Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls (a great title) is an oddity in film history. Made on a shoestring and released in 1962 to little fanfare, it was the only film made by Herk Harvey. It has gone on to be a staple at midnight movies and Halloween festivals. I hadn't seen it before last night, and while it has its amateurish qualities, it's very striking and disturbing.

The film begins with a drag race. A car with three women in it plunges off a bridge. After a three-hour search for the car, one of the passengers (Candace Hilligoss) emerges from the water, with no recollection of how she escaped.

A church organist, Hilligoss heads to Utah to take a job. She moves into a rooming house, and the man across the hall hits on her. She has trouble relating to others, and has moments where she can not hear and she seems invisible. Worst of all, she is stalked by a ghoulish man, who pops out of nowhere (he is played by Harvey, the director). She becomes obsessed with a pavilion that once housed a carnival.

The ending may be easy to figure out, but the journey is worth it. Shot in flat black and white by Maurice Prather, it has an eerie look that was similar to other black and white horror films of the time, especially Night of the Living Dead. There's something off-putting about it, as Harvey and Prather create a sense of paranoia and dread that gets under the skin.

The acting is pretty bad, especially by Sidney Berger as the neighbor, but no matter, this film is like an extended Twilight Zone episode (it reminded me of the one where Anne Francis is department store mannequin come to life). It deserves cult status.