Carnival of Blood (1970) User Reviews

Some great characters! If you have a sense of humor...

[[e-mail] · 5/10 · 10 March 2006]

True it is not the best movie and the plot is somewhat mundane, it's actually kind of bad even if you are into schlocky gore trash, but this movie does have some great, fun characters.

There is the the amazingly obnoxious "dumpy lady" who sets out to harass everyone she runs into, the insanely drunk Sailor and his trampy girlfriend (who keeps stuffing his cash into her panties whenever he isn't looking), the creepy fortune teller who warns everyone to go home & "Gimpy", the impaired weirdo with the mysteriously sore covered space. All of whom get theirs as a psycho stalks them through a beachside carnival.

It even has a few gimmicky over the top gore scenes, like a nasty gizzard filled teddy bear. The movie plays out like a tribute to HG Lewis with it's gross-out stalker killings.

It also has some interesting odd electronica in the background that sounds like it was lifted directly from the Forbidden Planet soundtrack.

As far as late night schlock this is certainly not the greatest but definitely not the worst ....

good if you like grade Z entertainment

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 20 January 2008]

Set in Coney Island this is the story of a psycho killing people on the midway. I'll leave the actual plot for you to work out when you see this.

This is one of those so bad its good movies, one where your jaw hangs open in disbelief at whats going on.

Take for example the music. Its folk music. Why? I have no idea. I don't think anyone who had a brain cell couldn't see that the music chosen has nothing to do with whats going on on screen. Its so opposite to what you are seeing it grates on you.

Its occasionally acted and partially written which makes it somewhat watchable.Its a movie to get drunk and watch laugh at.

Its interesting to watch the carnival scenes since its incredibly obvious that they are filming at an operating carnival since people are constantly looking at the actors in a puzzled manner. The crowd scenes after the opening decapitation are fall down funny. As is the response time of the police and medics to the crime scene, never has help arrived that fast in New York.

If you're in the mood for grade Z entertainment I recommend the film for a nights rental.

Low budget but pretty disturbing in some parts.

[reptilicus · 5/10 · 17 May 2005]

Way back in the early days of home video you had to cough up $59 to own this movie. Now you can find it on DVD for a fraction of that amount; isn't technology wonderful?

Okay seriously now. I first got this film because I hoped it might actually be MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD. It wasn't (duh!) but I certainly got my money's worth. Set in a Coney Island carnival most of our attention is focused on Tom (Earle Edgerton) who runs a booth where you throw darts at balloons to win a prize and his fire scarred pal Gimpy (he's billed as John Harris but WE know he's really Burt Young). Tom seems like a nice enough guy but you have to wonder how he gets through the day when the people who come to his booth all seem to be obnoxious, ill-mannered, drunken loudmouths.

There is also a mad killer stalking the midway. Whoever it is commits some very brutal, but not entirely convincing, murders. I mean, Andy Milligan had more believable gore in his films and you REALLY have to be at the bottom of the barrel to be less effective than Andy! A knifing on the beach is very bloody but the camera stays on the victim so long we get too close a look at what must be a rubber dummy and Karo-syrup blood. Another victim is killed by a dart . . . oh when will low budget directors learn that you need a mighty good pitching arm to throw a dart through a persons skull, and even so a wound like that would probably not be fatal? Oh well, just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . ."

So what did I mean about disturbing in parts? Well near the end when we find out not only who the killer is (no, I am not going to tell you! Sit through this movie and suffer like I did if you want to know!) but why he is doing it (a violent mental shock when he was a child; no wonder psychologists love to analyse these movies!) there is a scene of the heroine (Judith Resnick) finding a teddy bear stuffed with human entrails! That is the scene I remember most over all the previous cheap gore moments, it is unexpectedly effective and emotionally jarring. Tis' a pity the rest of the movie could not keep up.

Truly this is one for junk movie completest only. I'll bet once Burt Young hit it big in the ROCKY movies he crossed this title off his resume.

PS: Did I ever find MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD? I sure did! Check out my review of that one sometime.

