Vampire Circus
Dir: Robert Young
Starring: Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, John Moulder-Brown, Anthony Higgins

Unlike most Hammer horrors, this one starts with a mob of torch-wielding villagers, in a lengthy prologue that sets the scene for a vampire's revenge. The revenge takes the form of a 'Circus of Nights', travelling the country, bringing death wherever it goes, and ending up in the village responsible, which is now under quarantine for disease. It's a great idea, but it loses steam largely because the main protagonists on both sides are largely out of the picture, turning it into a battle of supporting actors for the most part. Good and evil really need a strong, central figure - see Messrs. Lee and Cushing - and the lack thereof here leaves the film flapping around in second gear for most of the movie. It's not short on bodies or nudity, and when everyone turns up in the final reel, it gets going nicely, this is more an irritating reminder of what might have been. Still, nice to see Darth Vader (Dave Prowse), Romana (Lalla Ward) and Mrs. Peter Sellers (Lynne Frederick), in various roles, and the method of dealing with the chief vampire is certainly, er, unusual. But it never lives up to the promise of its premise.

C-

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