Malatesta's Carnival of Blood Movie Review
The Norris family, in search of their missing son and brother, come across a strange carnival. They decide to stick around, convinced they will find their missing family member, but instead find the carnival houses a vampire and many cannibals. Before we get to the story we see in this movie, let's talk about a much more interesting (and coherent) story. When this movie was released in 1973, the audience despised it so much the filmmakers ordered all copies destroyed. It was thought to have been gone forever until, in the early 2000's, a copy was found and the movie made it to DVD.
Now we all get to enjoy the ride...except him
The story in the actual movie is far less...actually, let me stop there. There really isn't a story in this movie except for the general premise I laid out above. What we see unfold is, to be nice, unconventional. Instead of being presented as introduction-conflict-suspense-conclusion, we get a series of scenes with seemingly no flow, making the film feel more like an extensive dream sequence than a traditional movie. The psychedelic use of colors and the music only enhances the dreaminess of the flick.
Groovy
Unfortunately, the acting and particularly the makeup bring this movie down considerably. Naturally, most of the actors are unknowns, but a keen eye will spot Burt Young from the Rocky films and if your Grandmother watched Fantasy Island when you were very young, you may recognize midget Hervé Villechaize as Bobo. The blood is so bright red it's almost neon--while I usually hate this in movies (this was used a lot in the 1960's and 1970's), it is oddly fitting in this one. The shots of the dilapidated amusement park are nice and may make you yearn for a simpler time. The entire film is truly a surreal experience--your enjoyment of this movie will depend on variables such as your openness to such non-traditional films, your mindset when watching, and the time of day--this movie will connect with you a lot more at 2:00 AM than it will at 2:00 PM.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6
I couldn't find a trailer for it, but, at least as of right now, you can check it out on Tubi here: https://tubitv.com/movies/505006/malatestas_carnival_of_blood
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