Blood Circus (film)
Blood Circus is a 1985 science-fiction wrestling movie. The movie was produced by Baltimore-native Santo V. Rigatuso (Bob Harris), who promoted it through infomercials 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 the United States and the Soviet 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, now WWE).
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 climatic wrestling match. The song lyrics have nothing to do with the movie; instead, the song promotes Rigatuso's "Santo Gold" jewelry:
- I got chains, I got charms
- (Santo Gold Santo Gold)
- I got bracelets for your arms
- (Santo Gold Santo Gold)
- Money back guarantee!
- Five Year Warranty!
- Santo Gold Santo Gold
- (We know you're going to like it)
- Santo Gold Santo Gold
- (We know you're going to like it)
- 24 karat Santo Gold!
"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. At its premiere, only three people showed up: one of the movie's extras, and two film critics. Blood Circus was shown for only a week, and took in far less than the $2 million it cost to make the movie.
Shortly after Blood Circus ended its run in Baltimore, Rigatuso was arrested by authorities from the U.S. Postal Service for mail fraud related to his "Santo Gold" business. His attorney attempted to have the charges dismissed based on mental incompetence, and used Blood Circus as an example of Rigatuso's purported insanity. In 1988, Rigatuso was convicted of mail fraud, and served 10 months in a federal prison.
As for Blood Circus, it 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 [1]. The only surviving copies of Blood Circus are the clips that were shown in the "Santo Gold" infomercials.