Circus Kane Film Press Release and Review

From Uncork’d Entertainment and DeInstitutionalized comes the it horror movie of fall, Circus Kane premiering on VOD 9/8.

The notorious and disgraced circus master, Balthazar Kane, invites an unsuspecting group of social media stars to the revival of his CIRCUS KANE by promising $250,000 to any of them who can make it through the night. Kane’s true plan quickly proves to be far more sinister as the contestants realize more than money is on the line. The group must fight for their lives to escape Kane’s demented house of horrors.

Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire) and Mark Christopher Lawrence (Cooties) head up the cast of Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray’s fantastic frighthouse Circus Kane, on VOD this September.

James Cullen Bressack and Zack Ward scripted, based on a story by Sean Sellars. Gerald Webb, Christopher Ray and James Cullen Bressack produce.

Studio: Uncork’d Entertainment
Director: Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray
Cast : Jonathan Lipnicki, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Nicole Fox, Jonathan Nation, Mike Jerome Putnam, Scott Thomas Reynolds, Bill Voorhees

Circus Kane Review

I’ll admit, I was curious about Circus Kane as soon as I saw the name “Jonathan Lipnicki” attached to it. I knew he had been a child star at one point, and I also knew that I couldn’t point at a single thing he’d done in recent years. So, that, combined with a trailer that looked suitably fun meant I was willing to give Circus Kane a go. Well, there was also this particular still, as well. Not gonna deny that it had a lot to do with it.

Is it wrong of me that this image made me giggle and instantly need to see this movie?

Circus Kane was a near perfect mix of giggles and gore. It’s hard to get me to laugh during a movie, but this one got me on several occasions. Sadly, several of the actors weren’t named in the casting list,but there were a few that did a solid job. Mark Christopher Lawrence had a great on-screen presence, and sold me on the film early on. There was one guy who did a lot of impressions that also cracked me up. Jonathan Lipnicki had moments where he did a solid job, but sometimes his performance definitely wavered a bit. (Some of it could just have been the character he was playing, to be fair. His was one of the less likable ones.)

The clowns were also rather fun in this film. If you are a fan of Killer Klownz from Outer Space, you’ll have a giggle or two. At one point I kind of yelled at the screen “Just bop his nose off!!” Then I remembered that wasn’t the movie I was watching.

And if you like nods to other movies, there’s several in Circus Kane. I’m sure there were less obvious ones that I didn’t catch, but the ones I saw were: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Killer Klownz, Poltergeist, Saw, and a ‘the final girl’ reference.  Plus, I think Balthazar himself (below) has a serious vampire-face going on, doesn’t he?

I liked the idea integrating the social media aspect in Circus Kane. Early on one of the characters made a remark about still having cell service, which was atypical for the situation they had found themselves in. The fact that each person that was chosen had something to do with the horror genre (having their own fan base) was cool.

Overall, Circus Kane was an entertaining low-budget horror comedy that’s definitely worth watching. It wasn’t perfect – the timing was a bit off at times, and the monologue could get a bit tedious. However, they were also good about poking fun at the horror genre in general, and that’s always fun to watch. If you like cheesy horror movies, I think you’ve got to give Circus Kane a try!

And yes, the misdirection totally worked on me.

**Press release and stills provided by October Coast, review is – obviously – my own**

I received a screener of this film for review consideration.