Horror on the 4th of July: Reviews of "The Drifter" and "Circus of the Dead"

TOM H.

REVIEWS

“THE DRIFTER”

And

“CIRCUS OF THE DEAD”

The 4^th of July has come and gone, I have been extremely busy since then with work and other projects I have been working on. Today, I am finally sitting down to write my review of both films that I screened at the Horror on the 4^th of July event that was held in St. Robert, MO at Finest Of Lines Tattoo Shop!

Let me first explain to everyone, the venue was great! It was just the right environment to do this and I am forever in the debt of Ray and Nikki.  A friend of mine Brandon went out of his way as well to make sure that the night was a success! For that thank you all!

Now, on to the movies..  Craig Calamis “The Drifter”, a suspenseful thriller that lived up to the hype that took almost 2 years from the first chance I had to see the teaser. I had a chance to watch about 10 minutes of this film a while back and the wait was well worth it! This was one of those films you read about or see a trailer that you don’t forget that you want to see it, regardless if it was a couple of years later. I never forgot.

I’m a pretty huge fan of these types of film, this film had a good pace to it and there were no dead spots to where boredom could possibly set in. The acting was done very well, so I was sold on that mother fucker being bat shit crazy.  I am excited to see what comes next from Calamis, he is obviously very talented and did a great job putting a really good film together. 

Now, there were two films shown on Horror on the 4^th of July. The second film Billy Pon’s “Circus of the Dead” is exactly what I was expecting and more! So, I talked to Billy on the phone before we decided to do this and he had thought I had already received and watched COTD, when he learned that I didn’t watch it yet he told me.. “This film will change your life.”… I laughed because part of me believed this..  So, I watched the film and I think it was definitely not disappointed! This has to be one of my top 5 films over the last 15 years easily!

The cast did great and each of the clowns were picked perfectly and they all fit the part. I loved the way it all played out, you seen it coming after a little bit, I just needed to see how it would be executed. COTD has some serious shock value that will fuck up the casual horror film viewer! If you’re not a big time horror film lover this film will give you some serious nightmare material and make you wish a Circus never comes to your town.