Review of Carnival of Souls (1962) by Cameron M — 11 Apr 2009

A Herk Harvey black and white classic made within three weeks. I can't really agree with this being called a classic though as the word "classic" implies something good while Carnival of Souls, although well made, was so boring it was hard to stay focused on it. It starts slow, runs slow ad ends slow. That sounds a bit unfair but its true. You see, the whole film is about a woman slowly descending into madness which is really the afterlife coming to get her after she just managed to escape death in a car accident. A bit like Final Destination in that a way. But with ghosts. And that's not a spoiler, synopsizes and alternative tag lines for the film already tell you whats going on.

The supernatural elements are rather creepy but not really scary. The whole thing is more demented than scary. Which is appropriate I guess since the whole film is about paranoia and madness. Unfortunately there are huge gaps between anything supernatural and when they do happen are they are very short. The main ghost is a silent creepy man that keeps on appearing and just smiling all the time, coming across more like a pervert than a ghost.

It's acting and cinematography is really what earns it its title of classic. Although made in the 60s it has a strong influence of the silent German expressionism films. Lots of playing with shadows and making an advantage of its black and white colour.

If your a fan of classic black and white films that make good use of camera and lighting techniques by all means view Carnival of Souls as it's not too likely to let you down. However if your looking for a bit of horror fun this slow paced flick wont deliver it.