The Devil's Carnival

The Devil's Carnival is a 2012 American musical horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Briana Evigan, Jessica Lowndes, Paul Sorvino, Emilie Autumn and Terrance Zdunich. The film marks the second collaboration of Bousman and writer/actor Terrance Zdunich, their previous work being the 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 and other folklore 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", an animal fable that seems to have first emerged in Russia. Plot John, a grieving father, slits his wrists after losing his son, Daniel. A thief, Ms. Merrywood, is killed in her trailer after a shootout with police. Tamara, a young woman, is killed by her angry boyfriend. All three are greeted by denizens of Hell as they die ("Heaven's All Around"). In Hell, which is a carnival, Lucifer's second-in-command, the Ticket-Keeper, rallies the carnies in a big-top circus tent and calls out the names of the carnies who will be "performing" that night for the recent arrivals. He selects the Painted Doll, a mute woman with a cracked face; the Twin, a reptilian man with the ability to shape-shift; the Hobo Clown; and the Scorpion, a knife-thrower. The Scorpion is absent from the meeting, so Ticket-Keeper sends Painted Doll to find him. Meanwhile, John, Ms. Merrywood, and Tamara all awaken, each finding an envelope containing a ticket to enter. While searching for the entrance, John and Ms. Merrywood bump into each other, and they arrive at Ticket-Keeper's booth as the carnies welcome them to the carnival ("The Devil's Carnival"). Ticket-Keeper then explains all the 666 laws of the Carnival ("666") before welcoming them in. Tamara, wandering in the back of the Carnival, finds The Scorpion in a cage. She frees him, and he begins to flirt with her. Meanwhile, John finds himself in the Big-Top tent. He is harassed by Wick and her three cohorts, the Woe-Maidens ("Kiss the Girls"). They vanish suddenly, however, and John sees Painted Doll in a kissing booth.