Customer Reviews

Side Sho

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Poorly filmed, chock full of bad acting (and fat hoochies), Side Sho is a bad idea put on film. The story is a copy of "The Hills Have Eyes", which is part of the problem. A bunch of yuppies decide to go off the beaten path and wind up getting torn apart by mutant redneck circus folk.

The director must of used old film stock, that probably explains why this cliche riddled film is so grainy. Do yourself a favor - buy something else.

This is just another quickly-made, low-budget, quirky, cheesy horror film. Take it for what it is, and have a few laughs while watching.
The reviews that give this movie 5 stars are quite hilarious because this movie is in no way a five star movie.

Enjoy.

A family on a trip take a time-out to visit a side show because Dad needs more photos for his coffee table book. The W is missing on the sign so they arrive at the side sho run by a creepy one-eyed barker who claims to be ancient but a close-up shows the actor playing the part is probably in his late twenties at best. to add to the laughs later in the film the family runs into a crazy woman they had met previously and she claims the barker is her pappy.

To cut to the chase after the family leaves the bogus side sho(a couple of fetus's in jars and a snake in a glass case, dad takes a wrong turn, the car runs out of gas, and soon they find themselves knee-deep in in-bred country. Not only in-bred but mutant in-bred (The Hills Have Eyes, anyone?). The family fights back but every time they kill one of the mutants, two more show up-family kill two-three more mutants appear and etc..etc and so-on.

This film doesn't even fall into the so bad it's good category so BEWARE. The only thing I find funny is the phony 5 star reviews written by "plants"

Why are there so many bad horror movies at Blockbuster? How do they even make it past the student film showcase? Side-Sho is god aweful. I don't mean the type of bad that its so bad its good (Troma), I mean the filmmakers of this movie tried so hard and they wasted good money. DO NOT BUY/RENT/OR WASTE the 1 hour 1/2 on this crapfest. It has to be a student film from some community college somewhere, because the acting is the worst and its a ripoff of every good horror movie of the past 5 years. there isn't even NUDITY to make up for any of this. there is literally ONE small boob. thats it. ONE! I'd rather watch my dying grandmother take a dump than sit through CRAP SHO one more time. The filmmakers of this movie should be literally crapped on for an 1 1/2 hours. Amateurs!

I'm not sure if some of the reviewers are friends of people involved with this film or maybe all of their mothers trying to help their career or maybe they are all the review of some lonely guy in Antartica.

All I know is that I don't think they must have watched the same movie as I did and if that's the case, I am soooo jealous because I would love to get the time back that I spent watching it. The dialogue was forced with every line delivered including the name of the person they were speaking to, such as "Where are we now, John?", "Good going, Dad" or "What am I doing in this movie, mommy?"
The acting...well, it wasn't really acting and the storyline was not unique and any episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has better effects. I really do admire low budget productions that are done really well, but this is just not one of them.

Dad wants to stop at an old side show attraction in Florida and take pictures of it on the way to taking his pretty daughter along with her pretty friend to a softball tournament. Mom and son play along to keep dad happy. They all find out it's a lot more than just a harmless attraction. FREAKY PEOPLE HANG OUT THERE!!!

This ain't a bad movie. It's called Side Sho, minus the "w", because the Side Show sign is missing the last letter at the first of the film. The letter has either fallen off or faded out.

I swear, during the first half of the movie, all I could think about is how much the overall look of the family reminded me of just about any family in an old ABC "After School Special". I'm pretty sure that's the look they were going for. If that's not the look they were going for, it's the look they ended up having.

The second half of the movie really gets going with some pretty good fight scenes. I was suprised by the characters that were killed off and the ending is ironic.

The dude that played the "Dog Thing" is one of the greatest physical actors of all time. This alone is worth getting the movie for. A lot of people can bark or make a noise like a dog. This guy opened up and revealed his inner dog. He's more dog than man. If you think how he was moving on the ground is easy, try it yourself.

"Side Sho" tells the story of a family (with a friend) traveling to a softball tourmament somewhere in Florida. The father is attempting to write a coffee-table book about the roadside freak shows of yester-year, and in turn, goes to an area that no-one would ever venture unless you happen to be in a Horror movie... That's basically it.
Directed by Michael D'Anna, "Side Sho" (spelled this way because the "W" fell off the crumbling sign) does not tread any new ground, but instead thrives on the campiness of B-Movies past.
The acting lacks throughout, but the cinematography looks great and showcases an authentic view of the southern backroads.
"Side Sho" is a circus mutant freak film at heart, and nothing more. Production values appear high for such a low budget, but the story just lacks any real originality...
Perfect for a campy-fun evening's rental

A family looking for some old roadside attractions to include in the father's coffee-table book come across an ancient, decrepit old freak show run by an eccentric one-eyed man. When their family van breaks down upon leaving the sideshow, they're forced to stay at a nearly abandoned fishing camp that was the site of a prison break decades prior.

There have been many films in the 'freak' subgenre of horror, ranging from Tod Browning's beloved 'Freaks' (1932) to Alex Winter's hilarious 'Freaked' (1993). Those are both classics (or soon-to-be with 'Freaked'). 'Side Sho,' however, never will be. And if it ever does reach classic status. . . well, it will be an obvious clue to the sad state of our genre. From the ridiculously bad opening song to the 17-year-old daughter that's obviously older than her natural mother, this film did not have much going for it. The writing was subpar, but not completely awful. . . just boring. The direction was poor, and the rare freak effects were pretty horrendous and unbelievable. The acting was abysmal and the casting was even worse. Anyone who would believe the ages of these two camp-age teenagers must not have met a teenager in a long, long time. There was far from enough gore & violence to make up for the lack of any other quality. . . and when there was a bit of violence, it was not well done at all. And, I can't forget to mention the ending fight scenes which were, with all honesty, some of the worst I've ever, ever seen in a film. Overall, this is an easily forgettable and poorly made horror film that deserves to be left alone at the bottom of the dollar bin.

Final verdict: 2.5/10.

A family straight out of a sixties sitcom makes the familiar cinematic mistake of taking a backroad to see the sights and end up at a fallen down sideshow full of inbred freaks who want to breed with women...ho-hum. It's all been done before and better.
The "acting" is laughable; the makeup is terrible and you won't believe the "dog/freak".
A pretty bad movie!

WHAT THIS MOVIE'S REALLY ABOUT IS ONLY INBREDS LIVE IN THAT PARTICULAR AREA.THEY KEEP TO THEMSELVES.THEY KILL ANYBODY WHO GO INTO THEIR TERRITORY.HOW THAT CAME TO BE WAS:A LONG TIME AGO,PRISONERS WERE DOING WORK.THEY WERE BEING WATCHED BY THEIR PRISON GUARD.THEY ALL STUCK TOGETHER,AND KILLED THE GUARD.OVER THE YEARS,THEY MADE THEIR HOME AND LIVING IN THAT AREA.THEY DIDN'T WANT TO BE CAUGHT-SO THEY ALL STAYED THERE.WOMEN WERE SCARCE-I GUESS THERE WASN'T MANY WOMEN PRISONERS.SO-THEY ALL MATED WITH EACH OTHER,AND WHEN THE KIDS WERE OF AGE TO MATE-THEY MATED WITH THEM TOO.ANY WOMEN TOURISTS THAT GO INTO THEIR TERRITORY-THEY KEEP FOR BREEDING PURPOSES ONLY.THEY KEEP THEM TIED UP SO THEY CAN'T ESCAPE.IT WAS AN INTERSTING MOVIE.WEIRD,BUT IT KEEPS YOUR CURIOUSITY UP.NOT SCARY OR GORY.