Carnival of Souls (1962)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

DVD, Seattle, WA

February 01, 2008

This was not the first time I watched this movie.

*** / ****

by Scott Muoio

Carnival of Souls is the consummate little horror film that could. Produced and directed by industrial training film master Herk Harvey for $33,000 and filmed on location in Lawrence, Kansas and Salt Lake City, Utah, this is a film that rose from the dead in the 1980s to carry the mantle of niche, art-house schlock (I mean that in the most flattering way). I have seen it a few times and I am glad it is still around, even if its celebrated renaissance may not be as justified as The Criterion Collection would have us believe. The late blooming cult classic is proof positive that even the most obscure film is never quite dead until the maggots have completely devoured its corpse.

Carnival of Souls tells the story of a young organist, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), psychologically disturbed by spooky happenings after a tragic accident. Following a typical late ‘50s style drag race, the fun goes awry when Mary’s car falls off a rickety wooden bridge into the muddy river below. All are assumed dead and the bodies never recovered until Mary, dazed and woozy, emerges alone from the muck. Unable to deal with her post-accident trauma, a newly disturbed and socially curt Mary leaves Kansas for a job in Salt Lake City. Her travels across the desert plains and subsequent appointment as church organist lead to a series of creepy, Twilight Zone-esque episodes that unnerve Mary to the point of serious breakdown. Particularly key to her mental anguish is a deserted amusement park on the outskirts of town (Saltair) that draws her in with its cosmic web of zombie enchantments. Add a dash of low-budget filmmaking peculiarities (a lecherous apartment border, a bizarre elderly female landlord “take all the baths you like, I’m not one to fuss about such things,” and a psychologist sub-plot), a heaping dose of low-fi ingenuity (excellently creepy music and ominous western locations), and tie it all together with Harvey’s steady, down-in-the-trenches touch and keen eye for shadow and ambiance, and you’ve got a creatively eerie film with a dynamite final reel and a twist ending as good as they come. Now if only the middle section, with its subplot silliness and tell instead of show attitude, could have been cleaned up a bit, Carnival of Souls might have been the superstar of horror suspense the overly generous claim it to be. As is, it doesn’t quite deserve kingly status, though princely isn’t too far off.

Without succumbing too much to the critical microscope’s penchant for embellishment, Carnival of Souls isn’t a great film so much as it is a good one slightly ahead of its time. Zombie films weren’t yet the rage in 1962 but that didn’t stop Harvey from creating a supernatural feel for his film that holds up as well today, if not better, than it did upon its release. The movie set a precedent for the genre with its fantastic atmosphere, ghastly, slow moving ghouls, and aura that something out of this world is responsible for the misunderstood humanoids and their collectively spooky antagonism. If Harvey could have stuck more closely to that main idea, especially in the middle portion, rather than straying unnecessarily with various tangential exposition, then Carnival of Souls might have been a very entertaining film rather than an OK viewing experience better suited for film study.

Poor dubbing aside, the abundance of fine technique involved in creating the film is as much responsible for its revival as its unique filming locations, dead serious tone, and ahead of its time treatment of its story. The whole kit and kaboodle however, leads us to a somewhat engrossing film that is better viewed in parts and more interesting to talk about than it is to ingest as typical cinematic fare. In all honesty, I have fallen asleep around the fifty-minute mark every time right I have watched this film, and while desperate to love it each time, the film has never quite won my heart. After at least three viewings now, and years apart with each, there is no denying that Carnival of Souls and I have flirted endlessly, but in the end, we’re better off as friends. With that, there is but one final conclusion I can make regarding our affair: Carnival of Souls is an ambitious, well-crafted, different kind of film but due to its flaws and tedium, forever destined for the smallest of cult followings.