Bad movie fun at it's finest

[TC Smoot · 13 February 2003]

'Carnival of Blood' is a schlocky piece of 70's trash, that I grudgingly admit I enjoyed. Don't get me wrong, this movie is bad in almost every technical aspect, has horrible acting, and a plot that is mind-numbingly dumb. The obviously fake gore in the movie reminds me of a Herschel Gordon Lewis flick. However, there is a certain strange charm to the movie. I'm a big fan of bad horror movies that can make me laugh unintenionally. There's just a ton of little things that made the movie laughably enjoyable for me. First of all, the midget 'Gimpy'. His dialogue is hilarious and the scene where he goes over to Tom's place had me rolling on the floor. Then, there's the very inappropriate choice of using folk music for the movie. There's the hilariously cheesy love scenes between our lead hero and heroine. Our hero proving he's a Mr. Sensitive-type when he wants to take his girlfriend, on their anniversary, to the amusement park where a murder happened the night previously. Then, his confused reaction when she is too scared to go. Then there's the overweight, New Joisey woman and her over-the-top role. She doesn't have much screen-time, but boy does she make the most of it. Watch as she cuts in line in the food stand and badgers the man behind the counter because she wants her shrimp. Oh, and there's so much more....The worst 'drunken' performance ever recorded on film by a man playing a sailor. And then there's the creepy fair ground worker, Tom, who just happens to be friends with our heroine. I think it's implied they live in the same building. I hope so at least, because I see no other reason why she would want to be friends with a creepy carny-type and his midget helper. If you love bad movies like I do, check this one out.

A low-rent and somewhat tedious proto-slasher

[Red-Barracuda · 3/10 · 21 December 2015]

A maniac is on the loose in Coney Island ripping women apart. A couple of amateur sleuths discover that prior to their murders, all victims seem to have visited a dart game booth and a fortune teller who foresaw their eventual fate.

As I watched this Z-grade horror effort, I suspected quite strongly that this must be an Andy Milligan movie on the basis that he was a New York based exploitation director who made bargain basement splatter films around the same time as this one that featured ropey cinematography, cheap gore effects and misanthropic characters. As it turned out, this wasn't the work of Milligan at all but instead the creation of director Leon Kirtman who was seemingly a director of porn flicks, which might explain quite a lot of the technical short-comings to be found here. He was also responsible for the later horror flick Curse of the Headless Horseman (1972), which was a pretty mind-numbing effort in rubbish cheapo film-making. Apparently, that one played alongside Carnival of Blood as part of a double-bill at the time. I can only imagine how unimpressed most of the unfortunate patrons who went to see that endurance test must have been.

This one falls into the same bracket as the splatter films typified by H. G. Lewis. But it seems to have been made on even less of a budget and, unlike in Lewis's flicks, the gore is pretty half-heartedly executed, although there is a decapitation that is relatively well done. More damagingly, it suffers from poor pacing, with lots of scenes of more or less nothing going on. It reminded me a little of the earlier film She Freak (1967) which contained endless scenes of people hanging out at a carnival, doing carnival type things, i.e. reasonably good fun if it's you doing it but not so entertaining if it's you watching people do it. Despite this definite drawback, the location does work in the film's favour in some ways, as it has a definite of-its-time unusualness, while the production on the whole does benefit a bit from the overall scuzzy atmosphere that is generated. Amusingly, despite the rock-bottom production values, we have future respected character actor Burt Young of Chinatown (1974) and Rocky (1976) fame appear as a deformed carnie called Gimpy. It's not a role he will necessarily be fondly remembered for and he did hide under the pseudonym of John Harris, but the joys of the internet age means there is no hiding place anymore.

In all honesty, this is a pretty ropey and low quality effort. Its grimy grade-Z nature almost saves it but its overall tediousness negates those qualities somewhat. You know you're usually in bother if you are watching a feature film helmed by someone who normally directs porn flicks, and Carnival of Blood is no different.

Awful, But...

