WE WANT CLOWNS! Said no audience in the history of entertainment. If you dig sadism, this is for you. And you like extremely stupid cops and main characters. Someone is a huge fan of Rob Zombie here and thought "Captain Spaulding + 4 other clowns." And apparently the clown posse murders and rapes in every town they stop on, yet NO one thought of any connection? Surveillance cameras EVERYWHERE? The writers know that we have telephones and computers, right?

I will say most of these other user reviews must be people working on the production or hired bots.

This is one of those movies that impresses a certain kind of horror fan because it's so "hardcore," meaning it's brutal and everybody dies and there's lots of gore and sadism. It's better made than most low-budget movies that get such high marks simply for being brutal and "dark." But it still has the same problems most of them do: There's no plot per se, just a premise; nothing really "happens" apart from one murder after another; the film takes itself seriously, yet the plausibility of the action falls apart if you give it more than a passing thought; the acting is variable; even the best-played figures are two-dimensional at best, and most of the characters are just one-scene cannon fodder.

So, the effect is a bit monotonous, especially because the film is longer than it should be given the lack of any real story arc. The cinematography is above-average, the direction pretty skilled, but it's a testament to how little thought went into the writing that most of the sequences just end in blackouts. The filmmakers don't even bother coming up with enough connective thread to create a continuous suspense narrative from, so they just jump from one setpiece to another, with literally blank audiovisual space in between.

I can see why some people think this is great. I've certainly seen worse "torture-porn"-type horror films where there's absolutely nothing going on (particularly in the realm of talent) beyond lots of screaming and red-dyed corn syrup. But it's not enough for me--there has to be SOME kind of substance, some imagination at work beyond just "We are so badass! Fanboys are gonna think this is so wicked!!" Basically, "Circus" is nothing more than "OK, these scary clowns are really, really bad. They just kidnap, torture and kill strangers for fun!! Why? Oh...uh...er...well, like we said, cuz they're BAD! They're scary clowns. man, what more do you want?!"

Well, I actually do want something, practically anything more. This was an OK watch, despite its content ultimately being more vapid than disturbing due to lack of any sense of real-world credibility or (alternatively) nightmarish dislocation. (The movie kinda sits in the middle of those two things, not so much mixing them up as simply choosing neither.) But I sure won't be watching again, let alone pining for the sequel promised at the end.

Circus of the Dead..wow! We have seen killer clowns before but not like these guys,..you do not want to be going to their circus. Horror these days can be so generic and has to be about credibility for many so this movie is very real in style..the thought that people like these guys could exist is the real horror..no real reason for them to be killing and torturing people just for the fact they enjoy it and it certain cases get off on it..thats real nasty horror. All the cast involved were good to great..Bill Oberst Jr as Papa Corn is truly mesmerising and can easily be said to be one the most disturbing killers on screen in recent years..you will not forget him in a hurry. What i liked was that the other players even tho not as crazy still had their own personalities and sick nature..Noodledome the Clown just made me laugh with his constant giggle and Mister Blister was so laid back and didnt give a crap made me like him even tho he was an awful person. Parrish Randall was just fantastic as the poor guy they abduct and put through hell..you really felt for the guy. Billy Pon has created an indie classic here and would love to see this get more widespread..I saw this around the same time as Rob Zombie's 31 and i thought this was way way better than that ! So if you want to see something crazy, disturbing and yet still enjoyable check it out..will stick in the mind for a very long time