CARNIVAL MAGIC

Hey kids!  Remember Carnival Magic, that much loved family film from 1982?  Erm, well, neither does anyone else, but that's mainly because the movie has been lost for nearly thirty years.  If your underground movie buff pals have been buzzing about this, then you're in for a long awaited treat.  In fact, you're in for, "the most amazing thing you'll ever see: a talking chimpanzee!"

 

Indeed, Carnival Magic is one of the most amazingly weird things you will ever see.  With surprisingly decent production values, the film transports us to a 1982 rife with feathered hair, flared jeans, and awful v-neck tops.  We join the carny folk just as their traveling show is losing steam.  With fewer and fewer visitors, they fear they won't be able to go on, but all of this changes when the mysterious Markov the Magnificent (Don Stewart) reveals what's been making noise in his trailer.  It's Alex the Talking Chimp!

 

Vaguely resembling George Burns, Alex the Chimp is indeed a chatty fellow, but don't expect his mouth to move.  In fact, you need not expect any hint that Alex is talking, but if you cock your ear just so, you will hear his soft, gravelly voice coming from some subterranean level of the soundtrack.  He's full of deadpan one-liners and soon carnival-goers are clamoring to see this primate wonder.  Obviously he's a huge boon to the carnival, but letting Alex out of his trailer is not without consequence.  Soon a mad scientist is out for a chimp-napping, and Alex himself can be quite a handful.  Watch as he takes a sleeping girl for a ride in a car with the sheriff in not-so-hot pursuit!  Amazing!

 

What really is amazing is that this odd gem is rated G, regardless of the scantily clad carny women and the crazy subject matter.  There may be plenty of kids visiting the carnival and enjoying the rides, but I'm not sure what a young viewer would make of a man walking through the woods and having a serious conversation with his chimp.  Moreover, I'm not sure what they would make of Alex, who's more of a creepy old lech than a funny talking animal.  The movie is so offbeat that you've got to give it props for existing, but the blurb on the back of the box is making no understatement when it calls this "one of the most bizarre 'kids' films ever made."  Put the kids to bed, grab a friend with a good sense of humor, and you'll be in for an evening that's entertaining in all the wrong ways.  

(Incidentally, Michael Adam's book Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies boasts an entire chapter devoted to the bad movies of director Al Adamson.)

 

Appropriately, this long lost film is accompanied by a bevy of extras including Blu-Ray and standard discs, a collectible postcard, audio commentary with film historian Joe Rubin and producer Elvin Feltner, an interview with Elvin Feltner, out takes (!), the original tv and theatrical trailers, and a before and after restoration demo.  Given the fact that you've probably never even heard of the movie until now, the very presence of these bells and whistles is entirely likely to send you into fits of giggles.