MALATESTA’S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD

On the surface, MALATESTA’S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD feels like bargain-bin curio. But once you voyage below, an ecosystem of abstract influences appears, including PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE-style thrift store props and avant-garde visuals. An evil carnival impresario lures young people to work at his fun fair, so that he can feed them to the ravenous cannibals who live in an underground cave. They also watch silent horror film classics projected on the wall while they feast. Set entirely in a rotting amusement park (bulldozed not long after the film was completed) and starring little person superstar Herve Villechaize from FANTASY ISLAND, MALATESTA is a hallucinogenic voyage that stands tall with MESSIAH OF EVIL as an essential chapter of 1970s outsider horror.