Le Carnaval des âmes

Carnival of Souls (from 1962, not the unrelated 1998 movie with the same name) is an (admittedly obscure) art-house classic. Shot in high-contrast black-and-white, on a miniscule budget, it has an eerie, dreamlike quality throughout perhaps reminiscent of Roman Polanski's "Repulsion".

Although the lead Candace Hilligoss had acted before, many of the supporting players were not professionals and some of the locations were worked into the film simply because they were available (for example the deserted funfair, apparently located in Salt Lake City). The director Herk Harvey, who had worked on educational shorts before directing this feature, makes a cameo appearance as one of the "dancing dead" at the funfair towards the end of the movie.

One of a kind, and recommended.

After viewing this legendary flick for the first time, I have to say that the quality they achieved on a shoestring is still impressive today. Every penny spent on this little film makes its way before the viewer, which is something that can't be said of most major budget films then or now. Corman used "getting the money up on the screen" as his yardstick for his own success as low budget producer and director. But while I like the Corman cheapies, like Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors, and acknowledge that they possess a relatively high level of workman-like resourcefulness, it's hard to deny that Carnival makes many of Corman's films look slapped-out and unimaginative in comparison. Corman usually steered clear of anything poetic, dabbling with it most pointedly in the dream sequences in his first Poe adaptations. In contrast, this films makers are quoted to the effect that they were inspired by Bergman and Cocteau. Now, with such heroic ambition, Carnival could have turned out a laughable mess. But the films dark waking dream atmosphere is well realized. They had some really great locations– the pavilion, the wooden bridge, the organ factory and the church with the "casting out demons" stained glass. The actress playing the heroine is lucky (or skillful) casting, too; she doesn't look or act quite like the average person, which is perfect for the story. If I picked one thing to complain about, it would be the interlude with the guy from across the hall in the rooming house, about the writing of that section and especially about the actor who played him. But I won't. There's just too much good to be said about this small masterpiece of independent film making.

Ten stars. See it.

Carnival of souls (1962) is that rare thing in life. An intelligent and genuinely unsettling horror film. Where most horror films go for the obvious effects of gore and leave nothing to the imagination, this film takes a far more subtle approach. The film deals with the story of a withdrawn church organist Mary (Candice Hilligloss) who is involved in a car crash from which she is the only survivor. She then finds herself being pursued by a strange ghoulish looking man and has episodes where it appears no one around her can see or hear her. This leads to a startling revelation for Mary at the old abandoned Carnival in the desert.

What makes this film so good is its eerie atmosphere and the strong visual influence of German expressionist cinema, mixed with some pretty good photography (for such a low budget) and good performances from a mainly non-professional cast, results in a fine example of how to unnerve an audience without big budgets and special effects.

The film can also be seen as being a major influential on other such films as David Lynch's Eraserhead (1976) and George Romero's Night of the living dead (1968).

This film of Herk Harvey is a gem of cult, a unique product, considering that the director never would film again due to the commercial failure of this prime opera. A true pity, since from the titles we are in front of an absolutely original and punctilious piece of work, as much in the aesthetic aspect as in casting and the production. A calm little town as many in the average American west, in the early ' 60s. A race cars between boys and girls that finishes in tragedy. The car of the young people falls from a bridge to the river and apparently all suffocates. But Mary Henry leaves the water. Later she obtains a solitary job as an organist in the church of a near town. Her life seems to take control again , when Mary begins to have strange visions of macabre figures... but her will is put under taste more .Mary is a cold of great clear eyes, independent and distant blonde; . In fact, the personage of Mary is few years subsequent to the one of the blondes of Psychosis and Vertigo, even a doctor appears who does the times of psychiatrist, who resembles films of the great British director again. and three years previous to the one of Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, of Polanski;(the personal style of the film it just remains me o a Polanski film,I wonder if he saw this movie) been compared to Wild Strawberries-era Ingmar Bergman and the dreamstates of Jean Cocteau. Nevertheless, the carnival of the souls has with all these titles a great climate affinity and characters; . I cannot say more; The carnival of the souls is dream like, hypnotic, frightful per moments, always disquieting is a total experience. Notice the ballroom scene of the macabre people(In fast motion). Shot on location in and around the spectacular Saltair pavilion (since destroyed by fire), and the soundtrack is pretty creepy too.

I've never heard of this movie and came upon it only while flipping channels. This is a great movie but it's one of those movies that grows on you. At first I thought it was dumb and I just didn't get it. It's very eerie and has somewhat a dreamlike quality to it. This was in the '60s so the movie depended on fright-makeup and really ugly people for special effects.

I appreciated the movie beyond its celluloid being. The filmmakers threw in every idea they had in their heads into the movie. No line was drawn. Nothing was unassailable. It didn't have to make sense as long as an idea was weird and creeped out someone on the set. To some people this might seem senseless but for some strange reason I got it. The innocent quality of the movie is a breath of fresh air. No hidden messages. No untruths to be uncovered from the facts.

While watching the movie I thought about directors whose work I love. Films whereby passion outweighed everything else. Did Ed Wood had some influence on Herk Harvey? Was David Lynch inspired by Carnival of Souls?

Watch it without prejudice and you'll see the simplicity and brilliance the filmmakers were trying to acheive. Watch it with a jaded, pretentious eye and you could be missing out on a movie that was more thought provoking than it intended to be.