The Devil’s Carnival

What’s that? You’ve been dying for another musical from the guys who brought you Repo! The Genetic Opera? You’re in luck! The Devil’s Carnival is sweeping the nation – quite literally, actually – and SuperJew got a chance to attend the Richmond, VA premiere.



Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of The Devil’s Carnival. It’s basically been spread by word of mouth, and taken completely out of context, it honestly doesn’t sound all that impressive: this guy and his friend wrote and shot an indie musical based on Aesop’s Fables but as set in a carnival run by Lucifer himself, filmed it in a week, and are driving across the country to promote it. Honestly, sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it?

But let’s take a moment and think of just who we’re talking about here – Darren Lynn Bousman and Terrance Zdunich, right off the bat. Don’t know who they are? That’s cool – maybe you’ve heard of that gorror-porn franchise, Saw? Yeah, DLB directed several of those films. But more importantly, he and Zdunich had written a series of short skits which grew into the cult classic horror-musical Repo! The Genetic Opera. After several years of relative silence, DLB and Zdunich return triumphant with The Devil’s Carnival, which is, in a similar theme, a kind of horror-musical which is essentially comprised of three different stories, told by several songs per story.

I’m going to go ahead and break in here and say that there are going to be minor spoilers for the film throughout the rest of this article, but I promise anything truly able to ruin the experience will be flagged as such.

TDC is a relatively short film, clocking in probably right around 45 minutes if I had to guess. It has very little spoken dialogue, basically comprised entirely of songs to tell the story. Which is awesome, by the way – they got a bunch of folks from Repo! to come back and lend their vocal talents, but the new additions are even more startling and awesome – namely, Emilie Autumn and Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch. I’ll admit, I’d never heard anything from either of them. I didn’t really have a goth phase in highschool (as I have been told that EA is required listening for such a phase), and nor had I really had time to deal with newer heavy metal bands as of late, so I was rather pleased when those two had songs. Likewise, their songs and those of the rest of the cast seem to demonstrate the evolution in writing style these guys have had since their days of Repo! – it has a much more mature sound to it, and they do some very cool things. Likewise, the story itself is rather interesting, as it deals with three people who have been brought to the carnival and who are, effectively, put on show for their one major fault as they work through it (or don’t, and are punished). It’s a very interesting way to present Aesops, and these guys pull it off quite well. About the only problem with the actual movie itself is the fact that it feels like it just kinda stops halfway – which is interesting, given that at the premiere Zdunich said that he’s got Part II already written. Apparently, they intend this to be at least a trilogy – which strikes me as kind of lame, given that I’d much prefer all of it at once in one cohesive plot as opposed to waiting the probably seven years it’ll take them to raise the funds to do this in its entirety.

That being said, there’s one majorly cool thing about all of this, and it is the real reason I’m writing this – it’s nice to review movies and such, but really, that’s just kind of fluff. No, the awesome thing came from the Q&A session after the showing. Right near the end of it, one girl gets up and asks DLB and Zdunich (paraphrased) why they would decide to go and use their own money to fund a movie like this, given that it’s the first thing they tell you NOT to do when trying to make a movie, and in reality, it sounds pretty nuts. Bousman responded with one of the most inspirational responses I’ve heard in a long time: He said he did it because he wanted to. When he was doing the Saw franchise, he said he just didn’t feel fulfilled, and when he pitched Repo!, all he got was blank stares. But Repo! got made, and it was a hit! He mentioned the joy he got from seeing people cosplay their favorite characters, because that’s not something you could get with the Saw films. It was that Rocky Horror vibe, and it was awesome! But unfortunately, in order to get Repo! made, they’d sold the rights to it, and had no way to get them back. That meant that none of the things they wanted to do, “comic books, sequels, hell, even just fixing the shitty subtitles on the DVD” could be done. So instead of going back to the grind, he said screw it – he had a big enough following with the Repo! Army, he’d do it again, and this time it would be a Carny Army. Because in doing this, he fulfilled a life dream – he made something that people care about. And then he did it again. He thanked everyone for their continued support, and concluded with “So do I think you should put your own money into a project, no matter how crazy it is? Yes, I absolutely do.”

So what should you, the readers of the Red Shirt Crew, be taking from this? Well, one, The Devil’s Carnival is an awesome movie, and you should at the very least go buy the soundtrack on iTunes or from their website so you can listen to it, and if there’s a showing coming to a city near you, move your tuchus and  get a ticket. But two, what The Devil’s Carnival represents is the triumph of will of a small band of people, doing what they love at the expense of a stable, cozy life. If you’ve been on the fence about doing something you truly enjoy and you think will truly give you fulfillment, maybe it’s about time you did it, and screw the consequences.

Super Jew, awaaaaaaay~!