Review of Carnival of Souls (1962) by David L — 15 Jul 2011

When it comes to cult classics of the horror genre, I lump Carnival Of Souls into the same category as Night Of The Living Dead (1968). This movie had an extremely low budget - it was made for $30,000, or $17,000, depending on the source. Whatever it was, it was dirt cheap to make. But in my opinion, sometimes low budget movies are better than the polished big budget movies with top-of-the-line actors and special effects. When it comes to horror movies, a small amount of money can produce the same desired result as big budget movies, which is to scare the audience. The goal is to create an eerie and spooky and scary atmosphere that taps into a person's feelings of fear. You really don't need a lot of money to accomplish this. A lot of low budget B horror movies are very effective. Carnival Of Souls is one of them.

This movie was shot in Lawrence, Kansas and also at the Saltair Pavilion amusement park in Salt Lake City, Utah. This movie stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry, a church organist who survives a car accident in which her two girl companions died. The accident was the result of a car full of guys challenging the girls to a drag race. The race turns tragic as the car goes off a bridge and plunges into a river below. Her two companions die in the accident, but Mary somehow survives basically unscathed. She then goes to Salt Lake City and takes a new job playing organ in a church. Throughout the movie, she often sees the ghostly image of a man (played by director Herk Harvey) practically everywhere she goes. This man seems to be haunting her. Nobody else but her sees this man. It isn't long before she seems to become non-existent to the people around her, all of whom don't see or hear her. Along the way, a fellow tenant named John (played by Sidney Berger) who lives across the hall from her takes a great interest in her. At first she pushes him away, then at other times she wants to be with him and goes out to dinner with him. But at one point he realizes that she is "off her rocker" and storms out of the room and never sees her again. Mary seems to be scared of unknown forces throughout the movie. It also seems as if what is living and what is dead is a blur to her. She can't tell the difference. She basically is caught between the living and the dead. She is even haunted by her own organ music, which changes from happier tones early in the movie to more sinister and darker tones while she's practicing at the church one night. It seems as though ever since she saw the pavilion she became drawn to it. As a result, she falls into a trance and sees, in her mind, zombies coming out of the water near the pavilion to delight in her sinister organ music. Suddenly the church minister appears out of nowhere and disapproves of her organ playing and fires her. At first it appears she's still in a trance. Then it becomes apparent that she's probably in shock about being fired.

Near the end, it seems as if Mary has been dreaming about these zombies at the abandoned carnival. The end of the movie has a bizarre ending that I won't reveal. Watch it to find out what happens.

This movie's score is 100% theater organ, performed by Gene Moore. That's it - an organ. The organ music is eerie throughout the movie and seems to be off key a lot of the time (intentionally, of course) and has an underlying, subtle carnival melody during a lot of the scenes at the pavilion. I must say I'm surprised that Candace Hilligoss only appeared in one other movie (The Curse Of The Living Corpse in 1964). She is nice looking, has very good screen presence, and does a good job in her role.

This movie can be classified as having subtle, atmospheric psychological horror. This movie has no blood and gore. Instead, the music, camera angles, lighting, howling winds, shadows, and feeling of emptiness make this movie creepy.

This film is a must see for any fan of classic horror.