Based on the classic pulp noir novel by Robert Edmon Alter: Leslie M. Thaxton, who prefers to be called Thax, seeks employment at Neverland, a down market theme park in the Florida swamp. One of the attractions is a retro side show, and Thaxton, who has been a carny barker and prestidigitator, fits right in at the shell-game stand. Unfortunately, the owner of Neverland is married to Thaxton’s ex-wife May, a beautiful but evil woman who is a former knife thrower. Even more unfortunately, the morning after Thaxton’s arrival his new boss is found floating among the alligators where the Swamp Ride is located, with one of his wife’s knives in his back. Thax is a suspect, along with his ex-wife. The evidence that she did it is so overwhelming that it is obvious that she didn’t do it. Luckily for her, a cop with imagination is in charge and recognizes a frame-up. With its surreal carnival setting and deliriously crooked cast of spielers, luck-boys, and dancing girls with indecent hips and sub-zero hearts, Carny Kill is classic film noir at its most devious and pungent.