Sideshow movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant sideshow movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out suspense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, psychotronic and disturbing films and TV shows about / with sideshow, carnival, death, circus, murder, freakshow, chase, violence, deadly and brutality plots mostly in Drama, Horror and Thriller genres shot in USA, UK, West Germany and other countries.
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TOP 10 movies tagged as sideshow: The Elephant Man (1980), Side Show (1981), The Countess of Baton Rouge (1997), Where the Devil Roams (2023), Shriekshow (2022), Koko-di Koko-da (2019), Firecracker (2005), Torture Garden (1967), Angel of Fire (1992), Post Mortem (2020).
Best films
New films
List of sideshow movies
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph ...
Style:
emotional, touching, psychological, sad, poignant ...
Audience:
family outing, teens
Plot:
disability, hospital, dignity, freak, melancholy, disfigurement, social misfits, cruelty, isolation, hopes, biopic, humanism ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, ancient times, 20th century, turn of the century ...
Place:
england, london, britain, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A teenage boy runs away from home. He joins the circus but finds out that it's not all what it's cracked up to be. But then the boy becomes a witness to a murder, and he must try to stay out of the killer's way.
Style:
tense, emotional, suspenseful, crime thriller, surreal ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
circus, sideshow, carnival, runaway, freakshow, outsider, coming of age, danger, murder witness, survival, identity, behind the scenes ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
In a style evocative of Fellini at his most surreal, this bizarre French Canadian fantasy follows the romance between a young filmmaker and a bearded lady from a local circus during the 1960s. The story begins in a contemporary theater where a ...
Style:
art house, surreal, avant garde, romantic, experimental ...
Plot:
circus, magic realism, sideshow, freakshow, filmmaking, memory, identity, loss, nostalgia, love story, obsession, ghost ...
Time:
60s
Place:
louisiana, montreal
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Traces a family of murderous sideshow performers as they travel around the world on the dying carnival circuit.
Style:
psychological, gothic horror, psychological horror, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
carnival, sideshow, problem, circus, macabre, unsettling, freakshow, murder, outsider, dysfunctional family, road trip, violence ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Four friends travel to a supposedly haunted abandoned circus on Halloween to party and encounter a ringmaster setting up a sideshow exhibit who proceeds to tell them three terrifying tales.
Style:
anthology, sinister, creepy, suspenseful, tense ...
Plot:
halloween, circus, haunted, supernatural, darkness, survival horror, sideshow, friends, ritual, isolation, woods, clown ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.
Style:
dark comedy, suspense, tense, humorous, art house ...
Plot:
forest, hospital, time loop, camping, husband wife relationship, snow, loss of daughter, birthday, allergy, dog attack, death of child, little girl ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
scandinavia, eastern europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A tale of murder in small-town Kansas. When Jimmy is lured away from his abusive family by a traveling sideshow carnival, he encounters Sandra, one of the main attractions. The happiness they find together causes them to confront the darkness in ...
Style:
disturbing, serious, psychological, atmospheric, realistic ...
Plot:
anal rape, rape, gay rape, male rape, dysfunctional family, murder, small town, gay incest, teenage boy, psychopath, family problems, life is a bitch ...
Place:
kansas, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Zachary Beaver, a sideshow attraction also known as the world's fattest boy, arrives in the sleepy town of Granger, Texas.
Style:
feel good, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, touching
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
youth, fat boy, friendship, friendship between boys, best friend, teenage life, mischievous children, self discovery, parents and children, family relations, young heroes, starting over ...
Place:
texas, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?
Style:
gothic, sexy, scary, creepy, suspenseful ...
Audience:
family friendly, kids, teens, family outing, horror for children
Plot:
carnival, witch, boy, black magic, small town, circus, good versus evil, temptation, supernatural, youth, coming of age, librarian ...
Time:
1930s, year 1983, 20th century, 80s
Place:
illinois, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Five people visit a fairground sideshow run by the sinister Dr. Diabolo. Having shown them a handful of haunted-house-style attractions, he promises them a genuinely scary experience if they will pay extra.
Style:
anthology, slasher, scary, rough, serious ...
Plot:
murder, greed, inheritance, cursed object, surgeon, hypnosis, jealousy, uncle nephew relationship, supernatural, good versus evil, woman in danger, supernatural ability ...
Time:
future, 60s
Place:
california
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
In a miserable circus, a young trapeze artist seduces her father, gets pregnant and decides to have her baby, so she leaves the circus and joins a group of puppeteers who make shows from passages of the Bible.
Style:
manga, mystic, esoteric, realistic, spiritual
Plot:
father daughter incest, incestuous desire, runaway, mysticism, pregnant by incest, father daughter sex, religious fanaticism, brainwashing, erotica, occult, urban, artist ...
Place:
mexico
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Hungary
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A post mortem photographer and a little girl confront ghosts in a haunted village after the First World War.
Style:
gothic, psychotronic, suspenseful, scary, disturbing ...
Plot:
supernatural, ghost, fear, world war one, obsession, death, little girl, corpse, paranormal phenomena, a vision, violence, pursuit ...
Time:
year 1918, post world war one, 1910s
Place:
hungary
Is relevant?
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Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
On Halloween eve in 1980, local outcast, Julien Cummings, is carelessly murdered. A vagabond witch doctor, Dr. Death, takes matters into his own hands and brings Julien back from the dead to creatively seek brutal revenge on his killers.
Style:
slasher, suspense, psychological thriller, intense, harsh ...
Plot:
carnival, dead teenager, violent, doctor patient relationship, brutality, punishment, youth, violence, tragic event, doctor, small town, murder ...
Time:
20th century
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Music, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Elvis plays a bad-boy singer roaming the highways on his Japanese motorcycle; laid up after an accident, he joins a carnival owned by the feisty Barbara Stanwyck.
Style:
psychotronic, retro, humorous, touching, semi serious ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
elvis presley, motorcycle, music, lovers, circus, gender bending, love, karate, greaser, couples, family relations, hopes ...
Time:
60s, 80s
Place:
california, new jersey, hawaii, egypt
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
After being accused of crimes he did not commit, a lonely circus performer exacts his revenge on those who unjustly condemned him. The act sparks something inside of him which he cannot stop and now, years later, his inner-demons have truly ...
Style:
slasher, disturbing, realistic, tense, rough ...
Plot:
killer clown, clown, serial killer, killer, evil clown, amateur detective, journalist, murder, investigation, psychopath, haunted by the past, journalism ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
florida
Is relevant?
797
Genre: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min.
Story:
While visiting a traveling carnival full of human freaks, high school students nearly join as permanent members.
Style:
scary, serious, suspenseful, underground horror, suspense ...
Plot:
carnival, supernatural, danger, youth, kids in trouble, kidnapping, curses spells and rituals, gory, exploitation, freakshow, fortune teller, dwarf ...
Time:
90s
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
An on-the-run twisted family of circus performers live in the remote Scottish highlands, miles away from civilisation. When a team of kick ass Roller Derby girls go camping just a bit too close to them all hell breaks loose.
Style:
scary, suspense, suspenseful, bleak, psychotronic
Plot:
circus, blood, camping, clown, serial killer, youth, murder, masked killer, maniac, woman in danger, chase, killing spree ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Two rural teens sing and dance their way through a forbidden romance and a dangerous travelling carnival.
Style:
lyrical, semi serious, humorous, feel good, anamorphic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
dancing, couple relations, couples, social relations, small town, cabaret, broadway, family feud, father son relationship, father daughter relationship, teenage girl, teenage boy ...
Time:
90s
Is relevant?
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Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: West Germany
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Fox, a former circus performer, wins the lottery of DM 500,000 and can now have the life and things that he has always wanted. While he wants to climb up the social ladder, it isn't without turmoil, and being torn between his old working class ...
Style:
disturbing, sexual, serious, art house, bleak ...
Audience:
chick flick
Plot:
gay, gay interest, infidelity, politics, subculture, working class, friends, money, betrayal, friendship, life is a bitch, rise to the top ...
Time:
year 1975, 70s, 20th century
Place:
munich germany, africa, germany, morocco, berlin germany ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
An ex-lawman is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.
Style:
spaghetti western, realistic, sentimental, aesthetic, retro ...
Plot:
horse, aging, friendship, brother brother relationship, gold rush, judge, gunfight, runaway, wild west, betrayal, shootout, redemption ...
Time:
year 1962, 19th century, 1890s, 70s
Place:
california, america, idaho, texas
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
David, a college student, is looking for a job. He is hired by Dr. Stoner as a lab assistant for his research and experiments on snakes. David also begins to fall for Stoner's young daughter, Kristina. However, the good doctor has secretly ...
