Vampire Circus on DVD & Blu-Ray

Horror film fans can't wait to get their fangs into the new DVD and Blu-Ray combo release of the classic Vampire Circus . Made in 1972, the film is one of the most adult tales ever put out by Hammer Films, the studio best-known for Gothic horrors such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Horror of Dracula (1958) and The Plague of the Zombies (1965).

Vampire Circus has been screaming for a release for years, with genre fans relying on hard-to-find out-of-print editions and eBay bootlegs for some time. This new release, out on December 14, 2010, looks set to please fans, with a host of extras as well as the film on both Blu-Ray and DVD.

In Vampire Circus, a travelling circus arrives in a 19th-century Austrian village during an outbreak of the plague. They mesmerize villagers and their children, who are unaware that the carnival is in town to take revenge on behalf of a vampire killed 15 years earlier.

The film itself is presented in widescreen, which indicates it will be in its original ratio, as seen in theatres. This is always a bonus, as cropped and pan-and-scan versions rob viewers of the chance to see films as the cinematographer envisaged it, often ruining beautiful camera set-ups and sometimes cutting off essential information from the screen.

Extras include a new documentary, The Bloodiest Show on Earth, about the making of Vampire Circus, with an appearance from Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), a director who has never hidden his debt to the Hammer horror films. David Prowse, the actor behind Darth Vader's mask in the Star Wars trilogy, is also in the documentary. He has a cameo in the film as a circus sideshow strong man. This release also has photos, posters and trailers, an interactive comic book based on the film, and two retrospectives, one on circus-set horror films and another on the House of Hammer magazine.

Horror afficionados ought to snap up this release. Although it's never been a better time to purchase Hammer films on DVD, it is rare they come packed with so many extra features.