If you’re like me, the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘carnie’, is ‘small hands, smell like cabbage’- or something to that effect. Today got word that Brain Corder, director of such music videos for Mad Hatter, is going to helm CARNIES for Toxic Shock T.V.! My darkest and deepest fears coming true- killer midgets, and bearded women! Yeouch!
With a title like CARNIES, it could be about anything. So what can we expect?
There are a thousand sideshows playing thousands of small towns in 1936 when the Knuckles Brothers Show rolls into yet another village, ready to delight and dazzle the locals with amazing acts and puzzling oddities. A sinister force begins slashing its way through this family of performers, leaving a trail of blood and crumpled, torn, soulless bodies in its wake. Meet Helen, the owner of the carnival, drugged-out half the time, demanding all the time—is she, in her drug-addled haze, the killer? Meet Virgil, the strongman with a weak heart for Zoe, the fortune-telling gypsy enchantress. Meet Ratty, Virgil’s friend and the show’s snake handler—a peculiar young man understood by few. Meet William Crowley, the sword-swallower who, along with Virgil and Ratty, investigates the mystery, but perhaps too late to escape the same grisly fate as his colleagues. Step up, ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin…
I’m reminded about one of my all time favorite movies FREAKS, made back in 1932. Using real circus freaks, it gave the film heart, and you actually started caring about them… and hating all the ‘normal’ people, who pranced around like a-holes until they finally got what they deserved. Great movie! Could CARNIES reach that greatness level? Sure! Why the hell not!
There’s a lot of pressure to do good with this project, as CARNIE is a prime classic title, but considering the cast they have planned, I think the film’s in good hands. For more info. on who you can expect to see in CARNIES, click and be sure to swoop on it’s when it goes live April 1st.