gridoon2018
It begins promisingly, it ends strongly, but the middle is plodding, padded with impressive but ludicrously overlong circus numbers, and even a useless song-and-dance number. Joan Crawford has a more fitting role here than in her next film ("Trog") - and those famous legs of hers are still killer! The jaw-dropping Diana Dors provides some eye-candy for the men in the audience; Ty Hardin does the same for the women in a long shirtless scene. ** out of 4.
utgard14
Campy horror-thriller starring that grand diva of melodrama Joan Crawford. The plot's about a series of gruesome murders at a circus run by Joan. The opening scene of a tightrope walker being impossibly hung by his own high-wire sets the stage for a schlocky horror film. All of the death scenes are great. Perhaps the funniest was Michael Gough's death. The true horror, though, comes not from the grisly death scenes. It comes from seeing Joan Crawford, over sixty years old at this time, romancing half-her-age Ty Hardin. Sexy Diana Dors is fun to watch. She has a hilarious catfight with another circus performer. In all honesty it's not a bad movie of its type. I think because Hollywood legend Joan Crawford is the star, some people go into this in a state of mourning for her career rather than enjoying this for the cheesy horror movie that it is.
Toronto85
Murders are taking place at a circus, and people are suspecting that Joan Crawford's character Monica Rivers (owner of the circus) is going "Berserk!". We see one of the circus performers murdered right at the film starts, but most people think it's just an accident. It's after a second man is viciously killed that everyone realizes there is a killer among them. Monica is suspected right away. People believe she's killing people in order to gain a larger audience.We get some circus acts in the film too, pretty lengthy as well. We see circus animals (elephants, lions) perform, cute puppies do tricks, high- wire acts, the bearded lady, etc. Sometimes during these acts, murders are committed. For example, a woman is cut in half in which should've been a routine act after the killer fiddles with the box she lies in. It was around the middle frame that I figured out who the murderer was. Probably the weakest part of "Berserk!" was the writing around the suspects. There aren't that many, and the one's which the film try to lead us to suspecting don't really have great motives. Even the killer's identity was pretty weak.Overall, "Berserk!" is one of Joan Crawford's weaker films. When put up against 'Baby Jane' and 'Strait Jacket', it doesn't have the same excitement or sparkling performance to it. Crawford's character Monica was sort of bland. I'd still check this out though, it's worth at least one viewing. The murder scenes are pretty gruesome for it's time (1967) and the circus acts are very well done.6/10
bkoganbing
Joan Crawford's next to last feature film Berserk finds her as boss lady of a circus where a string of murders is being committed. I will say the best thing about Berserk is the circus acts from the Billy Smart Circus where the film was shot in the United Kingdom.As for the film it's your usual slasher flick that could have, but didn't come from Hammer Studios. The whole cast with the exception of Crawford and Ty Hardin playing the hunky high wire artist were from Great Britain and the continent. Hardin's one daring dude, his high wire act not only consists of no net, but he walks underneath a row of very sharp spikes. There's no surviving if he falls.And there's a rapid rate of homicide at Crawford's show unless Scotland Yard in the person of Inspector Robert Hardy can figure out who is killing off the circus, a bit at a time.Maybe Berserk might have been better had Hammer Films actually had done this production. This was the kind of thing they were good at, even if the villain isn't a supernatural one. I will say that the death of Michael Gough is a shocking and original one. You might want to catch Berserk for that alone.As it is there are more red herrings thrown up as potential suspects in Berserk than at feeding time at Marineland.You'll go Berserk just trying to figure it all out.
AD
