Since ancient Rome, the circus dazzled audiences with trained animals, jugglers and acrobats. More modern circus’s feature acrobats, clowns, fire eaters, trapeze acts and unicyclists. Here’s our list of top 10 circus and sideshow films including “The Elephant Man” from director David Lynch, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, and the Tod Browning classics “Freaks”, “The Unholy Three” and “The Unknown” starring Lon Chaney. Also a few popular upcoming releases such as “Water for Elephants” starring Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1) and “Carnies” starring Doug Jones (Hellboy, Frankenstein), Chris Staviski and Reggie Bannister.

1. Freaks, starring Wallace Ford
Directed by Tod Browning

Synopsis: A circus’ beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

2. Water for Elephants, starring Robert Pattinson
Directed by Francis Lawrence

Synopsis: A veterinary student abandons his studies after his parents are killed and joins a traveling circus as their vet.

3. The Unknown, starring Lon Chaney
Directed by Tod Browning

Synopsis: Alonzo is an apparently armless knife thrower who uses his feet to encircle Estrellita with blades…

4. Dumbo, starring Herman Bing
Directed by Ben Sharpsteen

Synopsis: Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.

5. The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Betty Hutton
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

Synopsis: The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer against a background of circus spectacle.

6. Carnies, starring Doug Jones and Reggie Bannister
Directed by Brian Corder

Synopsis: Sawdust in the Blood used to be a Carny compliment…not a description of a crime scene. There are a thousand sideshows playing thousands of small towns in 1936 when the Knuckles Brothers Show rolls into yet another town, ready to delight and dazzle the town folk with amazing acts and puzzling oddities.

7. Something Wicked This Way Comes, starring Jason Robards
Directed by Jack Clayton

Synopsis: In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor prey on the townsfolk.

8. The Unholy Three, starring Lon Chaney
Directed by Tod Browning

Synopsis: Three sideshow performers leave their lives of captivity and become “The Unholy Three.” Echo the ventriloquist…

9. The Elephant Man, starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt
Directed by David Lynch

Synopsis: A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity.

10. Big Fish, starring Ewan McGregor
Directed by Tim Burton

Synopsis: A story about a son trying to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths his father told him about himself.