The Devil's Carnival

The Devil's Carnival
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Darren Lynn Bousman
Produced by	Darren Lynn Bousman Sean E. Demott
Screenplay by	Terrance Zdunich
Starring	Emilie Autumn Sean Patrick Flanery Briana Evigan Jessica Lowndes Paul Sorvino Terrance Zdunich Bill Moseley
Cinematography	Joseph White
Edited by	Erin Deck
Release date	April 5, 2012 (Los Angeles premiere)
Running time	56 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$500,000 (US)

The Devil's Carnival is a 2012 musical horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and starring Sean Patrick Flannery, 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 on the unrelated 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 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.

God, in his heavenly workshop, is painting the face onto a doll. He messes up on the eyebrows, and tosses the doll into a bin labeled Broken, and begins working on another one. Meanwhile, on Earth, three people are about to meet their deaths. John, a grieving father, slits his wrists in his own grief after losing his son, Daniel. A thief, Ms. Merrywood, is killed in her trailer after a shootout with police. Tamara, a teenage girl, 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. There, he 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 chameleon-like character, The Hobo Clown, a mute man, and The Scorpion, a knife-thrower. The Scorpion is absent from the meeting, so Ticket-Keeper sends Painted Doll to go find him. The Magician, another carnie, opposes Ticket-Keeper and demands to be in the show. Ticket-Keeper threatens him with Lucifer's wrath, and he backs down. In other parts of the Carnival, John, Ms. Merrywood, and Tamara all awaken, given an envelope containing a ticket to enter. John, Ms. Merrywood, and Tamara all begin to wander to 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). John attempts to cut ahead of Ms. Merrywood, believing his lost son is in the Carnival. Ticket-Keeper admonishes him for attempting to break the rules, and explains all the 666 laws of the Carnival (666). They are welcomed in.