Paul Magne Haakonsen
"Carny" was like a trip down memory lane for me, and perhaps will be for anyone who watched horror movies during the mid- and late 80's. This movie was like it was plucked right out of that era and then shined up for a 2009 release.The story in "Carny" was pretty tame. A carnival of traveling freaks come to a small town, and with them they have a new attraction. A certain abomination as they call it. And of course, the creature breaks free and wreaks havoc upon the town and the inhabitants. Pretty much standard 80's horror plot right there.Now, I think that the creature actually looked good and was believable. I read some reviews who weren't as forgiving to the effects and the creature, but I found it to actually be good enough.And as for the cast and the acting, well there were some questionable performances, sure, but there were also some fairly decent performances as well. Don't put your hopes up for any award-winning performances, because then you will be sorely disappointed.As for being a horror movie, then "Carny" wasn't particularly scary at all. And there weren't even any moments of intense suspense or dread. The movie pretty much rolled onward at a good pace, though it was weak in scares and thrills. And as for the ending, well who would have seen that coming... Not saying anything else, just watch it yourself.All in all, "Carny" was a fairly average horror movie, though it was weak in scares. The good thing about it was that most of it was actually shot during the day, so you had good, clear and well-lit scenes, and you saw the creature clearly in the daylight (as to where many other movies use glimpses and darkness to hide whatever is prowling the innocent). So that worked. Just don't have your heart set on being scared out of your seat.
GC_MaxProductions
I had the recent misfortune to watch this "film" which was probably the worst I have ever seen, my initial expectations of a good plot for "Carny" were about psychopathic carnival people luring their victims in with trickery but no! It involved a "monster" that was neither iconic, frightening or interesting to any degree. As soon as the "monster" was seen I knew this was going to be a bumpy ride into the land of cliché, hammy acting and scripting. I wouldn't classify this as a b movie, b movies can at least make you laugh but this was serious all the way.Quickview: One dimensional characters, terrible script, no suspense, poor effects.
Michael O'Keefe
Lou Diamond Phillips in yet another movie that will briefly entertain and then be forgotten. CARNY is little horror flick filmed in Canada for the Sci Fi Channel. Alan C. Peterson plays a greedy and murderous carnival owner that has just acquired a hideous monster for his traveling freak show. The carnival comes to set up shop in a small Nebraska town. Hidden amongst the roustabouts and sideshow oddities like the two-faced man is a steel cage where shackled is the newest attraction...half animal/half devil creature...Jersey Devil. Influential citizen and Pentecostal minister Owen(Viasta Vrana)warns Atlas, the local Sheriff(Phillips), not to let the carnival open for business. Nevertheless, the freak show opens to a good size crowd and after being taunted, the blood thirsty Jersey Devil breaks loose and begins to feast on the township. Sheriff Atlas now has a hell bent monster to catch and a mess to clean up. Actually the Jersey Devil is visually cool. Also in the cast: Domenic Cuzzocrea, Simone Elise Girard and Joe Cobden.
annoyingryan
Out of sheer boredom, I flipped the TV onto yet another Sci-Fi Channel B movie, expecting nothing more than pure dreck. Luckily, I was wrong.Carny has an interesting--if typical--plot. As the story begins, we're treated to brief glimpses of the creature--a snarling, demonic beast. "Oh no," I cry. "It's another one of THOSE films where the creature is only shown in brief, shaky camera shots to avoid special effects costs." Luckily, I was wrong.Of course the creature escapes, just like you'd expect in a horror movie, beginning a fairly typical "monster on the loose" scenario--because really, you can't make a movie unless the monster is on the loose. Who'd like a movie where the monster just stayed in its cage and ate mice all day??? Bah! There are three things that set Carny apart from the typical Sci-Fi B movie.1) The characters. Several characters have a fair amount of depth to them. Not a lot, but really, this is a monster-on-the-loose film. The characters aren't -just- there to be eaten; you get a feeling like they're actual people. Additionally--and not to spoil things--but it's not just the monster who's evil in this story!2) The monster. Ordinarily, beasties such as this look like crap, or look much too powerful. This one looks menacing without one getting the feeling that it's omnipotent.3) The dialogue. It's not Shakespeare, but like another commenter wrote, it does avoid many clichés and pitfalls of other B movies. And again, monster-on-the-loose flicks really don't require a lot of deep, existential dialogue.Give Carny a chance. There are far worse out there. If nothing else, feast thine eyes upon the creature!
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