My quick rating - 3.3/10. They nailed the spooky music for the credits so I am hoping the film itself delivers on the same level. The scenes looked nice and clear setting some decent ambiance. The director Brad Twigg found an exciting location used for the abandoned circus. The foliage and trees surrounding a rusted Ferris wheel look rather creepy. It gives a great setting for the anthology wrap-around story with our Ringmaster, who is over-acted by Chris O'Brocki, who tells them three terrifying tales. You will have to define what is terrifying for yourself. It does tantalize from the start, captivating its audience with an enchanting eerie musical score that immediately sets the tone for a spine-tingling experience. Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to the promise of its chilling opening credits, delivering a mixed bag of horror tales. The highlight of this flick is its casting coup, featuring horror legends Felissa Rose and Tuesday Knight. Their presence injects the film with a sense of nostalgia and credibility, drawing fans of the genre deeper into the twisted narratives. Their performances are as engaging as one would expect from seasoned actors, adding a layer of authenticity to the anthology's characters. However, the rest of the actors in this are just sleepwalking through it. I couldn't help but think that the script was more of an outline with a lot of the dialogue being improvisation, or in this case, just talking. I was hoping the stories may get better as they went on but this just didn't happen. Then again, there are only three, with the first being a weak detective story searching for missing girls. This leads to a lackluster brawl in the woods. The second tale was the best of the bunch as we are back in the woods (let's not kid ourselves about the locations) with a couple of fishermen encountering a serial killer. I did like how they twisted this one up a bit in how the murders occurred and ended in a sufficiently gory manner. Campy fun, the kind you can appreciate from a B-budget flick such as this. Had all three stories been on that level, it would have been better. The final saga was just a tired exercise in clowns. Very underwhelming to say the least. The wrap-around story was working fine until it became the highlight and all positives just went out the window. Kids in the woods all of a sudden are packing guns for no reason and it turns into a showdown between the youths and those from the abandoned circus. So unless you have a very different definition of terrifying than I do, you'll find this film does not succeed in delivering an enjoyable, spooky experience instead more just a bunch of shrugs and 105 minutes you won't be getting back. It also doesn't quite fit the bill if you were expecting some of the Trashsploitation level of violence from Twigg. That opening though makes me wonder what happens when we get it all together.
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