Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
Strange Circus
TITLE DETAILS

Strange Circus

2005-12-24 · 108 min · ★ 7.2

Mystery · Horror · Drama

The erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
Sion Sono
Production companies
Sedic
Countries
Japan
Status
Released

Top Cast

Rie KuwanaRie KuwanaYoung Mitsuko
Masumi MiyazakiMasumi MiyazakiMitsuko / Sayuri / Taeko
Seiko IwaidoSeiko IwaidoTeenage Mitsuko
Issei IshidaIssei IshidaYuji
FujikoFujikoGozo's Mistress
Madamu RejînuBlack Shadow
Tomorowo TaguchiTomorowo TaguchiTaeko's Editor-in-Chief
Hiroshi OhguchiGozo
Yuya IshikawaYuya Ishikawa
Mame YamadaMame Yamada
Keiko YokomachiKeiko Yokomachi
Erika Mine

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Rental

Apple TV Store

Purchase

Apple TV Store

View authorized watch options on TMDb

Recommendations

Dark Water
★ 6.8
Dark Water2002Mystery · Horror

A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.

The Inhabitant
★ 5.9
The Inhabitant2022Mystery · Horror

Like any other teenage girl, Tara is just surviving high school — yet her father and mother seem strangely distant. Amidst a nearby spree of gruesome ax murders, Tara has sightings of terrifying entities, forcing her to question her own sanity and shocking ancestry.

Amelia’s Children
★ 6.0
Amelia’s Children2024Mystery · Horror

When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.

Case 39
★ 6.3
Case 392009Mystery · Horror

In her many years as a social worker, Emily Jenkins believes she has seen it all, until she meets 10-year-old Lilith and the girl's cruel parents. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm the child, and so Emily assumes custody of Lilith while she looks for a foster family. However, Emily soon finds that dark forces surround the seemingly innocent girl, and the more she tries to protect Lilith, the more horrors she encounters.

Silent Hill
★ 6.6
Silent Hill2006Mystery · Horror

Rose, a desperate mother, takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears, and Rose embarks on a horrific journey to get her back and begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years earlier.

Mārama
★ 6.3
Mārama2026Mystery · Horror · Drama

1859. When a young Māori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.

Howling Village
★ 5.8
Howling Village2020Mystery · Horror

After her brother goes missing, a young psychologist visits an infamous haunted and cursed location known as ‘Howling Village’ to investigate his disappearance and uncover her family’s dark history.

Burnt Offerings
★ 6.4
Burnt Offerings1976Mystery · Horror

A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe
★ 6.8
The Autopsy of Jane Doe2016Mystery · Horror

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

The Keeping Hours
★ 7.0
The Keeping Hours2017Horror · Drama

A supernatural love story that centers on two parents whose life together falls apart after their son dies. The man, now a successful lawyer, and the woman, now married and an author, get a chance at reconciliation ten years later.

Bone Lake
★ 5.9
Bone Lake2025Mystery · Horror

A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.

Raising Cain
★ 6.0
Raising Cain1992Horror · Drama

Child psychologist Carter Nix is a loving and caring family man, but under this appearance lies a dark and troubled past. Grappling with the consequences of this past on his own psyche and the influence of his returning father and violent brother Cain, Carter becomes involved in a series of murders and kidnappings. Meanwhile, his wife Jenny rekindles an old love affair, placing herself in the crosshairs of her increasingly unstable husband.

Midori
★ 6.0
Midori1992Horror · Drama

After losing her parents, young flower selling Midori is put up by a fairground group. She is abused and forced to slavery, until the arrival of an enigmatic magician of short stature, who gives her hope for a better future.

Flower & Snake: Zero
★ 6.0
Flower & Snake: Zero2014Mystery · Horror · Drama

Misaki Amemiya is an assistant inspector for the Metropolitan Police Department's Community Safety Bureau who becomes ensnared in a trap while investigating a mysterious illegal video website called "Babylon". Soon, she's bound and tortured along with Shizuko and an oversexed housewife named Ruri.

The Sixth Sense
★ 8.0
The Sixth Sense1999Mystery · Drama

Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.

Gerald's Game
★ 6.4
Gerald's Game2017Horror · Drama

When her husband's sex game goes wrong, Jessie (who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house) faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.

Confessions
★ 7.6
Confessions2010Mystery · Drama

Devastated at the death of her four-year-old daughter, a grieving middle school teacher is horrified to discover that her students aren't as innocent as she thinks.

Mercy Black
★ 6.0
Mercy Black2019Mystery · Horror

A woman is sent to a mental institution after stabbing her classmate in an attempt to conjure an evil spirit called, Mercy Black. Fifteen years later she's released, and must save her nephew, who has become obsessed with the phenomenon.

The Clovehitch Killer
★ 6.4
The Clovehitch Killer2018Mystery · Drama

A picture-perfect family is torn apart after Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession. He begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world may be responsible for the murder of 13 women ten years prior.

The Dogs
★ 6.4
The Dogs2025Mystery · Horror

After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.

Similar titles

Black Rain
★ 6.6
Black Rain1989Drama

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.

The Wrestler
★ 5.7
The Wrestler1971Drama

A worried father tries to end the relationship that his son Andries has with the wife of a wrestler.

Visitor Q
★ 6.3
Visitor Q2001Horror · Drama

In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.

Kikujiro
★ 7.5
Kikujiro1999Drama

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.

The Flower of My Secret
★ 6.8
The Flower of My Secret1995Drama

Middle-aged romance author Leo writes under a pseudonym, since she despises her own work. At home, her husband, who works overseas, is distant both physically and emotionally. As she reevaluates her life and writing, Leo is led to an unexpected relationship with Ángel, a sensitive newspaper editor.

My Lover, My Son
★ 4.2
My Lover, My Son1970Drama

A woman deals with an unhappy marriage, the death of her lover, and her son's involvement in a crime.

Das letzte Stück Himmel
★ 7.2
Das letzte Stück Himmel2007Drama

There are two brothers who couldn't be more different. One, Anno Wilhelm, loves life and seeks to savor it in every way; the other, Julian, would like nothing better than to die. He has already made several suicide attempts, been hospitalized and suffered breakdowns. The men, in their late 20s, both grew up without a mother and have a difficult relationship with their father.

Flags of Our Fathers
★ 6.9
Flags of Our Fathers2006Drama

There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.

Ghosts
★ 4.5
Ghosts1915Drama

Helen Alving leads an outwardly contented life. On the eve of the 10th anniversary of her husband's death, she is about to open an orphanage as a memorial to him. To mark this occasion, her bohemian painter son Oswald has returned from Paris. Helen plans to take the opportunity to tell Oswald the truth about his father. But ghosts of the past erupt during an eventful evening, bringing the facade of civilised family life crashing down.

Trapped in Silence
★ 6.5
Trapped in Silence1986Drama

A compelling drama about a silent, violent teenager. Kevin suffers from elective mutism and no one has ever heard him utter a word.

Onibaba
★ 7.7
Onibaba1964Horror

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

The Naked Island
★ 8.0
The Naked Island1960Drama

A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.

Throne of Blood
★ 7.9
Throne of Blood1957Drama

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Red Beard
★ 8.2
Red Beard1965Drama

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Ikiru
★ 8.3
Ikiru1952Drama

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Cliff Walkers
★ 6.7
Cliff Walkers2021Mystery · Drama

In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.

Odette Toulemonde
★ 5.7
Odette Toulemonde2007Drama

Objectively, Odette Toulemonde has nothing to be happy about, but is. Balthazar Balsan has everything to be happy about, but isn’t. Odette, awkwardly forty, with a delightful hairdresser son and a daughter bogged down in adolescence, spends her days behind the cosmetic’s counter in a department store and her nights sewing feathers on costumes for Parisian variety shows. She dreams of thanking Balthazar Balsan, her favorite author, to whom – she believes – she owes her optimism. The rich and charming Parisian writer then turns up in her life in an unexpected way.

Mourning Recipe
★ 6.0
Mourning Recipe2013Drama

A widower and his daughter deal with the death of the man's wife.

The Child I Never Was
★ 6.6
The Child I Never Was2002Drama

A serial killer dispassionately discusses the nuts and bolts of his grisly avocation, as well as the youthful traumas which helped to mold him into a psychopath, in this disturbing independent drama from Germany, based on the true story of of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.

Witchcraft (Evil Encounters)
★ 5.0
Witchcraft (Evil Encounters)1988Horror

A student and her photographer boyfriend visit an island off of Massachusetts to research a hotel supposedly haunted by a witch.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.