[w00f · 3/10 · 19 July 2007]

This is a terrible movie in every way. The story is awful, the special effects are laughable... wait, what am I saying? Special effects? There apparently wasn't even a budget for lights and microphones on this one! That's a big handicap when most of the movie was shot at night on the noisy Coney Island boardwalk and Astroland. Let's face it, this flick just has nothing going for it.

But... it was shot in Coney Island in 1969/1970. I gave it two extra stars because I was a kid growing up in Coney Island in the 70's, so there was a big nostalgia factor for me. I rode on many of the rides shown in the film. I ate at that Nathan's and walked on that boardwalk.

If you're not nostalgic for 1970's Coney Island, pass this one by; you won't be missing anything at all. If you are, though, see it with the sound turned off and pay more attention to the backdrop than the movie itself.

Very schlocky 70s horror but has some amusement

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 23 March 2014]

Carnival of Blood is not irredeemable by all means. The Coney Island setting is a good setting with a real sense of fun and atmosphere and Gloria Spivak while overacting to maximum degrees is hilarious. And there is a little entertainment value, though mostly unintentionally. The rest of Carnival of Blood is very schlocky however. The movie is very clumsily edited with lighting that does nothing to enhance the mood and very amateurish-looking effects. The music is repetitive, irritating and out of place more often than not and the killings are not that inventive and further marred by some of the worst gore effects in the history of movies. Carnival of Blood also comes across personally as a classic case of too much talk and not enough horror or suspense. There is a lot of dialogue, and pretty much all of it sounds clunky and improvised, the pauses and constant stumbling over lines being tell-tale signs. The story was a silly one to begin with but for a horror there is nothing here horrifying, tense or suspenseful, everything is far too predictable and pedestrian(often not much happening). The direction is very flat, while the acting is atrocious with only Spivak and the teddy bears(menacing and somewhat cute) showing signs of personality, it just looks unrehearsed and like nobody cares about what's happening to them. And the killer is acted in such a hammy way that they can't be taken seriously. On the whole, occasionally entertaining but in almost all ways there is very little to recommend Carnival of Blood. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Carnage at the carnival.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 4/10 · 29 October 2015]

After having seen the interestingly strange Horror film The Undertaker and His Pals,I felt that it was a good time to pay a visit to the carnival and see the second movie on the disc.

The plot:

Going to a carnival,a number of various couples visit a fortune teller,who tells each of them to "go home" when she gets a card that she does not want them to know about. Ignoring her advice.each couple go on different rides at the carnival,which ends with them all getting brutally killed by a stranger stomping round the carnival.As the bodies start to pile up,Tom decides to investigating.Tracking down the fortune teller,Tom forces her to read his fortune,in the hope that it will change his fortunes in catching the killer.

View on the film:

Backed by sweet Folk songs and a scrambled Jazz score,writer/director Leonard Kirtman & cinematographer David Howe soak up the on location Coney Island filming,with wonky camera moves and long wide shots capturing the long lines for the rides,and giving the Slasher killings a raw,grubby atmosphere.Originally appearing to be a Slasher flick, Kirtman takes the title in an anthology direction via focusing on a new couple every 10 minutes.Whilst this stops the movie from hitting a dead end,Kirtman's fails to give the couples any unique features which leads to each of them being rather interchangeable,with the film only starting to heat up as Kirtman reveals the Slasher killer on a surprisingly tragic note,as the carnage at the carnival ends.

Horrific!

[Greensleeves · 1/10 · 22 October 2007]

This threadbare, bottom of the barrel effort will certainly hold you in suspense as you wonder to yourself '"Will it ever end? Will it ever, ever end?" The opening credits are the most bizarre you may ever see and they are inter-cut with the movies incredibly irritating theme song. The setting is Coney Island and the film uses this location for the bulk of the filming. There are many scenes of the real life carnival customers gawking at the camera from a few feet away and some also appear to have been roped in as extras where crowd scenes are needed. There are a few indoor scenes filmed in the dingiest and grimiest sets imaginable. The murder scenes are interesting as the gore is laid on thickly, in the style of Herschell Gordon Lewis movies, but using an even more minuscule budget. There are endless scenes of ad-libbed dialogue complete with microphones in plain view and also scenes using dubbed in dialogue which bear no relation to what's happening on screen. There are looped sounds of background carnival noise which are repeated endlessly and will have you wishing you were hard of hearing in no time. The 'acting' is appalling throughout with the sole exception of Gloria Spivak who would appear to be an entertaining character in real life. The film often looks as though it is about to veer off into porno territory which is no surprise when you look up the Directors former and subsequent credits.

