Circus of Horrors (1960)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Sidney Hayers

Writer:

George Baxt (original screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1960 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Drama

Tagline:

Spectacular Towering Terror! One man's lust...made men into beasts, stripped women of their souls!

Plot:

In 1947 England, a plastic surgeon must beat a hasty retreat to France when one of his patients has ghastly problems with her surgery...

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Disfigurement | Plastic Surgery | Beautiful Woman | Stabbed In The Throat

Cast

Anton Diffring	...	Dr. Schuler
Erika Remberg	...	Elissa Caro
Yvonne Monlaur	...	Nicole Vanet
Donald Pleasence	...	Vanet
Jane Hylton	...	Angela
Kenneth Griffith	...	Martin
Conrad Phillips	...	Insp. Arthur Ames
Jack Gwillim	...	Supt. Andrews
Vanda Hudson	...	Magda von Meck
Yvonne Romain	...	Melina
Colette Wilde	...	Evelyn Morley Finsbury
William Mervyn	...	Doctor Morley
John Merivale	...	Edward Finsbury
Peter Swanwick	...	German Police Inspector Knopf
Carla Challoner	...	Nicole (as a Child)

Also Known As:

Phantom of the Circus
Le cirque des horreurs (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Circo dos Horrores (Brazil) [pt]
Der Narbenteufel (Austria) [de]
Der rote Schatten (West Germany) [de]
Il circo degli orrori (Italy) [it]
Kauhujen sirkus (Finland) [fi]
To tsirko ton eglimaton (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

Germany:92 min | USA:88 min | USA:92 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Norway:16 | Australia:M | Finland:(Banned) (1960) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield Studios, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Lynx Films Ltd.

Trivia:

The footage of the trapeze act featured in the film (complete with inter-cuts of audience reaction) is identical to that in 'John Moxey''s 'Circus of Fear (1966)'

Goofs:

Continuity: When Magda meets her fate, close shots from behind show the wheel still spinning, with her on it, intercut with a distant shot showing people crowding around the wheel which is static.

Quotes:

Insp. Arthur Ames: I must congratulate you on your circus of beauty. I've never seen such physical perfection in men and women.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (#1.5)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Look For A Star

Colourful shocker

Trying to emulate the success of Hammer Films, Anglo-Amalgamated made a series of gruesome contemporary horror shockers around 1959/60 (others included "Peeping Tom" & "Horrors of the Black Museum").

This cheerfully lurid shocker exploits the mixed emotions we feel when watching circus performers - the idea of something going terribly wrong is horrible, yet exciting. But crude as the concept is, cast and crew play it for all it's got : Anton Diffring is excellent in the lead role and Sidney Hayers' direction is slick and effective.

The all-stops-out climax is great stuff and there's an effective final scene. The frequently-heard background song, "Reach For A Star", is corny but you won't be able to shake it out of your head!