Circus of Fear

Circus Of Fear was originally released in the US under the title Psycho Circus (which is a better description for this film, in my opinion). It was also released in B&W even though it was shot in color. Of course watching this in B&W would take away a lot of what makes it great; luckily the DVD print is in glorious color.

The movie starts off with a gang robbing an armored truck and stealing all the money. When one of the gang panics and kills a guard, the big boss summons him to the winter quarters of a traveling circus. That gang member ends up dead and the money disappears; then things really get strange.

And what a cast of characters! There is Mr. Big the midget who is bribing Gregor the masked lion tamer (played by Christopher Lee); there is the unfaithful knife-thrower's assistant who is sleeping around with an unidentified man (who is most likely the killer); there is ring master who is there to find the man who killed his father many years before; and then there is Klaus Kinski who obviously was around for only one day of shooting and whose part is completely useless (although menacing looks from Kinski are always welcome in any film).

View the UK trailer.