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Synapse Brings Hammer’s ‘Vampire Circus’ To Blu-Ray
To celebrate their 100th release, Synapse Films is proud to present Robert Young’s Vampire Circus as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo, chock-full of extras. Using a new transfer, which they’re billing as “the sharpest, most colorful transfer ever of Robert Young’s Hammer Films classic”, it’s set to hit shelves on December 14. I’ve actually never seen this one, and being a huge Hammer fan, I can’t wait to see it, especially in high-def.
A little girl is brutally slain by a vampire in a tiny 19th century Austrian village. Seeking revenge, the townspeople invade the foreboding castle of Count Mitterhaus and kill him for the crime. As the Count falls, he curses the villagers and vows that their children will all die so that he may someday return to life. Fifteen years later, as the village is ravaged by the plague, a traveling circus comes to town and distracts the villagers from their current hardships. Little do they know that their troubles are only beginning! The circus is actually a troupe of shape-shifting vampires and, as the local children start disappearing, they realize the prophecy of the long dead Count is coming true.
The goodie bag of candied extras that round out Synapse’s three-ring celebration include:
* THE BLOODIEST SHOW ON EARTH: MAKING VAMPIRE CIRCUS — Interviews with Joe Dante, Tim Lucas, Philip Nutman, Ted Newsom, and Darth Vader himself, David Prowse.
* GALLERY OF GROTESQUERIES – A Brief History of Circus Horrors
* VAMPIRE CIRCUS: Interactive Comic Book, with Artwork by Brian Bolland
* POSTER AND STILLS GALLERY
* ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER
Are you ready to go back?
After a record-breaking box office run and an extended cut re-release, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ Backrooms is heading home to Digital.
Backrooms will be available to rent or buy this Tuesday, July 14.
In the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in Backrooms as the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire, who discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Renate Reinsve (A Different Man) also stars in Backrooms.
Will Soodik wrote the screenplay.
I wrote in my review, “Backrooms is at once complex and sparse, but never repetitive. It might be set in 1990, but it effectively captures modern anxieties and isolation in a way that frequently makes your skin crawl. While the journey ultimately loses steam by its cryptic end, Parsons’ visual representation of the human psyche disturbs like no other.”
YouTube prodigy Kane Parsons makes his feature directorial debut based on his creepypasta-inspired video series, which debuted in 2022 and has amassed over 190 million views to date.