[ Review ] Dave’s Rewind: Carnival of Souls (1962)

So next on my list of classic horror movies I have never gotten around to is 1962’s Carnival of Souls. This is a movie that while watching you can literally see it’s influence on modern horror. Movies like the original Night of the Living Dead and even The Sixth Sense can be seen all over Carnival of Souls. While not a success when originally released it became a cult favorite over years of late night TV airings and easily obtained VHS and DVDs due to not having a copyright in place, also much like Night of the Living Dead.

The plot is fairly simple. A young woman named Mary is involved in a car accident but comes out a little shocked but ultimately OK. She moves to a new town where she got a job as a pipe organ player at a local church. While there she moves into a small apartment next door to the creepiest guy trying his best to be sincere and have a shot at Mary. He almost forces Mary to let her into her apartment when it is clear she is not wanting company. This guy would not survive in today’s environment. Mary starts seeing weird ghoul like people that seem to follow her everywhere and she sees them in random reflections of mirrors or water. All this leads up to her discovery and obsession with an abandoned carnival on the outside of town. This all leads to a dizzying finale with all the ghouls having a dance at the carnival and we learn that, spoiler alert for a nearly 60 year old movie, she never made it out of the car crash and was dead the whole time.

While the plot is simple and nothing to be amazed by, it is a great exercise in mood and tone. This movie bleeds Gothic. Part of this is due to the black and white photography but it is also the almost exclusive pipe organ soundtrack. Even though this takes place in the 60s, the mood makes it feel like it should take place is a dark castle with bats flying around and this is to the movie’s benefit. Since the movie is light on plot, it’s the mood that carries it through. I think without this style the movie would have been easily forgotten. While watching it is easy to be distracted as it is not the most fast paced horror movie around. If you were raised on Saw this may not be your cup of tea. And yet, having watched it a few days ago I catch myself remembering specific images of the ghouls in water or dancing in a grand hall at the end. 

The story behind the movie is interesting as well. The movie’s director, Herk Harvey, was a director of industrial films for a company named Centron. These were basically training videos of their day and he made films for companies like Caterpillar to train people how to be safe around equipment. These are the kinds of short movies made fun of on Mystery Science Theater 3000. While they were not the most artistic of movies, they were technically well made. While on vacation he came across an abandoned amusement park named Saltair near Salt Lake City, UT. He thought that it would make for a great place to make a horror movie and went back to home to Kansas where Centron was located and raised the funds for shooting. The movie was shot over 3 weeks for about $30, 000 and it was mostly run and gone shooting without permits.

Pointed out on the extras of the Criterion Collection Blu Ray, yes it is in the collection, what makes it so unique is that the filmmakers were in an artistic bubble without the trappings of the LA or New York film scene. They knew the skills but no one was there to question any of their choices artistically. They just made the movie they wanted and it was all the more of a special movie for it. However, it also contributed to it’s commercial failure at the time. It was not scary enough for the horror crowd and wasn’t serious enough for the art house crowd. But now, both groups have come to embrace it as a genre classic. So much so that a remake was made in 1998 Exec Produced by Wes Craven. For those who are interested it is on Tubi. I tried to watch it but tapped out after about 15 minutes. Any movie that gets Larry Miller to turn in a bad performance is not worth my time.  

While I can’t say I loved Carnival of Souls, it makes for an interesting late night watch with the lights out.

Binge Now, Binge Later, Binge Never:

Binge Later

- Be kind, rewind,

Dangerous Dave