Carny

"The carnival is anything but fun."

2009 1h 28m EN

💀

4.8

SKIP

★4.8TMDB · 26

HorrorScience FictionTV MovieActionFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a traveling carnival comes to a rural Nebraska town, the caged attraction everyone is talking about is the alleged Jersey Devil. When the beast escapes, tearing the citizens to shreds, local sheriff Sam Atlas steps up to form a tracking team. But the carnivorous fugitive is only one of Sam’s problems. The local pastor, enraged by the death of his son at the hands of the beast, has plans for igniting his own brand of hellfire and revenge.

“The carnival is anything but fun.”

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Cast

Lou Diamond Phillips
Sheriff Atlas
A.C. Peterson
Cap
Vlasta Vrana
Owen
Dominic Cuzzocrea
Quinn
Simone-Elise Girard
Samara
Felicia Shulman
Estelle
Dani Kind
Leopard Woman
Kyle Gatehouse
Jesse

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sheldon Wilson
Writers: Douglas G. Davis
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Maneater Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sheldon Wilson, shot by Danny Nowak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ned Bouhalassa. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Simon Webb shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lou Diamond Phillips and A.C. Peterson and Vlasta Vrana carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sheldon Wilson directs. Danny Nowak behind the camera. Ned Bouhalassa scores. Simon Webb cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Canada, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 17 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.
4Part of the "Maneater Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Sheldon Wilson, shot by Danny Nowak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Ned Bouhalassa. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Simon Webb shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Lou Diamond Phillips and A.C. Peterson and Vlasta Vrana carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The carnival is anything but fun.".
10IMDB entry: tt1397497 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 26 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Danny Nowak
Original score: Ned Bouhalassa
Editing: Simon Webb
Production design: Zoe Sakellaropoulo
Costume design: Sue Fijalkowska
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Carny (2009)

Part of

Maneater Collection

Maneater Series is the name, logo and line look given to a series of made-for-television natural horror films on DVD produced by RHI Entertainment for the Syfy Channel, and distributed by Vivendi Entertainment. The Maneater Series logo and line look were created under the direction of Danny Tubbs, the executive director of creative services of Vivendi Entertainment. The deal, made in October 2006, stipulated that the first ten films would premiere on the US-based channel in 2007, but due to a pre-licensing agreement, the first six actually premiered in Canada on the video on demand channel Movie Central on Demand. Most of the early films in the series were filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Also by

Sheldon Wilson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2022-05-28
★ 5/10
Starts out great, and then fumbles Released to television in 2009, "Carny" is a monster-on-the-loose flick about a carnival stopping at a New York town with a new attraction, a gargoyle-like creature that turns out to be the infamous Jersey Devil. The town's prominent pastor initially objects to the freakshow and goes over the edge after the creature gets loose. The sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips) rounds up some men to end the slaughter of innocents while the malevolent carny owner wants to recapture the creature for greedy purposes. Being a fan of winged-monster flicks like "Gargoyles" (1972), "Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness" (2004), "Wyvern" (2009) and even "Jeepers Creepers (2001), I was looking forward to "Carny." But after a very intriguing start I was let down. The opening act with the introduction of the town, the characters, the carnival and the creature is the best part, but the film fumbles the ball in the second and final acts. Circus-like scenarios are a surefire setting for horror/mystery tales, as verified by "The Funhouse" (1981), "Berserk!" (1967), "Circus of Horrors” (1960) and even "The Howling VI: The Freaks" (1991), but "Carny" fails to truly capitalize on this attribute. The Human interest factor is next to zero. We get three main characters: The evil freakshow owner, the wacko pastor and a likable sheriff. Peripheral characters include the carnival owner's henchman, the pastor's son & friend, and a cougar fortune-teller, Samara. Although the story throws in a self-sacrificial scene there's not enough depth to these characters or their relationships to make it moving. The second act involves a search-in-the-woods for the creature by the two groups noted above and I appreciated the serious, non-campy vibe (even while the villain and the Reverend treaded the waters of cartoonish-ness). The film and actors successfully gave the feeling that this was serious business and really happening. Yet it was around this point that I also started losing interest. Why? Probably because there was no human interest. A bloodthirsty monster is on the loose and these people are trying to capture/kill it; one man is likable, another is ultra-evil and the other is a wack job. That's it. It goes no deeper. Another key flaw is the lack of alluring females. Isn't this a creature-on-the-loose flick? A horror flick? A carnival flick? Where are the women? (And, no, Samara doesn't qualify, although I suppose she could have). "Wyvern", "The Fog" remake, "Goblin", "The Howling VI: The Freaks" (not to mention parts I, II, III, IV & V), every "Friday the 13th" flick and "Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness" all knew enough to include a lovely lass or three. Heck, even by-the-numbers straight-to-video shlock like "Urband Legends 3: Bloody Mary" includes 'em. Yes, I'm being a little humorous but, seriously, a circus plays a big role in the story, give us a freakin' high-wire woman or something, please! Also, the stereotypical religious nutjob rings false and hackneyed. Why not get really 'cutting edge' and show us a minister (or believers in general) in a positive, heroic light, like the original "Poseidon Adventure" and "Rambo"? That said, there's still enough good here to give it a marginal recommendation for those with who appreciate such fare. The monster looks convincing and there's a lot of gore (not that I care about gore, but some do). The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in Ottawa, which is a good stand-in for northern New York since it's only an hour drive south. GRADE: C

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