Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
| 13 August 1996 (USA)
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow! Trailers

This documentary celebrates the ridiculous stunts used by Hollywood over the years to market its worst movies. These include the ’50s drive-in where moviegoers could drop off their dirty laundry and pick it up after the show, horror filmmaker William Castle’s vibrating seats and producer Sam Arkoff’s offer to pay for the funeral of anyone scared to death by his film. Amusing interviews with critic Roger Ebert and director John Waters, creator of Smell-O-Vision, enliven a program that has one central failing: host Frankie Avalon, who remains as schlocky as ever.

Reviews
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.