Carnival of mutilation.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 14 December 2010]

Three brutal murders of women take place at Coney Island funfair during the carnival.The unknown killer with the penchant for teddy bears decapitates the first victim.Who is behind these gruesome murders?It's up to Dan and Laura to find out."Carnival of Blood" by Leonard Kirtman is one of the earliest examples of slasher sub-genre.The film is cheaply made,the acting is mostly improvised and the gore is strikingly inept.The first victim is decapitated in the ghost-train,the second is eviscerated and the third has her eyeballs pulled out.If you are into Hershell Gordon Lewis or Andy Milligan's ultra low-budget horror trash "Carnival of Blood" is a perfect choice.6 out of 10.Don't forget to bring your teddy bears.

HERE IT IS!!! The Award-Winning Golden Turkey Of Bad Cinema!

[emm · 2/10 · 26 October 1998]

Some bad movies I've seen in my entire life have been considerably good, simply because they've aged well enough to build a more entertaining purpose. For that reason alone, B-movies, or drive-in movies, or "Idontknowwhatelseyoucancallit" were never made on a gigantic budget compared to today's refined standards. Pre-millennium movie buffs laugh over these rushed out products as fun, enjoying, weird, and unusual. The reason technology hadn't been the cream of the crop justifies how virtually all films were created in the past 2-6 decades of cinema. Not so with CARNIVAL OF BLOOD.....

Far worse than an Ed Wood production, this experience in bad moviemaking really shows! It does have some strange gory-looking material, including a scene where a head decapitates in front of crazy carnival-goers waiting for a ride, but you know it's extremely fake! Actually, this isn't a horror show, it's a mess! Couples argue, folk music is playing, people romancing, a buddy chatting to a friend for five worthless minutes, a woman getting struck by a car that looks poorly filmed.... What more is there? Much more! You'd think the opening credits was never a flaw for movies. Guess again! While you hear the sound of a heartbeat, those black screens with red lettering also has a woman's face moving her mouth and not voicing out a single word!

Yes, CARNIVAL OF BLOOD doesn't make any entire bit of sense, especially when it is a B-movie, and if you get a desperate chance to view it, be sure to invite some friends or members of your family to gather 'round for an evening of pure ill-minded entertainment. Be sure to serve up some stale popcorn and flat carbonated soda for the occasion. Once you witness the absolute noneness of this perverted work of cinema, you'll find out that there are tons more cheaply made movies far surpassing its dreadful quality! GOOD GRIEF!!!

A ghastly marvel of a no-budget early 70's schlock horror gore film

[Woodyanders · 7/10 · 27 January 2006]

Here's one of those gloriously godawful "you gotta be kiddin' me!"-type of plodding and maladroit low-rent no-budget psycho sicko gore flicks that played on double bills in numerous drive-ins and grindhouses in the splendidly sleazy 70's. Indeed, this delectably dreadful dreck was paired with the equally atrocious, yet somehow oddly endearing dippy hippie terror trip-out "The Curse of the Headless Horseman" on a twice-the-tacky-terror twin feature offering that must have caused anyone who saw them together to either make an immediate beeline for the exit door 15-odd minutes into the first film or slump into their seats in a comatose stupor after the ending credits of the second picture finished rolling.

