Blood Circus
Encyclopedia
Santo Gold's "Blood Circus" is a science fiction movie, with a professional-wrestling theme, produced in 1985. The movie was produced by Baltimore
-native Santo Victor Rigatuso, also called Robert "Bob" Harris, who promoted it through infomercial
s for his mail-order "Santo Gold" jewelry business.
to fight against professional wrestlers from the United States
and the Soviet Union
, who prove actually to be man-eaters who devour their opponents upon defeating them in a wrestling match. Some of the Earth wrestlers were actual professional wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation
.
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 climactic wrestling match. The song lyrics have nothing to do with the movie; instead, the song promotes Rigatuso's "Santo Gold" jewelry.
"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" infomercials.
Rigatuso added, on the revived official Santo Gold net-site: "He sold tens of millions of pieces of jewelry and tens of millions of dollars on his TV ads. He was trying to develop a 24-karat jewerly process that would never tarnish. The manufacturers that he was using were not consistent and a lot of the jewelry batches were less than perfect. In addition, his employees would process thousands of orders each week. Many of his employees opened up the envelopes, pocketed the cash and threw the orders in the trash." It was not known, as of June of 2010, if the U.S. Postal Service, in its complaint against him for fraud, was able to verify his allegations against his manufacturers and his employees in the course of its investigation.
In 2008, the Santo Gold website announced that the 35mm negatives of "Blood Circus" had finally been found, and that producers were being sought for its release.
In June 2011, the 35mm negatives was offered for auction on eBay with a starting bid of $21 million and a sale price of $750 million, with offers for a "partnership"; the auction ended June 21, 2011 with no takers.
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
-native Santo Victor Rigatuso, also called Robert "Bob" Harris, who promoted it through infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s for his mail-order "Santo Gold" jewelry business.
Plot
The movie revolves around aliens from the planet Zoran, sent to EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to fight against professional wrestlers from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, who prove actually to be man-eaters who devour their opponents upon defeating them in a wrestling match. Some of the Earth wrestlers were actual professional wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
.
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 climactic wrestling match. The song lyrics have nothing to do with the movie; instead, the song promotes Rigatuso's "Santo Gold" jewelry.
"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" infomercials.
The Santo Gold ads
Rigatuso claimed, when he promoted Santo Gold, to have seen a thick, gaudy men's bracelet at a trade show which he never identified. That bracelet, he claimed, proved instead to be 14-karat gold, which is an alloy of gold with other metals. In response, according to him, Rigatuso either developed or commissioned the development of a process that "electrostatically bonded" 24-karat gold to a steel base. Those who wore this inexpensive gold-plated jewelry complained that it left marks on their bodies.Rigatuso added, on the revived official Santo Gold net-site: "He sold tens of millions of pieces of jewelry and tens of millions of dollars on his TV ads. He was trying to develop a 24-karat jewerly process that would never tarnish. The manufacturers that he was using were not consistent and a lot of the jewelry batches were less than perfect. In addition, his employees would process thousands of orders each week. Many of his employees opened up the envelopes, pocketed the cash and threw the orders in the trash." It was not known, as of June of 2010, if the U.S. Postal Service, in its complaint against him for fraud, was able to verify his allegations against his manufacturers and his employees in the course of its investigation.
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. It was shown for only a week, and took in far less than the $2 million it cost to make the movie. The movie was never shown to the public after it ended its initial run, and the original copy of the film was believed to have been lost. Clips of Blood Circus can still be seen in portions of "Santo Gold" infomercials circulating on the internet.In 2008, the Santo Gold website announced that the 35mm negatives of "Blood Circus" had finally been found, and that producers were being sought for its release.
In June 2011, the 35mm negatives was offered for auction on eBay with a starting bid of $21 million and a sale price of $750 million, with offers for a "partnership"; the auction ended June 21, 2011 with no takers.