Review #476: 'Vampire Circus' (1972)

After witnessing his wife take a child into the castle of Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman), Albert Muller (Laurence Payne) rouses the villagers to his cause, and they stake Mitterhaus, a vampire, killing him. With his last dying breath, the Count curses the villagers, claiming they and their children will all die to bring him back to life. Fifteen years later, the village is riddled with plague, but the arrival of a travelling circus lifts their spirits. During one of their performances, the village is treated to a panther who turns into a man, Emil (Anthony Higgins), a clown dwarf, a strongman (played by Darth Vader himself, David Prowse), and twins that can change into bats. But when the mayor (Thorley Walters) goes into the hall of mirrors, he has vision of the returning Count Mitterhaus.

By 1972, Hammer Studios was on the decline. Audiences were gaining more sophisticated tastes, and their lust for blood was being appeased in mainstream films, who were beginning adopt a more realistic approach towards violence. Hammer, naturally, tried to evolve and survive, and were abandoning their traditional period settings (one of the things they were known for), updating things to 'Swinging' London. This led to the catastrophic Dracula, A.D. 1972 (1972), and so they opted to focus more on the sexual side to draw the audiences. Thankfully, they had one good film left in them, which went back to a period setting, and told a slightly macabre, unconventional vampire story, that is rich in both gore and sexual content.

This tale of lust-ridden vampires who gleefully kill children amongst a plague-ridden landscape is surprisingly dark given my previous experience of Hammer's output. Not to say previous films are 'camp', but they are played out with such theatrical vigour that they do have elements of camp, and although there are moments of this in Vampire Circus, this has a much more sinister feel to it. However, as lovely as the cinematography is (as always), and as pleasingly twisted the plot happens to be, this is still very predictable fair, most of which has been done far better in the past. But there is a clear reason why this has a strong cult following, it is certainly memorable, and despite it's many flaws, has all the elements present to why I love Hammer.


Directed by: Robert Young
Starring: Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Anthony Higgins, John Moulder-Brown, Laurence Payne
Country: UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie