Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Pretty Good

Just so...so bad

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The carnival comes to town and it's evil promoter, Cap(Alan C Peterson)has a new sideshow attraction, a winged creature hungry for human blood who has broken free from it's steel cage. Sheriff Atlas(Lou Diamond Phillips) has a lot to contend with as locals begin to fall victim to the beast. Cap is so absolutely vile he guts his own trusting servant, Quinn(Dominic Cuzzocrea)just so that he can capture the creature by using the smell of blood from the poor guy as a means to lure the monster. We get a glimpse at just how abominable Cap is when he stabs the man in the back who delivered him the creature. Through Cab's mystic, Samara(Simone-Elise Girard), we learn as she is speaking with Atlas that the creature just may be the Jersey Devil. Adding to Atlas' troubles is the local fire-and-brimstone priest, Father Owen(Vlasta Vrana) who, before the start of the carnival, was warning his citizens and neighbors of how this traveling freakshow would only bring horror to the town, a rallying cry of epic proportions, heaven and hell, good and evil kind of stuff. When Father Owen's son dies at the hands of the monster, Atlas will have to not only deal with Cap, the monster, but the priest seeking vengeance as well. Surprisingly well made creature feature compared to past Sci-Fi channel offerings, actually has some decent special effects in regards to the monster's presence in the film. The filmmakers decide to shoot the creature out of focus just enough as it flies/swoops down in the background so that it won't be as glaring computer effect as we normally are used to seeing in a Sci-fi channel Saturday movie. Owen is so blind with his own rhetoric involving the carnival of freaks' responsibility for bringing the monster in town that he encourages the locals to target them next. The priest is presented as an unsympathetic blowhard inciting negative emotions, not following the doctrines of peace and tolerance he supposed to which is why when the creature is loosened once again to hunt you care not if he is ripped to smithereens. Phillips slips comfortably into the small town hero role without a hitch, having starred in more than his share of B-movies, understanding this genre all too well. Not a lot of carnage as you might expect(there could've been more body parts and torn flesh), but there's at least a tongue removal by a knife, and because of the creature's brownish gargoyle-like color(it reminded me of the beast from JEEPERS CREEPERS a bit), this allows it to integrate fairly well within the darkly autumnal surroundings. The exciting climax has a ferris wheel toppling over thanks to Atlas trying to use whatever he can to finally rid his town of the monster, with a rather bleak resolution as many of the carnival freaks suffer devastating fates thanks to mostly Owen's doing. CARNY allows Phillips to save the day, at a huge cost.

Two cops, one carnival with 4 or 5 sideshow freaks and a Ferris wheel, one greedy owner and his side kick. A redneck tow truck driver a crazy pastor and his son who has one friend and a woman who reads crime scene evidence in boiling pots of water. What does that all add up to? THe whole entire cast of Carny. But wait I forgot the star of the movie, The Jersey Devil.As a native New Yorker I use to hear tales of the Jersey Devil and how he would come after bad little girls who never listen to her parents. That being me.Well it turns out someone has captured the creature and the owner of the carnival has got a buyer for it. He has one big problem though, the beast decides he doesn't want to cooperate and he escapes. And he also has one minor problem, a crazy Pastor who believes Carnivals and the people who work there come from Hell so they must be gotten rid of and he is sending them right back to where they came from, Hell.The beast kills everybody in his path. This is not King Kong that will actually stop and take a look at you before he kills you. No this one is serious and what makes it worse, he flies. The greedy owner wants him back alive so the sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips) allows him to the next morning to capture the Devil. But it turns out the tranquilizer guns are not powerful enough so he uses people as bait. He kills the only other cop in town so the creature will smell the blood. But before that during the night the monster has been having a ball. Killing the crazy Pastors son and terrorizing his friend. THe goober sheriff never thinks about calling in help from another town. He has a monster killer on the lose and he takes it upon himself and his now dead deputy to bring down the monster.Who makes these movies? Doesn't the actors say wait there has to be another town this monster can fly to and continue his killing spree, what about calling the cops from all of the surrounding area? Or at least the National Guard. It is not like it is a wolf or dog that got lose it is a freaking killing machine that flies.This is a movie you have to suspend all common sense to watch. The pastor is really mad now because his son is dead and he blames the goober sheriff for allowing the carnival in the town and the people who work there. So when the goober arrests the owner for killing his sheriff, the Mad Monk (all he needed was a beard) somehow incapacitates the owner and goober and locks them behind bars. Well since the owner has blood on him guess who crashes through the police station and kills him. And the Mad Monk believes he kills the monster while it was locked up in the cell killing the owner. WRONG. The Goober Sheriff is nowhere to be seen when this is happening even though he is really right in the next cell which by the way also houses a rack of high powered rifles which he uses to escape from the cell when he comes to. I am sure most criminals would love to be locked up in that cell.I am not going to tell the ending but I will say the troops were never called in and a Ferris wheel is more deadlier then I thought. Don't waste your time. As I said in my summery the Devil made them do it. Them as in the Director and all involved . And It as in making this movie.

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.

An amusing diversion, the folks responsible for "Carny" trot out that staple of the Sci-Fi network, the monster that seems to not really be a science fiction imagining. One that causes mayhem, for certain, but not nearly as much as a few of the humans involved.A carnival visiting a town has as its star sideshow attraction a beast which remains hidden from us until it escapes from its cage. The carnival master has assured Lou Diamond Phillips (the local sheriff) that there will be no problem with the sedated and incarcerated...thing.We know different. There is another problem - a local preacher that hates all things carnival, and he particularly is interested in seeing that the escapee is captured.I will leave it to you to find out how this whole thing ends. As tepid as this movie is, it will be far more interesting to the next generation of MST3000 fans.One and a half stars.