CARNIVAL OF BLOOD / CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

By: Andrew Hershberger
Review Date: Saturday, May 25, 2002

Don't bother looking up Leonard Kirtman in your Hollywood book of who's who. Since releasing the Warhol-esque, or should I more accurately say Paul Morrisey-esque, CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN (1972), his cinematic offerings have taken a blue path with such unforgettable gems as MOUTHFUL OF LOVE and SPREADING JOY; not exactly Criterion fare. Now Something Weird Video has unleashed two of Kirtman's general audience titles actually, I believe they're his only general audience titles - on DVD and the world may be a better place for it. That's may.

Released as a double feature, CARNIVAL OF BLOOD and CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN aren't going to win any awards for technical brilliance, but behind the rough edge is a little bit of gold that makes these minor gems worth a look.

CARNIVAL OF BLOOD concerns a series of brutal murders taking place at Coney Island. It seems that some deranged psycho has taken to killing off obnoxious women (oh, quit your applauding) in a style that says, "I've watched too many Herschell Gordon Lewis movies." Enter Dan and Laura, a pair of young lovers who've just gotten engaged. Dan has recently found out that he's a candidate for district attorney and has been assigned the case. For some reason privy only to naïve lawyers, Dan believes he should investigate the crime scene and bring along his fiancé to make him seem more likeable. This starts a rift that makes her appear like an obnoxious woman though I'd say a sane woman and suddenly a killer has her set in his sights.


Obviously shot on the cheap, with most of the actors improvising, and poorly at that, the film meanders for 20 minutes until the real star of the show makes his presence felt. Don't you think it's about time somebody started an Earle Edgerton fan club? I sure as hell do, for this one hit wonder manages to put so much life into the previously unmentioned character of Tom Laura's friend and a balloon stand worker at Coney Island - that it boggles the mind that the guy didn't wind up a bigger name. Instead that lucky break went to co-star Burt Young who plays the lovable, hideously disfigured, hunchback Gimpy. When those two get together, it's simply magic. Through their skills they manage to give the film a feeling of genuine pathos. Sure, for the most part the movie is rambling nonsense, but as things start to wrap up, after what seems like months, you just might find yourself at the edge of your seat. Earle Edgerton, wherever you are, you are the man!

Crappy tourist attractions are pure horror gold just watch any episode of SCOOBY DOO and judging by the excrementally awful Wild West tourist attraction featured in CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, one should naturally expect the picture to be - yoinks! - stupendous. It's not.

For somebody who loves the work of the brilliant and underrated Paul Morrissey (that's Paul Morrissey and not Morrissey, the lead singer of The Smiths) there's a glimmer of charm. It's the story of med student Mark Callahan and the Wild West attraction he's inherited under the stipulation that he must turn a profit in six months that just so happens to be under a terrible curse. Mark gathers together a bunch of his bohemian buddies and they put their smelly hippie minds together and before you know it, you haven't a clue what's going on. Apparently a headless horseman is stalking acid casualties, a.k.a. Mark's friends, with a fake severed head soaked in real blood, which he likes to shake off onto his victims. Many a T-shirt is brutally ruined.

CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN features the impressive talents of Warhol superstar Ultra Violet, for about five minutes. Her shtick amounts to overplaying a stereotypical upper crust attitude and carrying a Superman lunch box. Personally I loved it but most people would rather take a carbine drill to their pelvis than watch ol' Ultra. The rest of the cast rambles through the mostly monotonous show, though the last set piece is a rather clever spin on western movie clichés.

I can't say for sure, though the inclusion of Ultra Violet does lend credibility to my assumption, but I believe this was shot in the improvisational style of Paul Morrissey's films for Andy Warhol, which goes a long way in explaining why the actors look unsure/uncomfortable when they're saying their lines. Lacking the wit and craftsmanship of Morrissey, and the acting non-talents of superstar Joe Dallesandro, Kirtman's film is mostly slop, but does have a few bright moments here and there, not to mention the aforementioned Ultra Violet cameo.

Don't expect to be wowed by the picture quality of CARNIVAL OF BLOOD and CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, for it's terrible. Both films' picture (fullscreen, 1:33:1) is faded, grainy and with a substantial amount of scratches and debris. I had seen a copy of CARNIVAL OF BLOOD on VHS some years back, and to tell the truth they must have copied this off the same video master. Yet one expects, with classics like these, that this was the best Something Weird's Mike Vraney could offer and so be it. The sounds are decent with the expected pops, cracks and fade-outs from such poor source material.

Proving that every Something Weird DVD needs to be perused regardless of the feature title, Vraney has included the excellent short "Carnival Show" which features the amazing Cotton Club Tramp Band, whose song and dance antics suggest a more refined Fishbone.

It's a crappy home made movie fest on this disc with "The Hunchback of Massapequa Park" and "Hands of Justice." While "Hunchback" is just dull, "Hands of Justice," about a young man's revenge fantasies, provides an ample amount of gore and the best "kicking the severed head" scene I've witnessed in quite some time.

For trailer fans here's the skinny. You get trailers for the main features plus ASYLUM OF SATAN, CRYPT OF DARK SECRETS, THE DEAD ONES, HOUSE OF EXORCISM, HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE, SHE FREAK, THREE ON A MEATHOOK and the greatest film ever made, WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS. As an Easter egg there's an exceptionally raunchy trailer for CARNY GIRL ("You will witness the corruption of a young girl as she becomes a lesbian, a junkie, and an alcoholic." Wow, alcoholic, that is pretty bad.)

Wrapping up the disc is a gallery of horror drive-in exploitation art with Horrorama Radio-Spot Rarities.