- Blood Circus
"Santo Gold's Blood Circus" is a 1985 wresting-themed
science fiction movie [cite web|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/123720642.html?dids=123720642:123720642&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Feb+11%2C+1985&author=By+Richard+Harrington+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post++(1974-Current+file)&edition=&startpage=B1&desc=The+Fans+Cry+for+%27Blood%27!|publisher=Washington Post |date=1985-02-11|title=The Fans Cry for 'Blood'!] [Stein, Joe. "Airwaves replace carnival midway for pitchmen", "The Tribune", 1987-03-25, p. E1.] . The movie was produced byBaltimore -native Santo V. Rigatuso (Bob Harris), who promoted it throughinfomercial s for his mail-order "Santo Gold" jewelry business.Plot
The movie revolves around aliens from the planet Zoran who are sent to
Earth to fight against professional wrestlers from theUnited States and theSoviet Union . The aliens are actually man-eaters who devour their opponents upon defeating them in a wrestling match. Some of the Earth wrestlers were actual professional wrestlers from the then-World Wrestling Federation. (WWF, nowWWE ).One of the key moments in Blood Circus was filmed at the Baltimore Civic Center, where Rigatuso, playing a character called Santo Gold, performs a song before the climactic wrestling match. The song lyrics have nothing to do with the movie; instead, the song promotes Rigatuso's "Santo Gold" jewelry.
"Scream Bags" were also provided to moviegoers as a promotional tie-in. The bags had a long
poem about "Blood Circus" on each side, as well as a coupon for a free diamond ring from Rigatuso's "Santo Gold" business.Production
Filming for "Blood Circus" began in 1985. After spending two years editing it, Rigatuso could not find a distributor for the film. He ended up renting several theaters in the Baltimore area to show his film. It was shown for only a week, and took in far less than the $2 million it cost to make the movie. The movie was never shown to the public after it ended its initial run, and it is believed that the original copy of the film was lost [ [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=36346f68.810492633%40news1.bway.net] ] . The only surviving copies of "Blood Circus" are the clips that were shown in the "Santo Gold" infomercials.
References
External links
*imdb title|id=0088824|title=Blood Circus
* [http://infomercial.tvheaven.com/santogold.htm Santo Gold - Ridiculous Infomercial Review]
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