Vampire Circus
Encyclopedia
Vampire Circus is a 1972 British horror film
directed by Robert Young
for Hammer Film Productions
. It stars Adrienne Corri
, Thorley Walters
and Anthony Higgins
(billed as Anthony Corlan). The story concerns a travelling carnival whose vampiric artistes prey on the children of a 19th-century Austria
n village. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios
.
Count Mitterhaus, where the child is killed. The villagers, led by Müller and the mayor, invade the castle and attack the Count, driving a wooden stake through his heart. With his dying breath, Mitterhaus curses the villagers, vowing that their children will die to give him back his life. The villagers force Anna to run the gauntlet
, after which she runs back to the castle, where the briefly-revived Count tells her to find his cousin Emil. Meanwhile the villagers set the castle on fire.
Fifteen years Later, the village is ravaged by the plague
and blockaded by the authorities. The citizens fear that the pestilence may be due to the Count's curse. A travelling circus
, led by a dwarf and a gypsy woman, arrives in the village and the villagers appreciate the distraction from their troubles. One of the artists, Emil, is actually a vampire and Count Mitterhaus's cousin. Emil and the gypsy woman go to the castle, where they find the Count's staked body and reiterate the curse, that all who attacked on his cousin and all their children must die.
During a visit to the circus, the mayor has a vision of a revived Count Mitterhaus and collapses. Frightened by this event, one villager and his family try to flee the blocked town but are devoured by the circus panther. Müller's daughter Dora discovers of the dismembered bodies of the family, arousing suspicions about the animals of the circus. When the dead bodies of two village boys are found, the mayor and another man begin to shoot the circus animals. After an encounter with Emil, the mayor dies of heart failure, while his daughter runs off with Emil, who bites and kills the girl.
Dora and Anton encounter twin vampires, but the cross Dora is wearing saves her. Later, the vampires enter the school house; Emil, in panther form, kills the students, while the gypsy (now revealed as the twins' mother by Mitterhaus) tears the cross from Dora's neck, enabling the twins to attack her. Dora, however, escapes into the school chapel, where the twin vampires are destroyed. Meanwhile, Anton's father, Dr. Kersch, who has escaped the blockade, returns from the capital with an imperial escort and medicines for the plague. He also brings news of vampire killings in various other villages, all of them toured by the Circus of Night. The men attack the circus and set fire to it.
In the crypt at Castle Mitterhaus, the gypsy woman is killed when she attempts to save Dora from Emil. As she falls down dead, the gypsy's face is transformed, revealing her to be Anna Müller. Anton, Müller, and the soldiers attack the crypt, and Müller pierces Emil with the stake from the Count's chest before he himself dies. The Count rises from his sarcophagus
and is destroyed by Anton. As Anton and Dora exit the tomb, the villagers set the ruins alight with torches, ending the curse.
Three of the cast – Laurence Payne
, Adrienne Corri
and Lalla Ward
– would be reunited in the 1980 season of the British Sci-Fi/Fantasy series Doctor Who
in the serial The Leisure Hive
. The film also heralded the screen debut of Lynne Frederick
, who would later marry comic Peter Sellers
. David Prowse
, who later played Darth Vader
in the first Star Wars
trilogy, appears in a silent role as the circus strongman.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Robert Young
Robert Young (director)
Robert William Young is a British television and film director.Young was born in Cheltenham, and in the 1980s and early 1990s, established himself as a leading director of British TV drama. In the 1970s, he directed Vampire Circus and Hammer House of Horror...
for Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
. It stars Adrienne Corri
Adrienne Corri
Adrienne Corri is an actress of Italian parentage.She is probably best known for her role as the rape victim Mrs. Alexander in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange, and for her appearances as Valerie in Jean Renoir's The River and as Lara's mother in David Lean's Dr. Zhivago...
, Thorley Walters
Thorley Walters
Thorley Walters was an English character actor.He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO...
and Anthony Higgins
Anthony Higgins (actor)
Anthony Higgins is an English actor.-Career:Higgins started to play in school theatre in England. After graduation, he studied at the school of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company. In 1967 he became a professional stage actor. He received positive reviews for his Romeo in William...
(billed as Anthony Corlan). The story concerns a travelling carnival whose vampiric artistes prey on the children of a 19th-century Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n village. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
.
Plot
Schoolmaster Albert Müller witnesses his wife Anna taking a little girl to the castle of vampireVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
Count Mitterhaus, where the child is killed. The villagers, led by Müller and the mayor, invade the castle and attack the Count, driving a wooden stake through his heart. With his dying breath, Mitterhaus curses the villagers, vowing that their children will die to give him back his life. The villagers force Anna to run the gauntlet
Running the gauntlet
Running the gauntlet is a form of physical punishment wherein a captive is compelled to run between two rows—a gauntlet—of soldiers who strike him as he passes.-Etymology:...
, after which she runs back to the castle, where the briefly-revived Count tells her to find his cousin Emil. Meanwhile the villagers set the castle on fire.
Fifteen years Later, the village is ravaged by the plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and blockaded by the authorities. The citizens fear that the pestilence may be due to the Count's curse. A travelling circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
, led by a dwarf and a gypsy woman, arrives in the village and the villagers appreciate the distraction from their troubles. One of the artists, Emil, is actually a vampire and Count Mitterhaus's cousin. Emil and the gypsy woman go to the castle, where they find the Count's staked body and reiterate the curse, that all who attacked on his cousin and all their children must die.
