The Devil's Carnival

The Devil's Carnival
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Darren Lynn Bousman
Screenplay by	Terrance Zdunich
Produced by	Darren Lynn Bousman Sean E. Demott
Starring	Sean Patrick Flanery Briana Evigan Jessica Lowndes Paul Sorvino Terrance Zdunich Bill Moseley
Cinematography	Joseph White
Edited by	Erin Deck
Release date	April 5, 2012 (Los Angeles premiere)
Running time	56 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$500,000 (US)

The Devil's Carnival is a 2012 musical short horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman starring Sean Patrick Flannery, Briana Evigan, Jessica Lowndes, Paul Sorvino, and Terrance Zdunich. The film marks the second collaboration of Bousman and writer/actor Terrance Zdunich, their previous work being on the unrelated musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera. The film also brings back several of the cast members of Repo!, such as Sorvino, Alexa Vega, Bill Moseley and Nivek Ogre. The Devil's Carnival has Aesop's Fables at the core of its story, with the main characters each representing a fable. Flanery's character John represents Grief and His Due, Evigan's character Merrywood represents The Dog and Its Reflection, and Lowndes' character Tamara represents The Scorpion and the Frog.

Plot

God (Paul Sorvino), in his heavenly workshop, is painting a doll, only to reject it when he messes up the eyebrows. Meanwhile, three people, grieving father John (Sean Patrick Flanery), petty thief Ms. Merrywood (Briana Evigan), and the young Tamara (Jessica Lowndes), are all implied to have been killed. John slit his own wrists and bled to death, Ms. Merrywood was shot by police, and Tamara was shot by her enraged boyfriend. (Heaven's All Around). Each of the three wake up in a different part of the gates of Hell, with all of them finding an envelope with their name on it that contains a ticket to the carnival.

Ticket-Keeper (Dayton Callie) begins to prepare the carnival workers for the three attendees and selects several of the carnies to interact with them. The Ticket-Keeper selects the Painted Doll (Emilie Autumn), the Twin (Ogre), the Hobo Clown (Ivan L. Moody), and the Scorpion (Marc Senter), much to the chagrin of Wick (Alexa Vega) and the Magician (Bill Moseley). Upon hearing the Magician's complaints, the Ticket-Keeper states that Lucifer would be participating in the night's events personally and that there was no need for additional carnies. The Painted Doll is then sent to look for the Scorpion, who was selected but did not appear at the meeting. John and Ms. Merrywood begin to wander closer to the main gate of the Carnival, and are welcomed by Wick, the Magician, and the Fool (Mighty Mike Murga) (The Devil's Carnival).

Ms. Merrywood and John meet up at the gates of the cdfarnival, with the Ticket-Keeper taking their tickets and explaining the rules and the consequences of breaking them (666). After entering, Ms. Merrywood and John separate, with John searching for his son and Ms. Merrywood searching for a game that offers the chance to win a large diamond. Meanwhile, Tamara encounters the Scorpion and releases him from the cage he'd been trapped in. Tamara is instantly charmed by him and agrees to participate in his knife-wielding act.

John still searches for his son, only to be taunted by Wick and her Woe-Maidens (Kiss the Girls) and then assaulted by the Painted Doll after asking each of them for help. Ms. Merrywood attempts to find the booth by asking the Hobo Clown for directions, only for her to accidentally litter and get chased by the Tamer, which leads her to the Twin's game. The Twin assumes Ms. Merrywood's shape, having her play a coin-toss game for the diamond. As she loses each turn, her jewelry and clothing is stripped from her (Beautiful Stranger). Ms. Merrywood is later taken to one of the circus tents and whipped in front of the carnies as the Hobo Clown describes Ms. Merrywood's downfall through song (A Penny For a Tale).

Tamara finds herself separated from the Scorpion, only to find him and the Painted Doll passionately kissing. Tamara is taken aback, but chooses to trust the Scorpion after he accuses her of lying about trusting him. The Scorpion then straps a willing Tamara to his knife-throwing wheel to participate in his act, only for his final knife to hit her square in the chest, killing her (Trust Me). Painted Doll then describes Tamara's demise to the carnies while retelling the story of The Scorpion and the Frog (Prick! Goes The Scorpion's Tale!).

