BA_Harrison Carnival of Blood's cheap and cheerful gore scenes owe a lot to the splatter films of H.G. Lewis, but the stuff that happens in between the movie's messy murders makes Lewis's efforts look positively professional by comparison. Set on Coney Island, the bulk of writer/director Leonard Kirtman's extremely low budget horror follows a variety of obnoxious characters as they visit the attractions of Coney's famous amusement park, upsetting a killer with mommy issues, who metes out extreme punishment for bad behaviour. Investigating the grisly slayings is assistant district attorney Dan (Martin Barolsky) who drags his fiancée Laura (Judith Resnick) to the carnival to check out the murder site.Sluggish pacing and terrible acting from all involved make the film a real challenge to sit through, but Carnival of Blood's biggest problem is its repetitiveness, Kirtman using the same setup over and over again: introduce a thoroughly loathsome character, have them upset the killer, see them visit a fortune teller (who quickly ushers them out of her stand when she foresees their fate in her Tarot cards) and then bump them off in grisly fashion. All of this is sporadically interspersed by scenes of Dan and Laura as they get engaged, canoodle, argue and make up, and of sideshow barker Tom (Earle Edgerton) chatting to his hunchbacked assistant Gimpy (Burt Young of Rocky fame, in his feature debut).The whole film is a boring mess, but especially crap low-lights include the bizarre opening credits that feature a lousy theme song and a body-less head mouthing wordlessly, some of the worst drunken acting ever committed to film (courtesy of Glen Kimberley, in his one and only movie role), and the most insufferable woman imaginable (bespectacled and bewigged Gloria Spivak, who will have you cheering her character's death). Those who check the film out purely for the gore will be treated to a decapitation with blood spurting from the neck stump, a stabbing/disembowelment, and a woman having her tongue and eyes yanked out.

EyeAskance 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 apex 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

w00f This is a terrible movie in every way. The story is awful, the special effects are laughable... wait, what am I saying? Special effects? There apparently wasn't even a budget for lights and microphones on this one! That's a big handicap when most of the movie was shot at night on the noisy Coney Island boardwalk and Astroland. Let's face it, this flick just has nothing going for it.But... it was shot in Coney Island in 1969/1970. I gave it two extra stars because I was a kid growing up in Coney Island in the 70's, so there was a big nostalgia factor for me. I rode on many of the rides shown in the film. I ate at that Nathan's and walked on that boardwalk.If you're not nostalgic for 1970's Coney Island, pass this one by; you won't be missing anything at all. If you are, though, see it with the sound turned off and pay more attention to the backdrop than the movie itself.

whpratt1 Purchased a DVD with three (3) films and this film was one of them, so I decided to see just what this film was all about. Earle Edgerton,(Tom), Judith Resnick (Laura) and Martin Barlorski (Dan) all made just this film or maybe two after this production. The star of the film was Burt Young,(Gimpy),"Nicky's Game",'05 who is a great character actor and is presently making great films. The background has scenes from Coney Island, Brookly, N.Y. and even Nathan's Hot Dog Stand is shown with Gloria Spivak,(Dumpy Gal) who made only this one picture and faded out from stardom. All I can really say it was a Big Joke to watch, horrible horror film and it made absolutely no sense at all. Oh, I forgot to say if you like lots of Teddy Bears to hug, there are plenty in this picture.