History Film / TheLastCircus

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The main R-rated trailer shows [[Sergio shooting Ramiro's brains out]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: An elder colonel Salcedo kidnaps Javier and humiliates him [[MoralMyopia for what he did to his eye]], then plans to kill him for biting [[spoiler:Francisco Franco]]'s hand. [[spoiler:Too bad it backfires when Javier breaks out on a killing spree after becoming a MonsterClown and finishes what he started with Salcedo's eye]].

* BloodFromTheMouth: Javier's father after Salcedo [[CruelAndUnusualDeath has made his horse stomp him to death]].

* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: After the circus closes, they're somehow is allowed to keep their animals near the crypts of Valle de los Caídos, [[spoiler: and Javier will take it over making it his secret hideout for a CaptiveDate with Natalia]].

* ClimbingClimax: Up on the giant cross of the Valle de los Caídos monument.

** Javier and Natalia climbing on the large statues at the base of the giant cross while fleeing from Sergio and the police harkens back to the climax at Mount Rushmore from ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Natalia makes this point when the circus director criticizes her relationship with Sergio, and she asks him if he ever felt trapped into a love that he knows will be his downfall but he just can't do without it, to which he responds "Yes, every day: this circus will end up killing me".

** Plenty pop culture photos in the opening credits sequence, from the [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal Monsters]] to the [[{{Film/FlashGordonSerial}} Flash Gordon serials]].

* WalkingArmory: In addition of MonsterClown, [[spoiler:Javier]] also becomes this by raiding Salcedo's weaponry.

* BadassBystander: When Javier stalks Natalia through Madrid a man attempts to help her, only to get a shotgun pointed at his face, [[spoiler: but all three get knocked down by the explosion that kills Luis Carrero Blanco]].

* SymbolicMutilation: Salcedo missing an eye reflects his RevengeMyopia towards Javier, [[spoiler: while Javier purposefully scars his own face in a way to resemble a Sad Clown while Sergio's sutures give him a [[GlasgowGrin permanent twisted smile]] to reflect his Funny Clown persona]].

* SymbolicMutilation: Salcedo missing an eye reflects his Revenge Myopia towards Javier, [[spoiler: while Javier purposefully scars his own face in a way to resemble a Sad Clown while Sergio's sutures give him a [[GlasgowGrin permanent twisted smile]] to reflect his Funny Clown persona]].

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Subverted. The only times both Javier and Sergio score a kill is when their target is right in front of them, for the rest it's all ATeamFiring during the climax. Justified, as neither of them are seasoned gun users and their madness-induced rage doesn't help them aim better.

* LaughingMad: [[spoiler: Javier, after killing Salcedo]].

* DownerBeginning: Javier's clown dad and his circus colleagues are forced into a brutal Spanish Civil War battle which they lose, Javier's dad is imprisoned and forced to do labor camp work for Franco, and dies when Javier attempts to break him out.

A 2010 BlackComedy directed by Álex de la Iglesia. In 1937, a clown is forcibly recruited by the militia to serve in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar where he manages to massacre an entire platoon with a machete. Years later in [[TheSeventies 1973]] against the backdrop of [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime Franco]]-era Spain, his son Javier follows in his father's footsteps, working as a SadClown. There he falls in love with the beautiful acrobat Natalia and in the process runs amok of her abusive lover, Sergio, the Funny Clown. A twisted love triangle ensues develops between the two clowns that escalates into insanity.

* {{Crossdressing}}: PlayedStraight with Javier's father when he's forced on the battlefield in drag, which he wore as part of his clown act, but {{Invoked|Trope}} with Javier when he's dressed as a clown: the circus' elephant mistakes him for a woman, when he gets his improvised [[spoiler:MonsterClown costume after he snaps]] Anselmo asks if he dressed himself as a priest or a lady, later one of the children at the diner questions their dad why Javier is dressed as a lady before being corrected that he's a clown.
* CruelElephant: The circus' elephant Princesa is implied to be this, as she hits Javier to the ground and Ramiro explains that she gets aggressive when she sees him with another woman. Later Ramiro reveals him that the jealous elephant went as far as killing his wife.

** Javier living in the forest without any clothing and eating a deer that died after felling in his hideout could be a nod to ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', in which the protagonist has a dream where he sees himself running in a forest naked and preying on a deer.

** Javier living in the forest without any clothing and eating a deer that fell in his hideout could be a nod to ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', in which the protagonist has a dream where he sees himself running in a forest naked and preying on a deer.

* NotSoDifferent: Natalia makes this point when the circus director criticizes her relationship with Sergio, and she asks him if he ever felt trapped into a love that he knows will be his downfall but he just can't do without it, to which he responds "Yes, every day: this circus will end up killing me".