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[Review] ‘Circus Kane’ References Too Much To Stand Out
I don’t know when clowns became a horror staple, but it’s safe to say that Stephen King cornered the market with “IT”, and the subsequent film adaptation. And with the remake set for release next month, Christopher Ray looks to capitalize on IT with his film, Cirus Kane, set for a VOD release on September 8th. It’d be easy to dismiss the obvious attention-grabbing by Cirus Kane with the use of a red-haired clown holding a balloon on its poster, but a rip-off isn’t in store with this film.
Down-on-his-luck circus master Balthazar Kane (Tim Abell) has been out of business for years. Luckily, he has an idea for the revival of his show, “Circus Kane”: Invite eight personalities from within the horror community to be a part of his house of horrors. If these participants can make it through Balthazar Kane’s house of horrors, they each win $250,000. However, the contestants soon realize that the horror in Kane’s house is far too real and that more than money is on the line.
Production-wise, the makeup and effects are the strengths of the film. Yes, Balthazar Kane looks like a poor man’s version of Rob Zombie. And yes, the film draws upon past films like Saw and House of 1000 Corpses to help create its atmosphere (albeit a lower-budgeted version). But, I still enjoyed the charm of the various masks and costumes used by Kane’s entourage. One demonic clown mask reminded me of a more sinister variant of the masks from Killer Klowns From Outer Space. And the skinned and severed head gag was pretty impressive.
Keeping with the theme of referencing past horror movies, writers James Cullen Bressack, Sean Sellars and Zack Ward peppered the film with these references, making it a game of how many you can spot. Aside from the above-mentioned films, you have characters quoting horror movies, one guy wearing a Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers shirt, and even the ending itself is a reference to a horror trope (with a nice twist). Heck, the whole “contest” motif is straight from House On Haunted Hill!
This constant winking to the audience, however, doesn’t make up for the fact that there’s a little too much derivativeness with Circus Kane. You’ve literally seen this film before in different films. Making things worse is the real lack of character development. They were all clich&eactue;s. Sure, during the ride to Kane’s house, they did their expositions, but that wasn’t enough to make you care about them. None of the actors’ performances made them likable, and it just made them into fodder for the house itself. The only bright spot was Abell’s performance as Kane, but that wasn’t much of a stretch, given what the other characters were like in the film.
Circus Kane isn’t an offensive low-budget affair, but it’s not particularly memorable. With much of the focus being on the callbacks to past films in the genre and the gore, it was worth it to see just what happens. However, the constant references leave little in the way of something to make this film stand out on its own. This virtually eliminates repeat viewings, unless you really want to go back and see what references you missed. Other than that, it’s another one-watch affair you forget about a week later.
Circus Kane is now out on VOD from Uncork’d Entertainment.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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