A mother-fixated bargain basement Norman Bates-like oedipal wreck homicidal crazy brutally butchers assorted supremely irritating women at an especially dingy and rundown beachside carnival in upstate New York. That's it for the threadbare plot -- and said skimpy story is related by cinematic blunder wonder triple threat would-be producer/ director/writer auteur Leonard Kitman (who also puked forth "The Curse of the Headless Horseman" and later did a few scuzzy porno movies under the alias Leon Gucci) with a staggering all-out incompetence that's genuinely breathtaking to behold. Techincally, this crud is simply appalling: we've got slack pacing, an often meandering narrative that's overloaded with tedious talk and dreary filler, clumsy red herrings, grainy, ugly, frequently static and immobile cinematography, a grating score, ragged cut'n'paste editing, and cheesy splatter effects that wouldn't even gross out your grandmother. Moreover, the cast overall strikes out somethin' rotten: Willowy blonde lead Judith Resnick is hot, but vapid, Earle Edgerton makes for a singularly bland and uncharismatic hero, Andy Milligan film regular Martin Barolsky nerds it up to an almost unbearably geeky extreme as the balding, middle-aged fruitcake killer, Gloria Spavik hits new heretofore untouched heights in nerve-shredding celluloid obnoxiousness as an insufferably shrill and whiny fat old bag who gets her head bashed in, and Burt Young (Paulie in the "Rocky" series) embarrasses himself royally in his less-than-sterling film debut as a pathetic, irritable, grotesquely misshapen hunchback retard named Gimpy. Plus William Grannell (Jason Varone in the Cheri Caffaro "Ginger" flicks) briefly pops up as the long-suffering husband of a shrewish woman who gets decapitated in the funhouse early in the movie. However, this altogether stunningly ham-fisted honey does possess one exceptionally right-on asset: It's so rich and vivid in seedy local color that it comes across like a fascinatingly lurid and depraved mondo-style documentary on the grimy underbelly of the seriously seamy Coney Island carny scene.

An ugly film in every way.

[TokyoGyaru · 1/10 · 12 March 2021]

And I don't mean the violence. I don't believe in giving "ironically" positive reviews as far as the star ratings go, but I have to commend this film on how incredibly bad the editing is straight out of the gate. I don't think anything intentional could match it! It makes Death Nurse's editing look Oscar-worthy by comparison. Sure, the "acting" is bad too in that it's not acting but just people DOING what they're told.

And the film is unpleasant on the ears and eyes, from the music to the incessant arguing of the first couple to the way it's shot to the settings and decorations. The first couple made me want to murder them, myself, especially the shrew in the bad wig! I think therapy could go a long way in helping certain directors work out their issues with women and marriage before torturing audiences with the evidence. They even make a happy couple start arguing too after they get engaged. The murders aren't shown clearly thus far, just mostly the aftermath through quick cuts. I say "thus far" because I'm only keeping it going while I type this. But it's started up the awful soundtrack again, so I think I'm done.

I can enjoy entertaining bad grindhouse flicks, but this one is just so unpleasant to look at and so plotless that I can't continue. There are more problems than I mentioned, but I'm done.

Coarse, poverty-stricken cinema the likes of which we'll never see again.

[EyeAskance · 14 August 2011]

Someone is stalking the patrons of a seedy, ramshackle carnival amusement park, murdering and mutilating them in a variety of gruesome ways. The multitude of suspects weighs heavy with iniquitous reprobates, but nobody is above suspicion.

CARNIVAL OF BLOOD is the "beau ideal" of early 70s grassroots film-making...there isn't the slightest hint of virtuoso evident in so much as a single frame of this picture, but it certainly does shine as a sort of attestation to resourceful creative vitality. This turkey here is about as Spartan a production as ever there was, but the clever use of a carnival for the story's nucleus creates an illusion of the movie being something substantially "bigger" than it actually is...a breadline, bush-league, bottom of the barrel crock-o-schlock.

While it certainly owes stylistically to the cinematrocious exploits of trash-film pundits like H. G. Lewis and Andy Milligan, CARNIVAL actually marches drunkenly to the freaky beat of a spaced-out drummer all it's own. As bad as it is, it's hard not to like...or at least be amused by...this gore-soaked, beggared lump of collective incompetence.

5.5/10...I think just about anyone with a good sense of humor could find this enjoyable.

