Carnival of Souls (1962)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Producer: Herk Harvey. Not copyrighted. A Harcourt Production. U.S. release through Herts-Lion International: September 1962. No New York showcasing. U.K. release through Tony Tenser: April 1967 (sic). Sydney opening on the lower half of a double bill at the Victory. Original running time: 91 minutes. Cut to 80 minutes in the U.S.A., 75 minutes in England. 71 minutes in Australia. Released in Australia through Regent: 22 November 1964 (sic). Australian video length: 86 minutes. SYNOPSIS: After surviving drowning when her car is forced off a bridge into a river, a young lady tries to resume her life as a church organist, but is haunted by visual and aural phantoms.NOTES: Despite its enormous cult following, Carnival of Souls seems to be the only film made by Herk Harvey and most of his players and technicians. (Candace Hilligoss has a smaller role in 1964's Curse of the Living Corpse). PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Highly spooky special effects achieved on small budget. COMMENT: Independently made (for less than $100,000), this stimulatingly directed, off-beat little weirdie has become something of a horror classic. Obviously inspired by such previous nightmares as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera, it makes chillingly atmospheric use of some haunting natural locations, especially a long-deserted amusement pavilion. Candace Hilligoss gives an unforgettable, mesmerizing performance as the seemingly bewitched heroine. The other players are likewise sympathetically natural. Aided by suitably misty cinematography, a powerful music score and rhythmically smooth film editing, Carnival of Souls is more than the professional equal of any similar Hollywood offering. And that goes double for entertainment quality.

There are so many horror movie out there a lot better then this one that do not get the hype this movie got. It is not a good movie. I do not know why people like it. It has an awful story line. It also has awful acting. Is slow and boring. It is not scary at all. It has an awful ending. Do not see this movie.

I'd heard of this film for years but just saw it for the first time. There's something to be said for that process; it lingers in the back of your mind as something you intend to watch "some day", and then when you finally see it, it's somehow satisfying. I'm sure there's probably an official term for this phenomenon.The acting isn't that great but it doesn't have to be; the film draws you in with its close-ups, oppressive music, simple but effective special effects, and attempt to make the main character normal when she clearly isn't. Long after you've seen the film, questions about the world it created linger, such as: was it all a dream, or was she lingering halfway between life and death, or was she just a ghost trying to live a normal life doing normal things like moving into a boarding house, finding a job, and getting hit on by a creeper? Was she just a walking corpse the whole time? This movie poses more questions than it answers, which is the hallmark of really good horror.

Aloof and fiercely independent young lass Mary Henry (well played with icy resolve by beautiful blonde Candace Hilligoss) survives a traumatic car accident. Mary accepts a new job as a church organist. However, Mary finds herself more and more detached from the world around her as she succumbs to the odd allure of an old abandoned lakeside pavilion.Director Herk Harvey relates the absorbing story at a hypnotically deliberate pace, grounds the fantastic premise in a thoroughly plausible workaday reality, does a masterful job of crafting and sustaining a supremely spooky ooga-booga gloom-doom atmosphere rife with dread and foreboding, makes excellent use of the rundown main fairground location, and pulls out all the chilling stops for the gloriously macabre climax. John Clifford's intriguing and enigmatic script astutely explores interesting issues pertaining to faith, life, mortality, and alienation. While Hilligoss carries the picture with her mesmerizing portrayal of the increasingly distraught, disconnected, and isolated Mary, she nonetheless receives sound support from Sidney Berger as smarmy and lecherous neighbor John Linden, Frances Feist as perky land lady Mrs. Thomas, Art Ellison as a hearty minister, and Stan Levitt as the compassionate Dr. Samuels. Harvey proves to be genuinely unnerving as the pasty-faced ghoul who constantly haunts and torments Mary. Kudos are also in order for Gene Moore's shivery pipe organ score and Maurice Prather's sumptuous black and white cinematography. Totally worthy of its sterling cult status.