Carnival of Souls (1998)

Captivating movie !

Best movie ever!

Admirable film.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Of course I know it doesn't come close to the original film. I saw it years ago and didn't think much of it. Then a few years later I bought it on DVD as part of a set along with LEPRECHAUN and two of David Cronenberg's movies RABID and SHIVERS. When I revisited CARNIVAL OF SOULS the plot made a little more sense. But when I read the reviews on it's IMDb web page I noticed that this film was somewhat misunderstood.1. Like in the beginning of the film where Alex (Bobbie Phillips) drives her car into the ocean with Louis (Larry Miller) the man responsible for her mother's murder in the backseat. Right after this scene the film cuts to Alex waking up in her bathtub. Many seemed to have assumed she dreamed about the crash but that is not the case. When the film cuts to this scene it actually goes back a few days meaning Alex didn't dream about the crash it happened a few days later.2. There is another scene where Alex goes to see a psychiatrist and she talks to him like they've had several sessions together. But the psychiatrist reveals that he has never met Alex before. This is representative of the reality setting in of what really happened after that crash that took place which would lead us to the final revelation or the big twist ending. Of course at one point Alex is shown climbing out of the ocean and on to the pier she drove off where she sees the abandoned carnival grounds. In fact this is really Alex's soul climbing out of the water and on to the pier. The whole part between the crash and the twist at the end is really what we think is reality that slowly turns into what is actual reality.This is how I understand or interpreted it. CARNIVAL OF SOULS is really a thinking man's horror movie. You have to pay close attention to certain parts of the dialog to grasp what certain phrases actually refer to. Many plot elements are not presented in a very straightforward manner so it requires a long attention to figure out the plot.Overall, it's not the worst film I've endured. I also agree that the original is way better. But since this film strayed from the original I didn't really try to make comparisons.There is also an unofficial German remake entitled YELLA which is also better. and had it been an official remake it would be considered the more faithful of the two.

Alex Grant (Bobbie Phillips) is haunted by carnival clown Louis Seagram (Larry Miller) who murdered her mother in front of her as a child. Seagram gets out and ambushes her in her car. It turns out to be a dream. She runs her mother's dockside bar with her sister Sandra (Shawnee Smith). Sandra is always pushing Alex to sell the place. She falls for a mysterious stranger (Paul Johansson).This horror has nothing scary at all. It's a series of dream after dream after dream. Larry Miller could have been a creepy scary clown if the movie actually tried to be good. This movie doesn't try. The bar set looks cheap. It's suppose to be on a dock and yet it has a brick-lined basement. The whole thing looks bad. I also hate that it's sold as "Wes Craven Presents". I don't know how much he got paid but it's not enough no matter what. I've seen worst but this is pretty bad.

The film Carnival of Souls was adequate. The only reason I watched it was because 1) I'll watch any movie and 2) the role of Shawnee Smith is present. I love Shawnee. She is an idol of mine especially after seeing "Becker" the brilliant TV show. Shawnee is perfect, she is a talented and beautiful actress whom is also, shown by this movie, a talented singer. She has it all. I haven't seen the original "Carnival of Souls" therefore I can't judge on that account. The film was pretty confusing, strange and generally creepy. The concept was fairly well and the acting was pretty average. On that note, actors such as Shawnee, Bobbie (the actress that played the main character) and whoever played Louis the clown were great actors and played their roles tremendously. The minor characters weren't very great a what they did but the main characters made all the difference. I didn't quite like the ending of the movie whereas it lacked a climax. The entire movie was also disturbing and rather confusing. I could easily abide through the boring scenes and confusing parts of the movie but truthfully, they could have done better. Although the flashbacks kept the movie alive and helped advance the plot. There were some interesting and even funny quotes in the movie, also some odd. One I was rather shocked to hear was, "Oh we're not gonna put the makeup on my face this time." What? But some quotes I liked, such as "Do you know what girls are made of? Sugar and spice and all things *checks her our* nice." I got some good laughs out of this movie. But truthfully, it wasn't a good movie. Then again, the quotes and Shawnee Smith's amazing performance made the movie semi-good. Plus the antagonist, Louis the Clown, was one bad@ss character. Therefore I give this movie a solid five out of ten.

Carnival of Souls (1996)* (out of 4) Worthless remake of the 1962 film has a young girl seeing a man brutally murder her mother. This man just happened to play a clown at the local circus and years later the girl, now an adult (Bobbie Phillips), begins to be haunted by visions of him. I'm not one who is against remakes as I usually like seeing how a different artist puts their spin on a familiar story. This remake only borrows a few elements from the original film with writer-director Adam Grossman making up the rest on his own. What he added is pretty silly stuff and it's really a shame because I think a straight remake could have been much better. The entire subplot dealing with the pedophile clown just adds up to nothing in the end and if you are familiar with the original then the biggest twists are already going to be known. While watching the film I couldn't help but think that perhaps the director's original story might have been a good one but at the same time you can just tell that it wasn't getting on film. The entire movie is meant to make one wonder about what's really going on but you never really have this happen because it's just so poorly made and executed that you really don't care. Another major problem is that the film lacks any real atmosphere and there's certainly no scares to be had. Even what murders are in the film are all forgettable and in the end you really start to wonder what the point of the film was. Phillips offers up a fine performance but sadly she isn't given much to work with. Larry Miller plays the clown and to say his role is weak would be an understatement. The beautiful Shawnee Smith appears briefly but she too is wasted. Wes Craven served as Executive Producer but it seems he was just cashing a paycheck and not really paying attention to anything that was going on the screen.