During a visit to the circus, the mayor has a vision of a revived Count Mitterhaus and collapses. Frightened by this event, one villager and his family try to flee the blocked town but are devoured by the circus panther. Müller's daughter Dora discovers of the dismembered bodies of the family, arousing suspicions about the animals of the circus. When the dead bodies of two village boys are found, the mayor and another man begin to shoot the circus animals. After an encounter with Emil, the mayor dies of heart failure, while his daughter runs off with Emil, who bites and kills the girl.
Dora and Anton encounter twin vampires, but the cross Dora is wearing saves her. Later, the vampires enter the school house; Emil, in panther form, kills the students, while the gypsy (now revealed as the twins' mother by Mitterhaus) tears the cross from Dora's neck, enabling the twins to attack her. Dora, however, escapes into the school chapel, where the twin vampires are destroyed. Meanwhile, Anton's father, Dr. Kersch, who has escaped the blockade, returns from the capital with an imperial escort and medicines for the plague. He also brings news of vampire killings in various other villages, all of them toured by the Circus of Night. The men attack the circus and set fire to it.
In the crypt at Castle Mitterhaus, the gypsy woman is killed when she attempts to save Dora from Emil. As she falls down dead, the gypsy's face is transformed, revealing her to be Anna Müller. Anton, Müller, and the soldiers attack the crypt, and Müller pierces Emil with the stake from the Count's chest before he himself dies. The Count rises from his sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
and is destroyed by Anton. As Anton and Dora exit the tomb, the villagers set the ruins alight with torches, ending the curse.
Cast
- Laurence PayneLaurence PayneLaurence Payne was an English actor and novelist.-Early life:Laurence Stanley Payne was born in London. His father died when he was three years old, and he and his elder brother and sister were brought up in by their mother, a Wesleyan Methodist in Wood Green, London...
as Professor Albert Müller - Domini BlytheDomini BlytheDomini Blythe was a British-born Canadian actress. Her numerous stage and television credits included Search for Tomorrow and Mount Royal....
as Anna Müller, his wife - Lynne FrederickLynne FrederickLynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
as Dora Müller, their daughter - Thorley WaltersThorley WaltersThorley Walters was an English character actor.He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO...
as mayor - Adrienne CorriAdrienne CorriAdrienne Corri is an actress of Italian parentage.She is probably best known for her role as the rape victim Mrs. Alexander in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange, and for her appearances as Valerie in Jean Renoir's The River and as Lara's mother in David Lean's Dr. Zhivago...
as gypsy woman - Mary WimbushMary WimbushMary Wimbush was an English actress, whose career spanned sixty years from the 1940s to the 2000s...
as Elvira, the mayor's wife - Christina Paul as Rosa, the mayor's daughter
- Robin SachsRobin SachsRobin David Sachs is an English actor.Sachs was born in London, the son of actors Leonard Sachs and Eleanor Summerfield...
as Heinrich (twin brother of Helga) - Lalla WardLalla WardSarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
as Helga (twin sister of Heinrich) - Richard OwensRichard OwensRichard Owens is a former professional football player. He played tight end for the Minnesota Vikings, who acquired him as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Louisville....
as Dr. Kersch - John Moulder-Brown as Anton Kersch, his son
- Robin HunterRobin HunterRobin Ian Hunter was an English actor, who was also a skilled and versatile performer and writer in the field of musicals, music hall and comedy.-Life and career:...
as Mr Hauser - Elizabeth SealElizabeth SealElizabeth Seal is a British actress. In 1961, she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance in the title role of Irma La Douce.-Career:...
as Gerta Hauser, his wife - Barnaby Shaw as Gustav Hauser, their son
- John Bown as Mr Schilt
- Jane Darby as Jenny Schilt, his daughter
- Robert Tayman as Count Mitterhaus
- Skip Martin as Michael the dwarf
- Anthony HigginsAnthony Higgins (actor)Anthony Higgins is an English actor.-Career:Higgins started to play in school theatre in England. After graduation, he studied at the school of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company. In 1967 he became a professional stage actor. He received positive reviews for his Romeo in William...
(billed as Anthony Corlan) as Emil - David ProwseDavid ProwseDavid Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
as the Strongman - Serena as the erotic tiger-woman dancer
Three of the cast – Laurence Payne
Laurence Payne
Laurence Payne was an English actor and novelist.-Early life:Laurence Stanley Payne was born in London. His father died when he was three years old, and he and his elder brother and sister were brought up in by their mother, a Wesleyan Methodist in Wood Green, London...
, Adrienne Corri
Adrienne Corri
Adrienne Corri is an actress of Italian parentage.She is probably best known for her role as the rape victim Mrs. Alexander in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange, and for her appearances as Valerie in Jean Renoir's The River and as Lara's mother in David Lean's Dr. Zhivago...
and Lalla Ward
Lalla Ward
Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
– would be reunited in the 1980 season of the British Sci-Fi/Fantasy series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in the serial The Leisure Hive
The Leisure Hive
The Leisure Hive is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 August to 20 September 1980.-Plot:...
. The film also heralded the screen debut of Lynne Frederick
Lynne Frederick
Lynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
, who would later marry comic Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
. David Prowse
David Prowse
David Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
, who later played Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
in the first Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
trilogy, appears in a silent role as the circus strongman.