Style:
medical horror, scary, stylized, suspenseful, grindhouse ...
Plot:
mad scientist, body horror, snake, laboratory, experiment, college student, killer animal, nightmare, transformation, insanity, carnival, python ...
Time:
70s, 80s
Place:
california
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to ...
Style:
medical horror, gothic horror, gothic, classic horror, psychotronic ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night
Plot:
frankenstein, monster, mad scientist, frankenstein's monster, laboratory, creature, castle, reanimation, experiment, supernatural, murder, experiment gone awry ...
Time:
60s
Is relevant?
403
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Zobel and Karl are a long time gay couple who live together in a trailer home with Lizzie, Zobel's spunky daughter from a heterosexual misadventure. Together these three form a team of thieves who eke out an existence as pickpockets. After a ...
Style:
talky, semi serious, realistic, witty, humorous ...
Plot:
lgbt, gay, male nudity, outlaw, erotica, gay interest, family relations, love triangle, gay subtext, couples, love and romance, dealing with death ...
Time:
90s
Place:
europe, germany
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Musical
Country: UK, West Germany, USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Greed, corruption, ignorance, and disease. Midsummer, 1349: the Black Death reaches northern Germany. Minstrels go to Hamelin for the Mayor's daughter's wedding to the Baron's son. He wants her dowry to pay his army while his father ...
Style:
fairy tale, stylized, art house, independent film, serious ...
Plot:
bubonic plague, black death, ancient, wedding, burned alive, clergy, revenge, witchcraft, siblings relations, parents and children, society, dealing with death ...
Time:
year 1972, 14th century, medieval times, middle ages
Place:
germany, europe, northern germany
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A taped version of the stage play about a hideously deformed 19th-century London man and how he managed to triumph over his disease.
Style:
talky, uplifting, touching, sincere, realistic ...
Plot:
wrestling, misfit, circus, power relations, disability, social misfits, human nature, hopes, doctors and patients, society, life is a bitch, human spirit ...
Time:
victorian era, 19th century, 1880s, 1800s
Place:
london, england
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
An old Chinese man rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.
Style:
horror comedy, mythical, mystical, uplifting, spiritual ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
circus, magic, myth, creature, snake, librarian, pagan, fantasy world, monster, kaiju, bike, animal ...
Place:
arizona, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, Romania
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Tara Talbot is afflicted with the rare genetic condition hypertrichosis: she is covered head to toe in hair. She lives her life in Harley Dune's Travelling Freak Show, on display as the 'Terrifying Wolf Girl', but underneath she is ...
Style:
semi serious, suspense, disturbing, queer horror, offbeat
Audience:
teens
Plot:
werewolf, supernatural, body horror, social misfits, experiment gone awry, small town, danger, dangerous animal, social relations, teenage life, lesbian, wolf ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.
Style:
independent film, psychological, realistic, serious, mind bending ...
Plot:
loneliness, adultery, angst, heartache, memory, world war two, obsession, investigation, solitude, dinner party, school teacher, haunted by the past ...
Time:
year 1985, 80s
Place:
england, yorkshire
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
TV show
Story:
One long and two short motion comic adventures of Jonah Hex, a deadly cynical bounty hunter with a lip and a horrible facial scar. He hunts a necromancer and his crony - undead Wild Bill Hickok, some robbers and a rotten old judge.
Style:
exciting, serious, suspenseful, captivating, offbeat
Plot:
bounty hunter, tough heroes, rivalry, mad scientist, chases and races, vengeance, gang, chase, corrupt sheriff, framed for murder, murder, gunfight ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
washington d.c.
Is relevant?
178
Genre: Drama, War
Country: West Germany
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
Although members of the Hitler Youth chant anti-Semitic paroles in front of his house during the Purim festival, Rabbi Singer is still profoundly convinced that Germany will stay a safe country for him, his family, and his fellow believers. But ...
Style:
realistic, serious, emotional, rough, bleak ...
Plot:
holocaust, world war two, nazi, holocaust survivor, boy, chess, hitler youth, little boy, rabbi, family relations, survival, anti semitism ...
Time:
1930s, 20th century, 1940s
Place:
europe, germany, black sea, new york, vienna ...
Is relevant?
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