Skip this one.