CARNIVAL
OF BLOOD/CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN
(1972)Director: Leonard Kirtman
Something WeirdVideo/Image Entertainment
CARNIVAL
OF BLOOD/CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN
(1972)I really love it when Something Weird pairs up films on DVD that originally played together in theaters. This package contains two low budget horrors from New York-based filmmaker Leonard Kirtman, released on a double-bill in 1972 (though filmed as early as 1970). Both films were issued on home video in the very early days of the format, and having seen them before many years ago, I have changed my opinion of the first film, but my opinion of the second one remains the same.
CARNIVAL OF BLOOD was filmed at Brooklyn's Coney Island and concerns a psychopath slashing women at an amusement park. All of them die holding a teddy bear that they won from an oddball, egg-headed barker (Earle Edgerton) and his sweaty hunchback assistant, Gimpy. Gimpy is played by Burt Young a few years before he became a familiar face in more mainstream Hollywood roles. Young (here using the pseudonym "John Harris") mumbles most of his lines and sports terrible mortician's wax makeup that makes his face look like a dried up pepperoni pizza. The protagonists, Dan and Laura, are played by Martin Barlorski and Judith Resnick. Dan is an assistant D.A. investigating the murders, and he drags his fiancée to the carnival with him. She witnesses a gutted floozy under the boardwalk, and later, idiot Dan makes matters worse by scaring her with the same caveman rubber mask that they used to sell in the back of comic books.
Often called dull and talky, I really enjoyed CARNIVAL OF BLOOD this time out. Yes it is talky, but most of the talk is comprised of local actors bickering with each other, being very annoying and making their death scenes all the more rewarding (Gloria Spivak as "The Dumpy Woman" surely deserves to die horribly after cutting everyone in line at Nathan's). Most of the dialog is improvised, so it's fun to see these "actors" attempt to linger on meaningless situations and stumble over each other's lines. Kirtman does the most of the colorful carnival setting, but the film's incompetence is what makes it semi fascinating. Along with the unrestrained thesps, there's continuity that hops from night to day and back again, conspicuous shadows and hidden microphones constantly in check, camera zooms and blurry photography that resemble somebody's home movies, and laughable gore effects from the H.G. Lewis school of the absurd. In other words, a schlock classic!
CURSE OF THE HEADLESS has a title that's a 100 times better than the film. A medical student (Marland Proctor) inherits a ranch from his late uncle and decides to bring his girlfriend and all of his hippie friends to check it out. The ranch actually hosts a third-rate "wild west" themed show, and Proctor has to show a profit in six months or lose the property to a peculiar caretaker. The caretaker warns the folks about a "Headless Horseman" legend that occurs during a "special moon," but they still decide to stick around and convert the place into a sort of bohemian commune (good grief!).
The hippies do unbearable stuff like sing folk songs and do bad improv on a stage -- enough to make the viewer sick. During these scenes, one is reminded of BILL JACK, and believe me, that's not a good thing. Like CARNIVAL OF BLOOD, most of the dialog is ad-libbed and some silly narration is heard that tries to explain things, but it's all extremely boring. A Headless Horseman does show up holding a severed head to draw bloodshed on the hippies, but these scenes are brief and hard to make out. Warhol protégé Ultra Violet it top billed in a cameo as a countess who visits the commune toting a Superman lunch box (don't ask).
CARNIVAL OF BLOOD and CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN are both bottom of the barrel productions, so don't expect stellar-looking transfers, but rather, perfectly adequate transfers. Both films suffer from green emulsion scratches, grain, messy reel changes, and other various blemishes. Colors look pretty good (garish for the most part). HEADLESS HORSEMAN is the cleaner of the two prints, but some of its nighttime scenes look really dark. The mono sound on both is fine for what the films are.
The extras on here include some very unusual items. First off is a great package of trailers/TV spots. There's two different TV spots for the features' combo show, and you'll be surprised to learn that they played with a PG rating! There are also trailers for William Girdler's ASYLUM OF SATAN and THREE ON A MEATHOOK, CRYPT OF DARK SECRETS, Barry Mahon's THE DEAD ONE, WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS, SHE FREAK and an unusual "teaser" trailer for HOUSE OF EXORCISM. Paul Naschy fans take note: A rare battered but letterboxed U.S. trailer for HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE is included which is worth the price of the disc alone!
There a three short features also included. "Carnival Show" (circa 1930s) is an old-time musical that features a hot dog vendor with an operatic voice. The other two shorts are more unique as they are Super 8 home movies made by teenagers on Long Island, NY (where I happen to live!). The first is called "The Hunchback of Massapequa Park" and features a hunchback with worse makeup than Gimpy doing awful things to his friends (circa 1970s). "Hands of Justice" (dated 1981) is much better. It features a high school boy who contemplates the various gory ways to kill the fellow who mugged him. You also get a "Gallery of Horror Drive-In Exploitation Art with Horrorama Radio-Spot Rarities," this time with a lot of great pressbook art from mostly 50s and 60s horror films. Easter Egg hunters will want to look for a trailer for CARNY GIRL, an obscure X-rated feature from the early 70s. (George R. Reis)