Malatesta's Carnival of Blood
American Horror Project • Horror, Thriller
1973 • United States • Directed by Christopher Speeth
You'll Shriek With Horror! Roll up, roll up! Step right up for Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood – the grisliest, freakiest show in town! Virtually impossible to find until its revival on DVD in the early 2000’s, this 1973 cult oddity, from one-time director Christopher Speeth, is a cinematic experience like no other. Arriving at a creepy, dilapidated fairground under the premise of looking for work, the Norris family are hoping to track down their missing son, who, they believe, is somewhere in the park. But it’s not long before they find themselves at the mercy of the fairground’s fiendish proprietors and the cannibalistic ghouls lurking in the caverns below. Filmed out of hours at the rundown Willow Grove amusement park in Pennsylvania, Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood is a mind-melting phantasmagoria of carnie craziness which blends elements of Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls, adding an (un)healthy dose of Herschell Gordon Lewis-style gore for good measure.
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