BayHarbourButcher
I am surprised that people have rated this film at a measly 5 out of 10 on average ( my own rating is a solid 7 out of 10 & I only very rarely rate a movie higher than 7) - IMO its a "gem in the rough" i.e. it has its flaws (such as the weird ending that felt like it was only one half of the movie) but to counter that it has many redeeming features such as originality of script, decent acting and camera-work, some hilarious moments (e.g. the fake singing dog), some great b-movie gore and special effects etc ... - the flying alien "shrub" monsters with tentacles capable of decapitating (or sucking the face off) any unfortunate sole to encounter them were some of the coolest and most original B-movie monsters I've seen for quite a while - comes highly recommended in my book
BA_Harrison
Atomik Circus is a crazy mix of comedy, musical, sci-fi and horror which, despite some great effects and a good deal of imagination, ultimately fails due to a poorly developed script and some bad pacing. The movie takes so long in introducing its offbeat characters that an hour passes before anything very interesting happens; by then, there isn't enough time left to develop a decent plot or even fit in a satisfying ending.Jason Flemyng play James Battle, a stuntman who is jailed when a disastrous motorcycle jump results in the destruction of the Sam Paradiso bar, owned by Bosco, influential citizen of Skotlett, a backwater town inhabited mostly by weirdosbut also by Concia (Vanessa Paradis), Bosco's daughter and girlfriend of James.Enter sleazy impresario Alan Chiasse (Benoit Poelvoorde) who pretends to be interested in promoting Concia's musical career, but who is really only interested in getting into her pants. As Alan is trying his best to seduce Concia, James is doing his utmost to reach his woman, having busted out of prison.When James finally arrives at Skotlett, he not only finds his girl being pawed at by sleaze-bag Alan, but he also discovers that the town is under attack from face sucking tentacled creatures from another dimension.The film only really gets going at this point, and it is here that we witness some great CGI monsters and lashings of gore, as the Lovecraftian beasts dismember and decapitate the helpless inhabitants of Skotlett. If the first 60 minutes had contained some of this crazy OTT action, I would have no hesitation in recommending Atomik Circus to fans of bizarre cinema; however, no amount of gore in the closing moments can make up for the tedious and disjointed first hour.And the ending is just downright bizarre....
arsenick
A former comment spoke about a jambalaya about this movie, and I think it summarizes well this UFO (Unidentified Filmed Object). The acting is wonderful and it holds the entire movie: Marielle, Flemyng, Paradis, Poolevoerde, Venantino Venantini (unexpected in this part)and also Bouli Flanners(the fat chip cop)and all the third knives of this drama. From the funny-sex-gore movies lovers, It will be very delightful. Even if some shots switching from one genre to the other (from the Belgian-french surreal movie to the Italian Z to the US Cajun gore wonder through the Spanish funny and colored fantasy) inside the same movie are not perfect and need several seconds of adaptation, this masterpiece of nonsense needs to be seen at least once, twice etc...finally, the shooting is perfect and unexpected.Enjoy your watching this...thing.
Marcos Muñoz (KalEl)
I discovered this picture at a surprise showing on 2004's Sitges Film Festival, and it was a very appealing surprise. As I was completely blank about what was I going to see, it all started strange (an astronaut? But then, no, this is not an astronaut story...), then the story started to develop in very familiar tones (to me, a Spanish viewer, it echoed a mix of Alex de la Iglesia, Santiago Segura and Karra Elejalde) with the sci-fi and horror touch slowly advancing as a secondary storyline. That was one of the best ideas for the movie: not making the fantastic part the main one, but showing how a very used cinema topic (the alien invasion) affected the everyday life of a lost in the swamp "village" (although it could have been any of your back country small villages, any Western country you live in). The end was strange (there is were I got the idea of Atomik Circus being perhaps an European comic book, because both the name and the ending is very typical of European short sci-fi comic books), but the Lovecraftian reference was bot inspired and unexpected, and I loved it. All in all, an 8 (some of the acting was a bit so-so), and an enjoyable movie.
AD
