The Norris family get jobs working at a seedy old carnival as a cover for searching for their missing son who disappeared after visiting said carnival. Eccentric manager Mr. Blood (a flamboyantly sinister portrayal by Jerome Dempsey) turns out to be a vampire while evil owner Malatesta (an unnerving performance by Daniel Dietrich) rules over a gaggle of ghastly ghouls who watch silent movies when they aren't feasting on human flesh.Director Christopher Sheeth, working from a quirky and inspired story by Werner Liepolt, makes excellent and effectively unsettling use of an actual rundown amusement park, does an adept job of crafting a supremely spooky'n'surreal dreamy atmosphere, relates the disjointed, yet still intriguing and idiosyncratic plot at a hypnotically deliberate pace, brings a take-no-prisoners nihilistic sensibility to the kooky proceedings, and delivers a satisfying sprinkling of grisly gore. Token breakout star Herve Villechaize contributes a stand-out turn as flaky poetry-spouting dwarf Bobo. Moreover, there's sound acting from Janine Carazo as the sweet Vena Norris, Lenny Baker as freaky transvestite fortune teller Sonja, William Preston as deranged groundskeeper Sticker, Chris Thomas as the amiable Kit, and Tom Markus as hook-handed creep Bean. The accomplished cinematography by Norman Gaines offers a wealth of stunning visuals; the shots of the ghouls watching silent movies in a dingy basement theater are especially striking. Best of all, this film radiates a truly off-kilter eerie vibe that's both distinctive and impressive in equal measure. Essential viewing for aficionados of outré underground indie fright fare.

Malatesta's Carnival of Blood is a long lost drive in flick starring Herve'de (De Plane De Plane) Villechaize that showed up over the last year on DVD. I wish this would have stayed lost lets take a look at this train wreck. The movie in a nutshell is about a man who is running a carnival that below it harbors zombie-like cannibal people that eat some of the patrons who visit.Let me start off by saying that when the movie first started I thought this would be something along the lines of an H.G.Lewis or one of the many other cool drive-in classics that are out there. However once I reached the end I realized I had just seen a "movie" that was so incoherent that I was amazed that someone actually wanted to dare release this in the first place let alone re-release it to DVD. Where to begin lets start with the good...... It had Tattoo in it from Fantasy Island.....it had cannibals.....someone gets decapitated.....oh who am I kidding this movie BLOWS!!! For me to say that is a lot as I always try to find something good in everything I watch. Let me just skip to the bad here and it is a lot. Do you have an hour of course not so Ill do a brief list of the issues: 1) Editing was GARBAGE. 2) The story (though sounding quite simple) was confusing (thanks to the poor editing and a director that does not know what he is doing). 3)We do not know where the cannibal people come from until the last 3/4 of the movie. 4) Unless I was heavily drugged (or on drugs) most of the sequences were mindnummingly trippy (in a bad way). Lastly 5) The editing was Garbage..oh I already said that.In conclusion if your idea of a good movie is a scotch taped story held together by horrible editing that would make a 3 year old Mongoloid proud and weird sequences that you cannot tell if the person in the movie is dreaming or if it is really going on (again this goes back to editing) Then have at it. I was hoping this would be a cool drive-in movie but it turned out to be THE WORST EDITED FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN (and that is saying a lot cause I have seen A lot). If you could look past all the confusion that this story conveys you are still left with a massive gleaming mess.My Score: 2/10 Very Bad Movie, and not in the good sense either.....I give 2 points for Tattoo only and we don't even get him in the film until the midway point....Please avoid this carnival at all cost, you'll be a better person if you do.That is it for now I hope to have some more reviews up over the next week until then remember: Midgets are cool but midgets used in bad films just makes the film fall that much "shorter".

A man named Mr. Blood (who looks like Frasier, if he dressed up like Dracula) seems to be the front man. After settling in, the more carnival workers they meet, the sooner they realize the place isn't right. The movie seems to be fairly cut, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the plot. For instance, there seems to be a revenge type back story with the man of the family by the way he talks in some scenes, but there's never any concrete evidence to prove this theory.Anyhow, when it goes dark, a whole heap of cannibals who used to be workers inhabit the carnival, and eat the flesh of people who visit. The explanation is that they eat human flesh because they were never told it was wrong, lol. Same cannibals also have great tastes in classic horror. Several scenes in a small theater show the flesh hungry crowd watching Cabinet of Dr Caligari and other films from yesteryear. There's also ghouls, a cultist/wizard named Malatesta and Hervé Villechaize from Fantasy Island. Wacky bunch of freaks, I tell ya! Most of the gut munching scenes were cut out, but you can view them in the outtakes section of the DVD. It's a shame they weren't added back in, but apparently American Zoetrope had a problem with the MPAA while remastering this lost film for DVD. A few scenes are still lost, for the time being, I believe. Either way, the cut scenes are worth watching, because it is pretty damn nasty in a few scenes. Another worthy mention of gore is a guy who smokes a joint getting beheaded while on a roller coaster. Lots of fun there, and a good creepy atmosphere.Surprisingly no nudity. Surprising because the female lead runs around for half of the movie in her nightgown, pursued by ghouls and Malatesta. Great little trippy nighttime chase scene with her through the entire carnival, where death and carnage is discovered in all corners.It has a great little bizarre ending too. Lots of fun to be witnessed in this incoherent, mindless Drive-In slice of cheese. Recommended for Fans of I Drink Your Blood and Carnival of Souls.

I have not seen this movie, but I want to! I have wanted to ever since I read that glowing review in an issue of "The Monster Times" so many years ago. I know the film is out there somewhere because I saw a trailer for it on a Seattle, Washington TV station so it does still exist. Where IS it? I want to see it. Heck, I want to own it! Okay people start checking those film vaults. It has to be out there somewhere so start looking for it. And when you find it, drop me a line.