Vampire Circus

[janradder]

When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, I used to spend my summers with my grandparents. Aside from enjoying my time with them, one of the perks was that they had cable and, because they had cable, we could watch the independent New York stations like Channels 11 and 9. Now, Channel 11 had the great cartoons and old TV shows during the afternoon but at night, Channel 9 was the one to watch because they used to show a ton of old Hammer horror films.

On one Wednesday night, when I was maybe nine or ten, I was sitting in the living room with my grandparents and we had the TV tuned to Channel 9. At eight, on came a Hammer film I hadn't seen before, which was rare because usually they just showed one of the Dracula series. It was called Vampire Circus. I loved the Hammer films because they were a lot more gruesome and dark than the typical fare shown on television, but they didn't usually frighten me -- not like nightmare-inducing frighten or running-through-the-hall-at-night-because-the-monster-was right-behind-you frighten -- they just kind of creeped me out or gave me the chills. Vampire Circus, for some reason, was different. Right from the beginning there was something horribly sinister about the film, even the idea -- that a circus of traveling vampires comes to town and kills off the villagers -- terrified me. My grandparents weren't usually the type to monitor what I or my sister watch -- we saw plenty of movies that were probably a little too old for us -- but for some reason, this one bothered them and they switched it off. It never did any good to argue with them -- their word was always final and arguing or pleading only made things worse -- so I sat and watched whatever show or movie they put on and just wondered what might be happening in Vampire Circus, wishing I could flip the TV back.

For years, I've searched for that film -- I'd scour the TV listings, look for it at video stores, ask friends if they'd ever seen it -- but I never had any luck. Tonight, though, for whatever reason, I was thinking about Vampire Circus again and it occurred to me that I'd never checked YouTube. Why not? I thought. YouTube always seems to have stuff like that. Lo and behold, a Hammer horror film fan from the UK had kindly posted the entire movie! This is even more exciting than when I finally found the Dr. Strange TV pilot -- I am in Horror Geek Heaven!

Comments

[glamberson.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to see that myself--but not on YouTube!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I've looked for it on video but, last I checked, it was only available in VHS the UK (on whatever format they use). I don't think it's even on DVD, though I could be wrong. So YouTube it is, for me!

[pierogi-queen.livejournal.com]

It's on DVD now - but mostly only with Englis subtitles.

How did you like it??

Was it anything like Something Wicked This Way Comes? That was my first thought - that it was inspired by that short story.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I liked it. As with most things you remember from when you were a kid, it wasn't nearly as frightening as I'd thought it would be. Still, I enjoyed it. Only having seen the beginning, I also thought it would be sort of like Something Wicked This Way Comes but, instead, it was more a revenge story than a story about an evil carnival.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

Circuses in general are extremely sinister. Not sure why, but they are.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

The clowns certainly don't help. Nor do man-eating beasts, for that matter, though I think I'd rather be with them than the clowns.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

I'm a little clown-phobic myself. But I do sort of like circuses, sinister bits and all...not sure what that says about me. On the other hand, I think tigers and elephants should have enough space to walk around. The world is full of contradictions. I like Circus Flora the best, the clowns are mild and there are very few undomesticated animals.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- that aspect of circus (the treatment of animals) is pretty depressing. I like sinister things, myself (obviously, since I'm a horror fan). Clowns, though, really, really creep me out.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

I am morbid, and sinister intrigues me, but I can't watch much horror. My dreams are far to susceptible to going the way of nightmares. Movies, in particular, wake horrible horrible images and feelings and I can't separate it all from reality. I can write some horror, however...it's weird.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Haddayr isn't able to watch horror movies because she ends up having horrible nightmares and she sometimes has a hard time getting to sleep if she's even seen a trailer for a horror film.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'm in the same boat. In fact...I watched Scream to try to get "over it"(stupid of all stupid movies, really and funny in places because I understand the formula for horror and I got the jokes) and I thought...well, that wasn't so bad. And I was fine. For a while. Then, I saw a trailer, after the fact and began having nightmares. Then again, I can watch movies like Silence of the Lambs with less trouble. Something primal about it all, I suppose.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Haddyr is fine if it's a horror movie about people. Monsters, on the other hand, terrify her.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

The movie that still haunts me from my childhood, the movie I should not have watched (turns out my husband also watched it and was traumatized too) was The Car. I like living on the second floor...

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I loved that movie when I was a kid! I still remember watching it some Saturday night on TV with my family. The movie I remember really scaring me when I was a kid was Prophecy, about the mutated, inside out bears created by pollution that goes on a killing rampage through the woods (or something like that -- the monsters were pretty disgusting). It was one of the movies that I saw with my grandparents and, living in a house surrounded by the woods, I would often think I was going to come across one of those horrible creatures whenever I was out on my own.

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

SWEET!

I guess I know what I'm watching tommorrow.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I think we actually talked about this movie in a comments section before.

Just to let you know, the first part loads incredibly slowly. It's less than ten minutes long but still isn't fully loaded half an hour later so you might want to get the page up before hand. The rest of the parts seem to play fine, though. Here's the user who uploaded it -- he's (or she's) got a couple other Hammer films, as well:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HammerHorrorUK

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I also wanted to warn you that the last part (9 of 9) plays kind ff funny -- at least it did on our computer. It's slightly sped up and choppy.

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

Bryon, my husband, is very into Hammer, and has started buying the films. He loves Vampire Circus himself.

I can't do the Hammer thing, although I occasionally parody it in story.

Catherine

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I'm glad he likes the movie. I'll be watching it in a few minutes. One of the biggest fears in finding some movie or book or record you've been looking for for years is that it'll suck.