By DAVE DUGGINS

My job here at HORROR-WOOD used to easy, fright fans. Sure did. I’d ask Renfield what terrible little non-gem he wanted me to flambé this week. He’d give me a title, I’d rent it, watch, cough, laugh, gag, or just sit drooling on the couch in amazement at the utter mediocrity of the whole thing. Then I’d write the article.

No more.

See, I’ve been doing this off and on since 1998. I’ve gone through a lot of really bad horror films in that time. After awhile it gets a bit tough to figure out different ways to say, "Man, this thing stinks like Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein socks," so Renfield (evil, twisted soul that he is) started giving me good movies to review. I did a few of those, so then he started giving me these weird, offbeat, hard-to-define movies to review. I guess you could say he’s trying to challenge me.

Hey, no pressure or anything…

Circus Of Fear is one of those hard-to-define movies. Also hard to summarize, hard to describe, hard to figure out. Worth the effort? Absolutely. Renfield unearthed a gem--especially in the new DVD edition. If you last saw this on the late, late show, you may very well have seen it as Psycho Circus, its original 1966 US release title.

This cut--twenty-two minutes shorter than the original UK release--was distributed in black and white, adding insult to injury. The new DVD is a restored version of the original British print, in color, plus eight minutes of restored footage seen in this edition for the first time. A good deal all around.

As far as I’m concerned, Circus Of Fear really isn’t a horror movie at all. Christopher Lee stars (for those of you uninitiated – perhaps reading this magazine for the first time--he’s the guy who played the evil sorcerer Saruman in Peter Jackson’s Rings trilogy), and many horrible things happen, so some of you out there in HORROR-WOOD-land might disagree.

Based on a novel by famous mystery writer Edgar Wallace, it’s complex, original, compelling and chock full of that absurd over-the-top British late sixties style. It’s not a Hammer film, but the US print was released through AIP, which is interesting if you’re a fan of their stuff.

The film was directed by John Moxey, mostly known for TV shows like The Saint, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix. He also directed The Night Stalker’s pilot episode, scripted by Richard Matheson. His TV work is significant in this context because Circus is really a mystery/thriller--with emphasis on mystery.

I’m not going to spoil the plot for you, but I will tell you that if you are one of those jaded filmgoers who thinks he’s seen everything, you might think you know what’s happening…but you probably don’t. Repeated viewings will eventually mitigate the confusion, and it’s definitely worth seeing twice, even three times, with and without the commentary.

The story is complex. It has a lot of characters, all of whom divvy up screen time fairly evenly. Each of them has his or her own agenda, making for very dense narrative. In fact, it would be unusual to see this many characters in a novel, much less a film script.

The first act has rather the same jarring effect as an initial viewing of Dusk ‘Til Dawn, particularly if you know absolutely nothing about it. The first time I saw that film, I thought, "wait a minute…isn’t this supposed to have vampires in it?" When they finally show up at the beginning of the second act, it’s shocking because you’ve more or less forgotten you’re watching a vampire flick.

The first twelve minutes of Circus might lead you to believe you’re seeing something more along the lines of The Italian Job than the usual Christopher Lee vehicle--or even the usual murder mystery.

The usual Christopher Lee vehicle it is not. The actor’s rather striking and instantly recognizable visage is covered by a black hood until Act III, by which point the reason for the hood, which seems straightforward in Act I, is questionable.

By the time twenty-five minutes have passed, pretty much everything is questionable, which is half the fun. All sorts of intrigue go on. Nobody likes anybody else in this circus. They’re all strange, jealous or crazy; have checkered pasts or terrible scars; are being blackmailed or are just in love with themselves. There’s not one normal character in the whole bunch – which is great. Movies are supposed to transport you beyond reality. Who wants normal in a movie?

Beyond Christopher Lee’s presence, there aren’t a lot of familiar faces, although Klaus Kinski does wander in and out, looming ominously or hovering in the background waiting for critical moments (I hate to be so elliptical, but I don’t want to give anything away). Kinski is certainly no stranger to horror fans, with an impressive genre pedigree and pretty much the creepiest face ever to haunt a movie screen. His part is pretty thin, but when he shows up, interesting things happen.

It’s amazing that scriptwriter Harry Allen Towers managed to balance these characters and draw all fifty or so subplots together for a successful conclusion, but it does work. Veteran Agatha Christie readers could probably figure it out pretty quickly, but I’ve never been that kind of thinker. Surprise endings usually stay a surprise to me until they’re supposed to be revealed.

I think this one will catch quite a few of you HORROR-WOOD’ers by surprise. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll have fun. And fun is the word of the day here at HORROR-WOOD, isn’t it?

(Editor’s note: Apparently, some of the Circus Of Fear DVDs were shipped out in a defective condition. Blue Underground has issued this statement:

"Thanks to our loyal and alert customers we discovered that a small batch (estimated 500-1,000) Circus Of Fear DVDs are defective due to a replication fault. This is not an authoring or disc deterioration problem, so if your disc currently works on your player(s) you have no reason to be concerned. For those with defective discs kindly mail them to:

Circus Of Fear Replacement
11271 Ventura Boulevard #500
Studio City, CA 91604