Title: Carnival of Souls (1962)

Director: Herk Harvey

Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Tom McGinnis

Review: I love going back in time while watching old horror films. I love to see what scared people in different eras and times. Some people completely dismiss old films just because they are old. I relish the moment when I can find an obscure gem and just indulge in it. Sometimes I find a true classic like when I saw White Zombie for the first time...sometimes I find a dud like when I saw the original 13 Ghosts. This time around in my humble opinion I have found a really creepy and surreal film in director Herk Harveys Carnival of Souls.

The story is about this girl called Mary who gets involved in a car accident in which she emerges completely unharmed. All her friends die, but she is left in a perfect state. She decides to move to a new town to start anew. She takes a job in a church as a "profesional organist" and moves into a new place. Unfortunately she begins seeing a ghostly apparition and she is strangely attracted by the spooky abandoned amusement park near her new home. What horrors await for her inside? And why is she seeing these visions? This film has a few faults in various departments. For one, I thought that the editing in the movie really sucked. You'll notice little skips here and there in the continuity of the film, it doesn't flow fluidly. It hits a few speed bumps along the way. The sound was also a bit atrocious at times, I could barely make out what they were saying in certain parts at the beginning of the film. But somehow...in spite of all of its flaws this movie had me reeled in from the get go.

The character of Mary is likable so I felt like sticking with her and seeing where she was going to end up. I liked her attitude about her job in church just "being a job". She didn't take religion seriously and I was like "whoa, there's a girl with a head on her shoulders!". Anyhows, I kept watching and things began to get a whole lot more interesting as the film progressed. Its one of those films that has a bad start (mainly because of its technical faults) but as it goes on it gets really good.

I loved the strange location they used to shoot the old abandoned amusement park. Apparently there really was an abandoned amusement park in the middle of nowhere and they shot part of the movie there! The director was wise to take advantage of this location and shoot the hell out of it. It has a real isolated feel to it. You can tell, it really is in the middle of nowheresville. So that added to the feeling of creepyness and isolation. Specially seeing Mary going into it all by herself.

Once the spooks join in on the story, well things get really nightmarish. And heres where the film won its classic status for me. The images that the film conjures up, specially towards the last half of the film are some of the most surreal, nightmarish I have seen on screen. And to top things off, its all in black and white which adds another layer of spookiness to the whole affair.

As I watched it I thought to myself, man, this director was really ahead of his time! And he was! He managed to make some truly haunting imagery all the way back in 1962! Sadly because the critics shot this movie down, he never made more feature films. He did manage to make a lot of educational documentaries. But no more movies.

So if you are up from some truly spooky surreal images that feel like something that came out of your worst nightmares, go rent this baby. Just remember it has a few imperfections here and there, but once you get through the rough stuff, you'll get to what really matters. Those spooky ass visions filled with ghosts and ghouls! Sweet Dreams! Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Herk Harvey toiled away for over a decade in educational and industrial films before taking a chance on filming a feature length movie in the Fall of 1961. He gathered backers from Lawrence, Kansas, used a graduate film student (Sandy Berger) to cast the lead (Candace Hilligoss), and filmed the movie during a three week vacation period. The center set piece was the abandoned Saltair amusement park in Utah, which has its own mysterious history. The story goes that Harvey was traveling home to Lawrence, Kansas on business and came upon the Saltair amusement park from afar, stopped, became fascinated by it, and then returned with the idea of making a horror movie featuring it.

He approached his colleague John Clifford to write the script and Carnival Of Souls was born. Often cited as an influence on Directors George A. Romero and David Lynch, Carnival Of Souls is an eerie film about what happens when a young girl emerges from what looks to be certain death. Herk Harvey creates a spooky little chiller that draws us in right from the beginning. The black and white cinematography is Bergmanesque in construction with inventive camera angles and an ethereal feel. The scenes that come to mind are the ones in the organ factory and the amusement park pavilion. Gene Moore's music on the organ may be one of the most unique soundtracks ever created, especially for a horror film; it adds immeasurably to the moody atmosphere. The make-up effects are also very effective,considering the film is in black and white. The film relies on its Twilight Zone-like ability to make everyday people, places, and activities seem suspect. The acting by Candace Hilligoss is very good for such a low budget production, and reportedly she didn't know what her character's motivation was throughout the filming; Harvey's intent was to maintain a look of confusion on Hilligoss' face. This is very evident in retrospect, and is the main reason why the audience identifies with her so easily.

For a film that had to be edited so quickly, with an entire reel of film being lost by the developer, there are very few technical errors. Although the film is somewhat predictable eventually, it still remains a fascinating, influential, original work of horror outside the Hollywood mainstream. Unfortunately, this was the only feature film Herk Harvey made due to the fact that he was never paid by the distributors, who went out of business. Today it has become a cult staple among horror film buffs; that's quite an achievement for an industrial filmmaker from Lawrence, Kansas. *** of 4 stars.

Carnival of Souls may not be a personal favourite or a masterpiece, but it is an incredibly effective film and was an inspiration for many film-makers.

While Carnival of Souls generally doesn't look too bad, especially for the budget it had, there is an occasional crude and grainy look. The story is in places a little too thin and simple, with an abrupt ending with not much signs of a pay-off, and, with the exception of creepy Herk Harvey and especially touchingly vulnerable Candace Hilligoss (who allows one to completely identify with her even with just a telling glance), the acting is not that great with some of the minor players looking as if they weren't sure what to do with themselves.

The setting is beautifully realised however, being both dream-like and appropriately nightmarish and there is some very inventive and atmospheric(like being part of a surreal dream) photography that is somewhat reminiscent of Val Lewton's style. The organ music is incredibly spooky, and doesn't feel overused or too intrusive at all, instead it adds to the atmosphere. The story may not feel like there is much to it, but it is elevated significantly by its atmosphere.

Because where Carnival of Souls most succeeds is how it works amazingly as an atmosphere and mood piece. Throughout there is a genuinely eerie and nail-bitingly creepy quality, and as a shocker Carnival of Souls is legendary for a reason, the shocks delivered so unexpectedly and chillingly, with no signs of cheapness, in a way that few modern horrors today have managed to accomplish. It goes at a nice pace and doesn't ever feel dull, and Harvey's directing is credible, especially in how he managed to maintain such a great sense of mood and dread without being forced or cheap and there is some decent technical skill here. The characters are not the most well-developed but neither do they detract from the story either, heroine Mary is actually surprisingly easy to relate to.

Overall, far from a flawless film, but even with its limitations still manages to be an eerily effective and entertaining film that still shocks today and has influenced many. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox