Silver Spotlight Films released CarousHELL on 6 October 2016. CarousHell 4 was released this year.

Steve Rudzinski is the brilliant young man behind CarousHELL. A few years back, I signed up for OnlyFans to get access to all his work. I had no idea at the time that the site was primarily for porn. This was especially ironic. Rudzinski mostly creates very sweet, often child-appropriate films.

For example, his Meowy series is as sweet as it is silly. They tell the story of Wally Griswold, the most naive and incompetent cop you have ever seen. Luckily, he has a cat and rat who are way smarter. And they normally get him out of his jams.

He reminds me a lot of Chris Seaver, although without the adolescent sex gags. Of course, Seaver has never made a film as good as CarousHELL. (That might be a little strong. I haven’t looked at Seaver’s work in a long time and he, like Rudzinski, makes a lot of films!)

CarousHELL tells the story of Duke, “the prettiest damned unicorn in the world,” who is cursed to go in circles on a carousel. Fed up with the constant abuse from kids, Duke breaks free and goes on a killing spree. In particular, he targets Lunchbox, a little boy who rubbed his boogers in Duke’s eye.

Rudzinski is a great example for young filmmakers. His first few films are almost unwatchable. But he kept making them and they got better and better. And now he pumps out a couple of features per year.

There are four CarousHELL films. I’ve watched the first three. But I don’t remember what happens in the later ones. In the second, he gets married to a woman and has a child. No one seems to notice that he is a carousel unicorn. I recall them being good but not as strong as the original.

I can’t embed the three films. But CarousHELL and CarousHELL 2 are on Plex. And CarousHELL 3 is on Tubi. CarousHELL 4 is not available to stream for free yet but you can get it on Amazon ($2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy). Here is the trailer to the original. If you do nothing else, watch it:

Other 6 October Anniversaries

Filmmakers’ Birthdays

• Carole Lombard (1908-1942): Actor known for Supernatural, To Be or Not to Be, and more.
• Britt Ekland (1942-): Actor known for The Wicker Man and What the Peeper Saw.
• Wendy Robie (1953-): Actor known for many horror films including The People Under The Stairs and The Dentist 2.
• Elisabeth Shue (1963-): Actor known for Adventures in Babysitting, The Saint, and Leaving Las Vegas.

Films Release Dates

• Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974): Horror and martial arts mash-up, which is the weirdest (and last) of the Hammer Dracula films.
• The Boys From Brazil (1978): A Nazi hunter in South America discovers a Nazi plot.
• The Addiction (1995): A philosophy student becomes a vampire and deals with the ramifications.
• Assassins (1995): Assassin vs Assassin.
• Fear of the Dark (2001): A young woman fears that a killer she escaped 20 years earlier is again after her.
• The Bloodletting (2004): Young people are targeted by a vampire.
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006): Prequel to the remake of the original film.
• It’s Alive (2009): Unnecessary remake of the classic.
• The Thaw (2009): Scientists unleash prehistoric parasites.
• Better Watch Out (2016): A young woman babysits a psychopath.
• Blade Runner 2049 (2017): The story continues thirty years later.
• No Escape Room (2018): Demon in an escape room.
• Terrifier 2 (2022): Art the Clown is back to scare teens.

CarousHELL (2016) poster via IMDb under Fair Use.