Carnival of Crap.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 20 July 2017]

Carnival of Blood's cheap and cheerful gore scenes owe a lot to the splatter films of H.G. Lewis, but the stuff that happens in between the movie's messy murders makes Lewis's efforts look positively professional by comparison. Set on Coney Island, the bulk of writer/director Leonard Kirtman's extremely low budget horror follows a variety of obnoxious characters as they visit the attractions of Coney's famous amusement park, upsetting a killer with mommy issues, who metes out extreme punishment for bad behaviour. Investigating the grisly slayings is assistant district attorney Dan (Martin Barolsky) who drags his fiancée Laura (Judith Resnick) to the carnival to check out the murder site.

Sluggish pacing and terrible acting from all involved make the film a real challenge to sit through, but Carnival of Blood's biggest problem is its repetitiveness, Kirtman using the same setup over and over again: introduce a thoroughly loathsome character, have them upset the killer, see them visit a fortune teller (who quickly ushers them out of her stand when she foresees their fate in her Tarot cards) and then bump them off in grisly fashion. All of this is sporadically interspersed by scenes of Dan and Laura as they get engaged, canoodle, argue and make up, and of sideshow barker Tom (Earle Edgerton) chatting to his hunchbacked assistant Gimpy (Burt Young of Rocky fame, in his feature debut).

The whole film is a boring mess, but especially crap low-lights include the bizarre opening credits that feature a lousy theme song and a body-less head mouthing wordlessly, some of the worst drunken acting ever committed to film (courtesy of Glen Kimberley, in his one and only movie role), and the most insufferable woman imaginable (bespectacled and bewigged Gloria Spivak, who will have you cheering her character's death). Those who check the film out purely for the gore will be treated to a decapitation with blood spurting from the neck stump, a stabbing/disembowelment, and a woman having her tongue and eyes yanked out.

A few elements of interest in this otherwise dullish independent horror

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 23 February 2017]

CARNIVAL OF BLOOD is a cheapie independent US horror flick that's a little more interesting than most insofar as it was filmed at the real-life Coney Island, which gives a snippet of nostalgia for anyone viewing it today. The film itself is quite poor, mired in low budget production values and a storyline which is far too padded out for its own good, but there are elements of interest here.

Chief of these is Burt Young in support, playing a memorable character in what was his feature film debut. The rest of the cast, including the lead, are quite poor, but Young's performance stands out head and shoulders above them; he's a real scene-stealer here. Elsewhere, there are some stalk-and-slash sequences which are too drawn out to be any good, lots of interminable fortune telling, and a mild gory moment or two straight out of H.G. Lewis. It only starts getting interesting right at the climax.

More like Carnival of Boredom

[TheFranklyLegendarySleazegrinder · 2/10 · 4 April 2020]

"This is my friend Gimpy!"

If you watch this specifically to geek out on the shots of the Coney Island boardwalk in 1970, then it's pretty great. What I wouldn't do for a 40 cent carnival hot dog right now!

As a movie it's a woeful disaster though. No budget proto-slasher trash with a heavy "real people" vibe. Lots of amateurs doing improv for merciless ten-minute takes.

Should be included in any "pre-history of slasher flick" lists, tho.

Lots of Laughs

[whpratt1 · 1/10 · 9 November 2006]

Purchased a DVD with three (3) films and this film was one of them, so I decided to see just what this film was all about. Earle Edgerton,(Tom), Judith Resnick (Laura) and Martin Barlorski (Dan) all made just this film or maybe two after this production. The star of the film was Burt Young,(Gimpy),"Nicky's Game",'05 who is a great character actor and is presently making great films. The background has scenes from Coney Island, Brookly, N.Y. and even Nathan's Hot Dog Stand is shown with Gloria Spivak,(Dumpy Gal) who made only this one picture and faded out from stardom. All I can really say it was a Big Joke to watch, horrible horror film and it made absolutely no sense at all. Oh, I forgot to say if you like lots of Teddy Bears to hug, there are plenty in this picture.

Barely a film yet somehow enjoyable

[Tender-Flesh · 4/10 · 27 May 2011]

Perhaps a single notch above Herschell Gordon Lewis in terms of production value, and that is not saying much at all, Carnival of Blood is one of the few horror films set in a place where I want to see horror, namely, the carnival.

