6 Outrageous Must-Watch Carnival Horror Movies
“I stumble through a carnival of horrors.” – anne rice
Carnivals are supposed to be family-friendly places filled with harmless fun, but there’s something sinister lurking beneath the loud music and colorful lights. We’re fascinated by places that seem wholesome but have a secret dark side. Here are six outrageous must-see carnival horror movies. Let’s take a trip back in time and look at some of these classics.
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our Journey through spacetime Begins…
Freaks (1932)
We begin with a bizarre oddity from the early years of the Great Depression. Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), a pretty trapeze artist, discovers that Hans (Harry Earles), a little person carnival performer, is going to inherit a fortune. She conspires with her boyfriend Hercules (Henry Victor) to marry Hans and murder him for his money.
Freida (Daisy Earles), Hans’s jilted former fiancée, warns him against the marriage, telling him, “To me, you’re a man, but to her, you’re only something to laugh at.”
The carnival performers in director Tod Browning’s Freaks are played by people with genuine disabilities. The movie continuously straddles the line between authenticity and exploitation. Many of the “normal” characters mock and ridicule the “freaks” (one character even claims that they should have been smothered as babies), but thankfully the movie doesn’t endorse this point of view.
Freaks has been interpreted as an allegory for Depression-era class struggle. In this context, the “freaks” represent the middle class and the “normal” folks symbolize the wealthy. It’s easy to see how this theme would resonate with people in the Great Depression, and it remains a relevant subject today.
The ending is sick, demented, and, honestly, kind of funny. Cleopatra’s ultimate fate could be viewed as poetic justice, but it detracts from the movie’s “freaks are people too” message.
By turning the villain into what she hates the most, Browning is saying…what, exactly? That being a carnival misfit is a terrible fate? Isn’t that exactly what the movie has been arguing against?
Muddled messages aside, Freaks is a unique classic that every fan of carnival horror movies should see at least once. It’s heavily dated, of course, but that’s inevitable with any movie this old.
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Vaulting three decades into the future, we arrive in the era of JFK, drag racing, and sock hops. Our next film is the eerie and strange Carnival of Souls. This movie feels like an extra-long episode of the original Twilight Zone television series.
A car with three young women inside plunges off a bridge. Two of them perish, but one somehow survives. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) who seems strangely undisturbed by the incident, tries to move on with her life. Hilligoss plays Mary as a strong, independent woman. This was a rarity in horror movies of the era.
Mary moves to Salt Lake City and becomes an organist at a local church. Her future plans are upended as she is stalked by a mysterious man that only she can see. She keeps finding herself drawn to the site of an abandoned carnival.
Her terror at the repeated visions leads to her being branded as crazy and hysterical by the local townsfolk. Is Mary going insane, or is something even more sinister happening?
Carnival of Souls concludes with a clever twist. The film’s creepy climax takes place at the carnival, where Mary is pursued by the mysterious specter and a horde of other terrifying ghouls. The eerie organ score helps make this one of the best scary carnival movies.
Stream Carnival of Souls on Pluto TV
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Traveling nearly a quarter century forward, we arrive in 1986, a year of flannel, hair bands, and a highly unusual sequel to an infamous horror classic. Director Tobe Hooper’s wild follow-up makes little attempt to emulate the first film’s creepiness. Hooper subverts expectations by making a gory dark comedy, instead of repeating the raw terror of the original.
After accidentally recording an attack by the Sawyers on her live radio broadcast, radio DJ Stretch (Caroline Williams) is convinced by vengeful Texas Ranger Lefty (Dennis Hopper) to replay the disturbing footage on her show in the hope of driving the cannibal family out of hiding.
After following his advice, the leggy southern belle is pursued by the maniacal Leatherface (Bill Johnson, replacing Gunnar Hansen) and his gleefully insane brother, Chop Top (Bill Mosely). Stretch’s life is saved, temporarily at least, by an unexpected development: Leatherface falls for her. Bless his heart!
This storyline emphasizes the tonal difference between this movie and the original. It’s unfathomable that Gunnar Hansen’s version of Leatherface would form such an emotional attachment with a would-be victim.
Leatherface makes several bumbling attempts to save his new love interest. Ultimately, Stretch has to rely on her wits and determination to avoid becoming cannibal food.
Meanwhile, Lefty pursues the Sawyers into their new subterranean lair, which is located deep inside the bowels of an abandoned carnival. Hooper’s decision to set the movie’s climax in a carnival is a stroke of genius.
