It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Three showgirls driving to Las Vegas decide to take a shortcut, only to experience the inevitable: car trouble. Assistance arrives the next morning in the form of Andre (Andrew Prine), who drives them to his remote home in the desert. But rather than help the girls, Andre forces them to become part of his human menagerie - a group of unlucky women that he has abducted and chained up in his barn, and who he severely punishes should they step out of line.It would take something REALLY special to live up to a wonderfully trashy title like Barn of the Naked Dead. This film doesn't quite cut it, despite a premise that promises plenty of deviant behaviour and violence. Yes, there is a barn. Yes, there is some nudity (albeit brief). And, yes, people die. But those looking for an outrageous slice of '70s exploitation will probably come away a little disappointed. The minimal gore is of the 'bright red paint' variety and is wholly unconvincing, the mistreatment of the women is less unsettling than one might imagine, and the sleaze is rather tame.However, although for much of the running time the action is likely to leave exploitation fans wanting, the unexpected ending, in which all but two of the captive women are brutally killed by Andre's horribly disfigured father, actually proves very effective. If only the rest of the film had been as bold, we'd have a film that would get talked about a lot more often.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

The woefully underrated Andrew Prine struts through this lousy but shamefully likable mess with a casual and unaffected "yeah, but at least I'm working" charisma. In BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD aka NIGHTMARE CIRCUS, he portrays a mother-fixated psychotic who keeps a private zoo of captive women at an off-road Nevada desert property...a ruinous, weather-beaten old ranch in precarious proximity to a government nuclear testing site . The girls are a stock of resistant performers used in Prine's sadistic circus-themed psychodramas, and if that's not weird enough to win you over, there's also a radioactive mutant and a hungry black panther added to the cuckoo mix. As addle-brained 70s shockers go, this can be pretty enjoyable if expressly accepted as the unrefined trash that it is. The overwhelming dearth of professionalism will likely be met with disapproval from a mainstream viewership, but trash-curious types and those of lax standards should find it quite embraceable.5.5/10

While I saw this movie under the title of "Barn of the Naked Dead", I feel that the title "Nightmare Circus" is just as bad. There is no barn, there is no circus, there is no naked, and I only recall one person dying in the movie and I don't believe it ever shows them dead either. This film is devoid of any content at all. There isn't even enough in to to MST3K it. Avoid it..

Played in Seattle as TERROR CIRCUS in 1980 (!) as a bottom half of a double billing with MOTEL HELL. This film is just sick and boring at the same time. A car full of girls takes a short cut to Vegas and get stranded in the desert, only to be prisoners to a madman (Andrew Prine, who is really good in this film). The film has a bad theme song, sloppy editing, a creature who lives in a shack, and whipping girls like animals. The film is made by Alan Rudolph, who now makes art house films. Many of you might see this film and say, it can't be the same guy who made this, but it is. He also made ROADIE with meatloaf! The video print NIGHTMARE CIRCUS is grainy, and the title is video tacked in. I hear it played in most cities in the early 70's as BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD.