Film Review
It's a curious thing but from the mid-1960s the best of Hammer's
vampire films are those in which the most famous vampire of them all,
Dracula, is noticeably absent. Unlike the Frankenstein tale,
which Hammer was able to go on reworking successfully for many years,
Dracula offered limited scope for reuse, and it was by dispensing with
this habitual blood sucker that Hammer was able to deliver some of its
most inventive vampire films, of which one of the best is undoubtedly
the 1972 classic
Vampire Circus.
Plotwise, it's the usual set up. A village somewhere in central
Europe of the mid-1800s is menaced by vampires. The villagers attack the vampires,
the vampires fight back, a lot of people get bitten and impaled, and
they all live happily ever after (or at least until it all happens over
again, usually three or four years later). In narrative terms,
Vampire Circus offers very little
that hasn't already been seen, but artistically it is in a league of
its own, one of the more visually inventive of Hammer's late horror
films. Robert Young (not to be confused with the American actor)
was one of the beneficiaries of Hammer's policy in the early 1970s of
hiring fresh new talent, and he certainly gave good value on this, his
first directing job. Although he didn't quite live up to the
promise of this remarkable debut, Young would enjoy a prolific career
on British television, working on such shows as
Minder (1982-1984),
Bergerac (1983-1987) and
Robin of Sherwood
(1984-1986). Young's direction on
Vampire Circus is brisk, precise
and stylish, and the action sequences (of which there are many)
expertly choreographed.
Hammer's leading performers Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are
conspicuous by their absence but the lively ensemble that we are
offered in their place more than makes up for this cruel
omission. Adrienne Corri, the star of Hammer's previous
The Viking Queen (1967), dominates
the proceedings as a gypsy woman who is clearly far more than she
seems, leading a menagerie of freaks and creepy doll-like characters
that includes Dave Prowse (for once without a mask), Anthony Higgins
and Lalla Ward. Thorley Walters and Laurence Payne are the
heavyweights on the side of vampire-slaying virtue, their efforts
undermined by John Moulder-Brown who is unceasingly irritating as the
cocky young hero who (to our constant annoyance) survives everything
that is thrown at him. Robert Tayman makes a suitably decadent
head vampire ('One lust feeds the other'), a more than adequate
replacement for Christopher Lee's long-in-the-tooth Dracula. If
there was ever proof that a film can cope without an overpaid superstar
it is to be found here. A great ensemble, led by an inspired
director, can be just as good, if not better. Compare
Vampire Circus with Hammer's
subsequent vampire film,
Dracula A.D. 1972, released in
the UK five months later, and you'll see what I mean.
© James Travers 2014
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