John continually sees images of his son Daniel throughout the carnival, only to be tricked each time. He then wanders through a house of mirrors and strobe room, and finds a recreation of the bathroom where he slit his own wrists, singing of his grief for his son ("Grief"). John then finds Daniel sitting in a room with Lucifer (Terrance Zdunich), who has been reading some of Aesop's Fables to the boy. Daniel is revealed to be another trick, and John exclaims his grief for Daniel. Lucifer informs John that his son died a clean death. John screams that he wishes that Daniel was never born, to the surprise of Lucifer. John ultimately resolves his grief, and Lucifer has no choice but to release him to Heaven, much to the surprise of God.

Lucifer informs Ticket-Keeper that he has let John go to Heaven, which prompts Lucifer and Ticket-Keeper to re-write the 666 Rules of the Carnival. Ticket-Keeper informs the carnies that they will prepare for a war with Heaven. Lucifer chants and reveals his grand plot to overthrow Heaven, causing God to scream in pain as he hears it ("Grace For Sale").

In a post-credits scene, Tamara finds Lucifer in the main carnival ring. Lost and confused, she puts her trust into Lucifer as he seduces her, endlessly repeating her own sin of easily trusting people (In All My Dreams I Drown).

Cast

• Sean Patrick Flanery - John Cena
• Briana Evigan - Marylin Monroe
• Jessica Lowndes - Tamara
• Dayton Callie - The Penguin
• Paul Sorvino - Chris Benoit
• Terrance Zdunich - Darth Vader
• Alexa Vega - Popeye
• J. LaRose - The Doctor
• Bill Moseley - The Magician
• Emilie Autumn - Doll
• Nivek Ogre - The Twin Dilema
• Marc Senter - Scorpio
• Mighty Mike Murga - George W. Bush
• Shawn Crahan - The Tamer
• Ivan L. Moody - Pennywise
• Hannah "Minx" Wagner - Woe-Maiden
• Maggie "Captain Maggots" Lally - Woe-Maiden
• Beth "The Blessed Contessa" Hinderliter - Woe-Maiden

Casting and production

Bousman and Zdunich began developing the concept of the movie while the two were talking about a possible sequel for Repo! The Genetic Opera. The two eventually came up with The Devil's Carnival after not developing a sequel for Repo! "for multiple reasons".Filming for Devil's Carnival wrapped in mid January 2012 and went into post production, with Noise Creep reporting that Slipknot's Shawn Crahan would be participating in his first acting role. A film trailer featuring singer Emilie Autumn was released in late December of 2011. The Hollywood Reporter quotes Bousman as saying that the movie is "more accessible than Repo but also a lot darker than Repo" and that The Devil's Carnival will be receiving a multi-city road tour starting in April 2012 and a 12 song album.

Bousman and Zdunich have stated that The Devil's Carnival will be an ongoing project, with episode two already being written. The two have stated that due to the project being self-funded, episode two will be produced if they make back the costs for episode one. At the Boston stop of the Encore Road Tour, Bousman and Zdunich revealed that both episodes 2 and 3 have been written, and that casting has begun on Episode 2, with production tentatively to begin at the end of the year.

Deleted scenes

On March 22, 2012 the music video for In All My Dreams I Drown was released onto the internet. The piece was originally intended to be placed within the film itself, but was ultimately moved to the end credits due to it "not flowing with the rest of the film". According to director Bousman, In all My Dreams I Drown was originally in the film after the song The Devil's Carnival. Tamara would find herself in the carnival ring, be seduced by Lucifer, then awake again, being rendered redundant.

Reception

Artist Direct gave the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising the film's aesthetics and performances. The Phoenix New Times also praised The Devil's Carnival, saying that the " plot and soundtrack were darkly, enchantingly comedic". Dread Central gave the movie 4 out of 5 blades, praising the movie as "subversive and infectious". Scott Weinberg of Fearnet also reviewed the film, stating "Dismiss Repo and Carnival as weird musicals for weird people if you like, but there's always room for a filmmaker who treats his ticket-buyers well and delivers something sort of ... unsafe." Firstshowing.net cited the soundtrack as a highlight of the movie, also stating that the "tale crescendos at the start of a new story, that sinister plot the Devil was keeping under his horns". HorrorNews.net praised the film, writing that the movie itself could not be reviewed without first discussing the atmosphere, "This isn’t a film you’re seeing; remember that you’re going to have an “experience.”"

