Carnival of Souls Review(Written Back in 2020)

Carnival of Souls (Review)

Carnival of Souls is a black and white horror film that premiered back in 1962, directed by Herk Harvey that centers around the character of Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss). This was Herk’s first and only feature film. Unable to gain a following during its time due to the distribution company becoming bankrupt, it later found it’s place. Mainly because of late-night television screens. Eventually, during the mid-1980s, the film was released on to home video. To some, it has become a cult film over the 58 years since it has come out. It is not a film you hear about quite often though unlike Rocky Horror, which has a huge cult following and is talked about by many over dinner. Many young horror fans who have grown up with the likes of Freddy Krueger and Jason probably have never heard of nor watched Carnival of Souls since black and white horror has faded out in place of the slasher films and Jordon Peele’s brand of horror.

The story starts immediately as Mary and her friends drag race off a bridge. Following that event, Mary miraculously survives while the car and her friends are nowhere to be found. She sets out immediately to move to Utah and begin a new life playing the organ for a church. All is not as it seems, though, as this figure of a man (Herk Harvey) starts to follows her. Her first encounter with this man is when she is driving between her old home to her new one as she passes this strange building out by a lake. He appears in the reflection of her window, causing her to drive off into a ditch. When she pulls over to a gas station, she asks the attendant about the building she passed. She learns here that the building was a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival but now is just abandoned.

Upon arriving at her new home, she is introduced to Mrs. Thomas (Frances Feist), who Mary is renting the room from, who tells her only one other person is living in the house, John Linden (Sidney Berger). After unpacking Mary visits the church, she has been asked to play the organ for. Here she meets the minister of the church (Art Ellison), who lets her get familiar with the instrument. He offers her a chance to meet the congregation, but she turns him down, preferring to keep to herself. After playing for time her music starts to shift into the organ music that she heard on her drive, causing her the abruptly stop. She then takes up the minister’s offer for a ride, which takes them past the abandoned pavilion. They stop and discuss how it would be illegal to enter.

After return home, John, the other renter, introduces himself to her after checking her out. She is not interested, though, and denies him any chance of trying to get to know her. In the morning, though, she does allow him to enter with coffee where they have a conversation about nightmares and day time. One of the times, the films offers a plausible explanation of what is happening. During the day, she goes out to dress shopping where she becomes invisible to the world while only organ music plays with no other sounds. She tries to talk to anyone, but they do not see nor hear her until she finds herself in a park, where the man that has been following her shows up. After his image is gone, the world returns to normal. She meets Dr. Samuels (Stan Levitt), where she discusses what has been happening to her. There is another conversation about what is possibly going on with Mary.

From here, Mary is determined to visit the lake and the building. After returning, she goes to practice the organ at her work. Where in like a trance, her music changes from holy to unholy. Upon hearing this, the minister has no choice but to ask her to resign, calling what she was playing sacrilege. She agrees to go out with John, stating that she did not want to be alone, but upon returning home, she pushes him away after seeing the man again.

The next morning Mary is determined to leave town but has some difficulty due to car trouble. While her car is being serviced, she refuses to exit the vehicle until the man shows up. She runs out of the car but finds she is again invisible to the world. She tries to find someone to help her, but there is no one. She tries to leave on a bus but finds that it is full of people looking similar to the man following her. She soon finds herself in Dr. Samuels’ office again, but the man is there instead of the doctor. She wakes up, drawn to the building on the lake. At the building, she is confronted by the man and others, where she sees another version of herself before being chased. Mary collapses in the sand where they surround her.

This film is quite different from the horror that we see in today’s movies. It is a subtle horror that grows throughout the film until it’s grand finale. Carnival of Souls plays out more like an extended Twilight Zone episode with how strange it plays out. The one thing that stands out in this film is that the dialogue is few and between. It is driven very much by the music composed by Gene Moore. When the characters do speak or interact, there is a greater gravity to what is being said and what is not being said. Doing this allows the film to introduce different themes or ideas to the film, in a way where the film is actively trying to answer the central question of the movie of what is happening to Mary Henry.

The during the entirety of the film from after the crash, onward has almost a dream-like atmosphere but with a sense that something is not quite all right as they may appear to be. The music is very much the cause of this. Early on after the crash, we start to hear organ music play that continues throughout the rest of the story up till the very end. The music plays a very active role in the movie to where it is a character itself since it is something that the characters do very much interact with as if it is a tangible object. One of the scenes that show us this is when Mary is driving a happier tune can be heard, but when she crosses the threshold of the lake building, it changes. She then tries to change the radio channel, but that is the only thing that is playing.

With its atmosphere, music, and creepy vibe, this movie is something special. Although it does not jump at you scary, it creates that unsettling feeling you get when you are alone, but you feel like you are being watched around every corner. It is a film that will be going onto my Halloween watch list this year, where I’ll be more than happy to watch it again.

10/10