Without much in-between, the film has a handful of locations used and re-used to try and make a movie. The balloon stand, the boardwalk, the interior homes of the heroes and the killer(which, given the budget, are probably the same house), and the tunnel of love. Oh, did I forget the gypsy who can never seem to give a decent palm reading? Anyway, yes, it is a slasher film, with a lame motive and a few red herrings, including Burt Young in a terrible role as Gimpy, a crippled guy with facial burns. I was surprised to see some disemboweling here. Oh, and teddy bears filled with guts. It seems a weirdo is on the loose at the carnival(of blood) and he kills people who have the teddy bears won at a certain games booth, where Gimpy works with his friend.

There's a stabbing, a beheading, a skull crushed with a rock or brick, followed by eye removal. But none of the effects are any good, though there is a certain sympathy to some of the characters and their distaste for each other seemed surprisingly genuine.

You better have nothing better to do if you're going to watch this movie. Like, if there are clothes in the wash, the dog needs to be brushed, or something like that. However, this film is currently available with the ultra horrid Curse of the Headless Horseman which not only doesn't deserve a review, it doesn't deserve a viewing. So, if you find this double bill, stick with Carnival and you'll be, well, sort of OK.

Psycho-delic Horror, A Decent "Z" Film

[Rainey-Dawn · 6/10 · 14 May 2017]

There is something that kept me watching, entertained by this "Z" grade horror film. I love creepy carnivals so that is what drew me into watching this film - but the overall psycho-delic look and strange story kept me watching it. I got hooked from the start and actually finished watching this film and would watch it again!

OK some of this film does not make sense - best example: (The girl and guy that are engaged) She refuses to go back to the carnival after murders happened there. He comes into her apartment with a mask and it scares her and they argue, he leaves. She then goes down to the carnival alone to speak to her friend who's a carny there. --- WTF? She wouldn't go with her boyfriend, she fought him over going (then broke up with him) then she goes by herself to the carnival to tell her carny friend?!! Hhahaa. I guess her boyfriend did what he set out to do - get her over the murders and get on with her life - unafraid!!

As carny, err corny, as this film is I actually enjoyed it!

6/10

Carnival of Blood

[Scarecrow-88 · 2/10 · 31 May 2011]

A crazed killer is mutilating the bodies of customers who visit the Coney Island Amusement Park. Most of these deaths coincide with "what's in the cards", interpreted with a frightened reaction from The Fortune Teller (Kaly Mills). Tom (Earle Edgerton) operates a "dart balloon" stand. It is simple: pop three balloons with three darts and you win a stuffed animal. Over and over the film browbeats us with some annoying customer, whether it be a loud blabbermouth wife whose hostility to her husband grates the nerves of everyone around them, a drunk sailor and his skanky mistress, or a cheapskate woman who nags and berates, as they visit Tom's stand, get their fortune read by The Fortune Teller, then eventually meet their demise. The film, besides the sub-plot of a potential DA, Dan (Martin Barolsky) and his fiancé, Laura (Judith Resnick) and their squabbles and getogethers, some congenial, some not so, drones on and on to such a repetitive degree, same old same old, with the problem being that we have to spend too much agonizing time with these misfits before they are dispatched. The film does find plenty of time for Tom to bicker with his slow-witted assistant, Gimpy (Burt Young, of "Rocky" fame) as they encounter the worst kind of customers visiting their booth. The film's supposed mystery of who the killer is couldn't be more easy to figure out. Burt Young is excruciatingly awful, bumbling over his lines—it was painful to not only watch, but listen. The filmmakers decided to put these ghastly sores on Gimpy's face to make him more grotesque looking—it does kind of fit in with the atmosphere of the surroundings and the type of "human grotesqueries" that show up without as much physical malady as having antagonistic personalities that portray the worst of what mankind has to offer. The characters that eventually die, thanks to the director, are forced on us for such long periods, I figure, so that we just yell at the screen, "Let these assholes die already!" Those fascinated with Coney Island circa 1970 and the denizens which frequented the amusement park (it looks like the director just took a small crew and shot within an operating amusement park, with real locals coming out to enjoy the festivities) or to see Burt Young muck it up in his film debut might like this movie more than the casual horror fan. I was glad it was over once the film ended.

