Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Barn of the Naked Dead (1974)

aka Terror Circus, aka Nightmare Circus, aka Caged Women II

How bad is it? It's slow, misogynistic and poorly constructed.
Should you see it? I actually liked it. So, yes.


Director Alan Rudolph disowned this film after he became an indie darling, as did star Andrew Prine. Girls on their way to Vegas have a car breakdown, get "rescued" by Prine, who adds them to the collection of women he has chained in his barn and who he puts through circus animal-like stunts. There's a mountain lion pet, some really bad music and some amusing make-up and gore effects. The plot is livened by meandering into another plot, where Prine's father, mutated by radiation from local atomic testing, has become a rampaging monster. One girl just happens to look like Prine's mother, a coincidence that only happens in films like this, and she uses that fact to buy time while the authorities search for them. The father escapes in the last few minutes, causing mayhem and a dissatisfying ending. Most versions of this available are missing a few shots of nudity (making the title a misnomer).

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