Vampire Circus (1972)

The Count of Stetl is a vampire, who has been preying on village children for his blood.  Finally his depredations grow to much for the townsfolk to bear.  They assault his castle and after a fierce struggle, one of them stakes the Count in the heart.  He sinks into a death-like trance, though not before prophesying that the children of the village will be the food for his resurrection.

Fifteen years later, the village is wracked by a strange plague.  The national authorities have placed a cordon of soldiers to prevent anyone from leaving.  Not a fun situation, so the villagers are pleasantly surprised when a travelling circus somehow slips past the cordon and into their town.  At least, some new people and new diversions!

The villagers can be forgiven for having no suspicions of this strange event, but for us it has only been five minutes, and not fifteen years.  And we know that the Count's human lover escaped his demise.  And of course, we also know that this is a movie called Vampire Circus, so I don't think it is exactly a spoiler if I tell you that at least some of the the carnival folk (including a pre-Doctor Who Lalla Ward) are here to make sure the Count's prophecy comes true.

This is a late stage Hammer Film.  Hammer burst onto the cinematic horror scene in late 1950s with a series of successful films starring Christopher Lee and/or Peter Cushing, but by the end of the following decade they were struggling.  The stagy, mannered tone of their films and tendency toward period settings made them seem old-fashioned and they steadily lost ground to the more naturalistic (and more graphic) US competition. 

Hammer attempted to adapt to changing audience expectations.  Vampire Circus is one of several of their films to include a significant dose of nudity and rather more graphic violence/gore than their early offerings.  Unfortunately, they mainly proved through this that it is possible to be salacious and still come across as a bit fuddy-duddy.

Despite having what I consider a terrible title, Vampire Circus is one of the better efforts of Hammer's later years.  It's a fun romp if not exactly a very scary one: it certainly has plenty of ideas, even if they aren't all executed that well!  If you've an interest in the progression of cinematic vampires through the ages, it is worth checking out.