early Burt (Paulie from the Rocky movies)

[PaulyC · 6/10 · 27 July 2007]

Yes, the splatter effects are cheesy and yes, there is some bad acting, and yes, the dialog is stupid in most parts, and yes, there are jump cuts and cheesy music. I wouldn't call this movie great but it does have some entertainment value. Gee, I wonder why Burt Young went uncredited on this one...hehe. That being said, it's not really that bad. Believe it or not I can see how someone might not know right away who the real killer is. The location of Coney Island in Brooklyn worked nicely. The story is basically this -- There is a murderer loose in Coney Island who kills women. The funny thing is, he kills mostly obnoxious patrons of the carnival. One of the victims is very memorable. She cuts lines, snarls at people, and steals every frame of film she's in. Another memorable character is the fortune teller. Anyway, the main character of the movie is of course a young woman who loves spending time at the carnival. Burt Young plays Gimpy, a weirdo who runs one of the booths. Worth watching once for camp value.

Break a balloon win a baboon

[crazyferret-03421 · 5/10 · 19 May 2023]

Carnival of blood 1970 is a very creepy nasty maniac on the loose at a carnival . With Burt Young looking pretty gruesome as a character named Gimpy who has a really bad disfigurement.. none of the characters are very likeable . It's pretty gory for a PG movie , then called GP . There's no nudity. There is a gory scene right at the beginning credits of a head split in two . I find movies that take place at carnivals are pretty creepy. Like the funhouse 1981 which is a bigger budget movie about a killer at a carnival . Carnival of blood was shown as a double feature with the totally awfull curse of the headless horseman . I'm assuming carnival was the first feature . At a drive in I think most people drove home during the headless horseman . Ah memories. I remember they did 3 to 5 features at the drive in . Not all were good . Carnival of blood is a low budget gem . There's no known actors except Burt Young who made his debut a few years before he was to star as Paulie in Rocky 1976 .

"I Have To Kill You, Mommy! I Have To!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 8 June 2021]

When a patron is decapitated while enjoying the "spook house" ride, we know we've entered the CARNIVAL OF BLOOD. Said riders should have listened to the midway fortune teller (Kaly Mills), who had "bad vibes" about their situation. They won't be the last, since whoever the killer is is just getting started!

For its era, this is a fairly grisly movie. In addition to the aforementioned noggin removal (aka: a dummy head with extra ketchup), there's a rather disgusting disembowelment that could send the easily-sickened racing for the restroom!

In spite of its low-low budget and long stretches of nothingness between murders, CARNIVAL manages to remain semi-entertaining throughout. It gets extra points for its proto-slasher status, especially for the gushy -most likely pig- guts! Some releases don't include them, so, buyer beware!...

Carnival of Blood

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 13 October 2022]

Leonard Kirtman mostly directed adult, churning out titles like The Seduction of Cindy, Up Desiree Lane and Confessions of a Candy Striper, often using the name Leon Gucci. This is one of the few movies he made without penetration yet it has all the feel of a New York City-made porn from 1970.

Shot in Coney Island - I would not be surprised if there were no permits and no one had any idea they were even filming - this movie revolves around the people who are killed after winning a teddy bear at the booth of Tom (Earle Edgerton) and his hunchback-heaving assistant Gimpy (John Harris, the stage name for Burt Young!).

There's a district attorney called Dan (Martin Barolsky) who gets called down to investigate, but he's so dumb that he brings his fiancee Laura (Judith Resnick) along to the carnival and man, defund the slasher police.

No set dialogue. Scuzzy looking footage. Gore from the Herschell Gordon Lewis school of pause on the guts. A great moment where a tunnel of love ends with a screaming survivor and a headless blood spraying victim. So much repetition. Sound effects out of nowhere. Folk music. Cool jazz. A drunken sailor. Bad relationships. Death is everywhere.