Carnival of Blood

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.

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 ....

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' 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.

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.