Woodyanders A group of teenagers visit a freakshow attraction at a traveling carnival. The kids are all taught nasty lessons about themselves from sinister ringleader Abbot Graves (marvelously played with tremendous theatrical flair by Phil Fondacaro). Director Fred Olen Ray relates the gnarly macabre premise at a quick pace, does a good job of capturing and conveying the creepy seediness of the carnival setting, and maintains both a pleasingly eerie mood and a grimly serious tone throughout. The acceptable acting by the competent no-name thespians who portray the kids keeps the picture humming: Jamie Martz as the meek Bobby, Michael Amos as mean jerk Tommy, Scott Clark as sympathetic wheelchair-bound cripple Grant, Jessica Keenan as the stuck-up Melanie, and Jeana Blackman as frumpy and insecure wallflower Jeanie. The make-up by Gabe Bartalos for the various freaks is strikingly grotesque and imaginative; my favorites are the luscious Curran Sympson as Aelita the inside-out girl -- she does a truly sick variation on your standard striptease! -- and Peter Spellos as Conjoin-O, who has a head living in his stomach. Benjamin Carr's twisted script has a dark fairytale-like quality with the kids all meeting appropriately nightmarish fates that reveal their true natures. Popping up in snazzy small parts are Brinke Stevens as fortune teller Madame Volosca and Ross Hagen as the crusty sheriff. Mac Ahlberg's sharp cinematography and the shivery score both further enhance the overall spooky ooga-booga atmosphere. An enjoyable horror outing.

shes_dead Sideshow is a good example of a basically interesting idea gone very, very wrong. As far as horror movies go, and especially with the influx of teen movies at the moment, a film based around a bunch of teens attending a mysterious freak show is something you could have a lot of fun with.However, the writer decided to make a very straight, very boring, very plain tale about five teens who become part of the show when enraged midget Abbot Graves transforms them into freaks using some pathetic machine that mutates them into beasts.The five teens are picked off one by one until the last guy is left, his 'punishment' being that he is unable to join his friends and thus 'be alone'. What a load of rubbish! The 'actors' are really poor, this film has no comedy (and it could have been so funny!), no gore (and it could have been so gory!), no action and no horror (and it could have had so much of both!) The director has failed in his duty to even try to make this a little interesting to watch. His experience in soft-core has obviously disabled any creativity he may ever have had, as all the shots are the same, with very few edits and little movement. The quality overall is poor.I'm not usually swayed by nudity in movies, but believe me the only high point in this film was a pair of breasts.

Scott-262 The film has kind of a cool concept, but suffers from a poor script and extremely slow pacing. Some of the performers are fun to watch especially with the material they were given. One standout is Jeana Blackman who plays the role of Jeanie. Even with the problems with the script, she manages to bring a depth to her character and finds some very nice moments - especially in the scene where she and Jamie Martz are buying the popcorn.All told, I'd probably rate this movie a C-/C.

Che Z. Scare Out of the three newest Fullmoon films Im aware of(Dead Hate the Living,Killjoy,and Sideshow) I'd say sideshow is the best out of them. If you like so bad so good horror movies,this one is ok....it doesnt suck,its not a Plan from Outerspace or Troll 2.The dwarf was awfully good and Digestina was HOTTTTTT!!!!!This movie is worthy of a bad movie night with your friends. If you want an actual good horror movie then what the HELL are you doing watching Fullmoon films for? Oh yeah for cheese fans....STAY AWAY FROM DEAD HATE THE LIVING!!!!!