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the movie was released April 3rd in digital release on Amazon and iTunes, with limited edition CDs being sold on the road tour stops.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Heaven's All Around"	Paul Sorvino	3:39
2.	"The Devil's Carnival"	Alexa Vega, Mighty Mike, Bill Moseley	2:17
3.	"In All My Dreams I Drown †"	Jessica Lowndes and Terrance Zdunich	2:29
4.	"666"	Dayton Callie and The Carnies	1:33
5.	"Kiss the Girls"	Alexa Vega and The Woe Maidens	1:04
6.	"Beautiful Stranger"	Nivek Ogre and Briana Evigan	2:57
7.	"A Penny for a Tale"	Ivan Moody	3:36
8.	"Trust Me"	Marc Senter	2:07
9.	"Prick! Goes the Scorpion's Tale"	Emilie Autumn	3:56
10.	"Grief"	Sean Patrick Flanery	3:19
11.	"Grace for Sale"	Terrance Zdunich	2:56
12.	"Off to Hell We Go †"	The Carnies	1:29

Sinner Extended Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Storytime/Heavens All Around"	Paul Sorvino	3:44
2.	"Tears, John/The Devil's Carnival"	Alexa Vega, Mighty Mike, Bill Moseley	2:26
3.	"In All My Dreams I Drown †"	Jessica Lowndes and Terrance Zdunich	2:26
4.	"Its Showtime (Score)"	Dayton Callie	0:26
5.	"666"	Dayton Callie and The Carnies	1:33
6.	"Kiss The Girls"	Alexa Vega and The Woe Maidens	1:04
7.	"The Midway (Score)"	Terrance Zdunich	0:17
8.	"The Dog And Her Refection/Beautiful Stranger"	Nivek Ogre, Briana Evigan and Terrance Zdunich	3:00
9.	"A Penny For A Tale"	Ivan Moody	3:35
10.	"You're Prettier Anyhow (Score)"	Marc Senter	0:48
11.	"The Scorpion And The Frog/Trust Me"	Marc Senter	2:20
12.	"Prick! Goes The Scorpion's Tale"	Emilie Autumn	3:55
13.	"The Devil And His Due"	Terrance Zdunich	0:47
14.	"Grief (Alternate Cut)"	Sean Patrick Flanery, Terrance Zdunich	3:15
15.	"Grace For Sale"	Terrance Zdunich	2:56
16.	"Off To Hell We Go †"	The Carnies	1:24
17.	"666 (Web Teaser Version)"	Terrance Zdunich	1:41
18.	"The Devil's Carnival (Web Teaser Version)"	Terrance Zdunich	1:26
19.	"Painted Doll Teaser Background Soundscape ††"	Terrance Zdunich	13:24

Notes

† Appear during the end-credits only.

†† Physical CD Exclusive

Home Media

Bousman and Zdunich announced in August 2012 that the film would be released in DVD and Blu-Ray on October 23, 2012. The movie was released in two editions, a "Ringmaster" collector's edition and a "Sinners" version. The "Ringmaster" edition is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack limited to 6,660 copies whereas the "Sinner" edition is a DVD packaged with an extended soundtrack sold exclusively at Hot Topic. The Ringmaster's edition features audio commentary tracks from the cast and crew and several features on the making of the film.

Episode Two

Bousman described Episode Two with, "Episode Two will pull back the curtain on Heaven... and in 'The Devil's Carnival,' God and his angels are a whole lot darker than Lucifer and his carnies." On December 25, 2012 a teaser trailer for the second episode was released, revealing that Tech N9ne was starring in the role of "The Librarian". On January 10th, a 9-minute long trailer was released, focusing on The Librarian and the dark practices of Heaven.

External links

• Official film website
• Official film forum
• The Devil's Carnival at IMDb
• The Devil's Carnival at Rotten Tomatoes

Aesop's Fables

• The Dog and the Shadow
• The Scorpion and the Frog
• Grief and His Due