The setting explains how the family has managed to avoid the authorities in the years since the events of the original film. It serves as a great backdrop for the gruesome climax.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 emulates the original’s relentless frenetic tension toward the end. Two battles take place simultaneously. Lefty has a fun chainsaw duel with Leatherface, while Stretch has an epic cat and mouse chase with Chop Top.
Stream The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 on Tubi
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
Oh, you didn’t think we were done with the ’80s yet, did you? A quick hop, skip, and a jump takes us to 1988, the year that Killer Klowns From Outer Space graced the silver screen. After arriving in a spaceship that resembles a carnival circus tent, the klowns wreak havoc on a nearby town.
The bizarre extraterrestrials are discovered by local teens, Mike and Debbie. The couple attempts to warn the police but, of course, they aren’t believed until it’s too late.
To paraphrase Roddy Piper in They Live, the klowns have come to Earth to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And they’re all out of bubblegum. But they do have plenty of cotton candy, balloon animals, and popcorn guns! This is one of the most creative and visually imaginative carnival horror movies of the ’80s.
Related: Five Fantastic Horror Movies That Need Sequels
Killer Klowns has become an immortal cult classic for a reason. It’s fun, inventive, and entertaining. Sadly, no film franchise has developed (yet?), but a videogame was released in 2024.
Stream Killer Klowns from Outer Space on YouTube
House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Moving into the early 21st century, a decade of dot com bubble bursts and garage bands, we pay a visit to director Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses. This movie bears a strong resemblance to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
The Firefly family aren’t cannibals like the Sawyers, but they’re even more sadistic. The Sawyers kill people for food, while these psychos murder for the thrill of it.
Speaking of Texas Chainsaw, it’s surprising that Rob Zombie has never directed a movie in that franchise. I don’t think he was a particularly well-suited for Halloween, but his redneck “hellbilly” style would fit TCM like a glove. House of 1000 Corpses has a darkly comic tone that is similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Like many carnival horror movies, House of 1000 Corpses features an evil clown. Captain Spaulding, played memorably by Sid Haig, is the profanity-spewing owner of a local gas station and a weird funhouse-style museum. His connection to the other Firefly family members is not fully revealed until the movie’s last moments.
Spaulding is just one member of a sprawling family of evil psychopaths. Other main characters include Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley, appearing for a second time in this list) and Baby (Sheri Moon, who hadn’t become Rob Zombie’s wife yet).
The plot doesn’t really matter in a unhinged gore fest like this, but it involves a group of teens who are traveling the country documenting carnivals and other quirky roadside attractions. They run afoul of the Fireflies and live to regret it (but not very long).
Rob Zombie was able to recruit a solid young cast. Rainn Wilson, Chris Hardwick, and Walton Goggins all have supporting roles. None of these guys were well-known at the time. It’s cool to see them when they were young up-and-comers.
Stream House of 1000 Corpses on Google Play
Totally Killer (2023)
Finally, we make it back to (almost) the present for the final entry in my list of carnival horror movies. Totally Killer is a time travel adventure starring Kiernan Shipka as Jamie Hughes. In the 1980s, her teenage future mother narrowly survived an attack by the mysterious Sweet 16 Killer.
Unfortunately, the masked maniac resurfaces on Halloween 2023 and finishes the job. The carnival setting plays a key role in both the present day and 1980s storylines.
Jamie is consumed by grief but, as luck would have it, her genius friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema) has created a time machine! The invention has been entered in a science fair at the local carnival. Jamie journeys back to the ’80s to alter history and bring her mom back to life.
Totally Killer features an entertaining climax inside a carnival spinning machine. Incidentally, those rides have always been my least favorite amusement park attraction.
I can handle rollercoasters and octopus rides just fine, but the gravity machines never fail to make me sick. Amusement park horror movies should have more scenes set inside those stomach-churning attractions.
This Back to the Future-inspired horror comedy goes a nice job balancing humor and chills. My full review can be found here.
Stream Totally Killer on Amazon Prime
The Ominous Aura of Carnivals
What is it about carnivals that make them a common setting for horror movies? After all, carnivals aren’t usually designed to be intentionally creepy. They don’t want to scare away potential customers.
Nevertheless, the rickety rides, loud noises, and masked carnies are inherently unsettling. These amusement parks have a distinctly dark energy that shows no sign of abating. As long as there are carnivals, there will be carnival horror movies.
