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Carnival of Souls (1962)


Cast:

Candace Hilligoss is Mary
Sidney Berger is John
Art Ellison is the Minister


What the box says:

A creepy cult classic about a woman who manages to survive a car accident. She runs away to Utah and becomes a church organist. She is then drawn to a ruined pavillion and is haunted by visions of the dancing dead - the eerie reasons eventually become clear.


Plot:

A couple of cars are going to drag race. Car of guys versus their girlfriends. We get Hot Rod Girl car action as they go over a country road under construction, on to a rickety bridge. The girls’ car runs off the bridge into the river as the credits roll.

People are searching, dragging the river. The police get a statement from the guys in the race. With the river being extremely sandy and muddy, doubt they’ll ever find the car. They see Mary climb out of the river. She is taken back to town but doesn’t remember anything after the crash.


They're coming to get you Barbara, I mean Mary.

Later, she returns to the bridge and gets back in her car. We cut to her playing an organ. Mary is going to go to Utah to play the organ at a church. It is just a job to her, will help her become a musician. She isn’t plan on coming back.

Mary leaves town by going over the bridge. On the road, late at night she sees her reflection in the window, then Creepy Guy’s reflection. Mary is disturbed by this. Later, she sees another creepy reflection but keeps on driving.

She is shown her room and begins unpacking. Mary spots Creepy Guy’s reflection in another window.

Minister shows Mary the organ. Get your minds out of the collective gutter. She is awfully short, not wanting to have a reception to meet the church-goers. She tests the organ. Minister is impressed with her organ tickling abilities.

Creepy Guy is about. Mary goes with Minister on a drive. She seems to be drawn to an abandoned pavilion slash carnival. It isn’t safe. No trespassing. Creepy Guy is in the pavilion.

Mary returns to the boarding house. Taking a bath, she is interrupted by Rico Suavay guy, John Lyndon. He tries peeking at her and inviting her to dinner. Mary isn’t interested. She goes to the stairs and spots Creepy Guy on the first floor. Mary rushes back to her room. Someone is coming. It’s the landlady. When Mary asks about the Creepy Guy, she is told just them and John. Landlady thinks Mary is a taco shy of a combination platter.

Later that night, a thunderstorm rages. Mary awakens the next morning to Greasy Suavay at the door bringing coffee. Mary seems talkative for a change. We learn that Greasy works at a warehouse. She flirts with him some.

In a department store, she is shopping. When trying a something in the dressing room, the door is stuck. Mary eventually gets out and tries talking with the clerk who ignores her. Everyone ignores her. It doesn’t take long for her to realize something is wrong. Running into a nearby park, Mary is being chased by Creepy Guy but not him.

An older guy, Dr. Samuels, a psychiatrist, volunteers to help her. Mary explains how she was ignored. Dr. Samuels thinks the car wreck is the cause of her misinterpreting things. That is why Mary doesn’t feel like wanting to join in with other people. Somehow, the pavilion figures into it. Mary decides to go it. She wanders about a dark building, a dance hall.


Every breath you take, I'll be watching you...

Back at the boarding house, Mary meets Greasy Suavay. He is shot down in a blaze of glory, no, in a blaze of patheticness. Mary agrees so the loser will leave her alone. But, she has organ practice first.

Mary is playing in a trance, scared. At the pavilion, Creepy Guy arises from a watery grave followed by more. They dance in the pavilion. Creepy Guy approaches Mary when the minister chews her out for playing inappropriate music. The church organ version of “In the Garden of Eden” by I. Ron Butterfly on the Simpsons was more inappropriate than Mary’s piece. The minister accuses her of having no soul. Mary is in a trance. She is fired. But, the minister offers to help her. Mary leaves as Greasy Suavay is outside waiting for her.

They go to a little bar, with Mary in her own little world. Greasy is downing the brews, well anything that is fermented. He complains how she is such a cold fish. Mary hasn’t mentioned just being fired. But, she wants to be with Suavay tonight. They go back to the boardinghouse.

Stumbling drunken charm ensues. Suavay tries kissing her. Mary isn’t interested. Creepy Guy is nuzzling her, Mary screams. Greasy Suavay may be desperate for female companionship but, Mary is far too much damaged goods for even him. HE leaves. Mary barricades herself in the room.

The next morning, Mary is packing almost in a trance. She stops at a garage to get her car repaired. Waiting in the car as it is checked out. Mary locks the doors and is very jumpy. Creepy Guy is approaching her, lowers the car off the rack. Mary runs off to the nearby bus station. No one hears her. She goes to a bus filled with creepy looking people. She runs from them.

Wandering about the city, no one can hear her. Mary runs into the park, starts hearing birds. She decides to pay another visit to Dr. Samuels. Creepy Guy is in the chair. Mary screams awakening from a nightmare in the garage, drives away.

Mary drives to the pavilion, to the dance hall. From the watery graves, they arise. The dead start dancing like a Zombie Prom. Creepy Guy is dancing with Creepy Mary while Mary watches this. Creepy Mary dies. The Zombies chase after her. She can’t escape them.

Later, the townsfolk and minister follow Mary’s footprints which stop in the middle of nowhere, without any others around her.

At the bridge, the car is pulled out of the river with all the girls including Mary inside of it…


What I say:

What do you say about one of the most famous movies, actually the only movie to ever come out of Lawrence, Kansas? What would you say about a movie where the director was driving past an abandoned resort and decided it would be great for a horror movie? Not much. He then gets a writer friend of his who hasn't ever written for movies with only one condition: the climax involves a group of corpses haunting a huge ballroom. It sounds like one of those infamous tax-shelter movies for dentists. But, sometimes, the low budget movie like this hits the mark. And, this is one of them.

60s Regional filmmaking was roughly what direct-to-video is today: very low budget. Regional filmaking started dying in the late 60s and early 70s with beginning of the end for the drive-in. How they lasted as long as they did with Texas fertilizer sellerstaking bets to make a movie and creating Manos - The Hands of Fate is a question for the ages. One of the big differences between Herk Harvey’s ability as a director and say Hal "Manos" Warren is Harvey actually made many industrial shorts shown in schools. He had experience with film rather than manure like Warren.

Think how some of the most influential horor movies were made outside of the Hollywood system. Night of the Living Dead came out of Pennsylvania. Sam Raimi's Evil Dead which led to bigger and better things. As much as I think The Blair Witch Project is overrated, it was the closest thing in the late 90s to a breakout horror movie. Carnival of Souls is probably the most famous movie to come out of Lawrence, Kansas.

Carnival of Souls was remade several years ago. We'll treat the Wes Craven remake like all true Highlander fans treat HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING as never happening.

There is one word I’ve used numerous times to describe this movie. And almost every other review will use it, too: creepy. This is a creepy movie. We have the very creepy Herk Harvey as the creepy zombie guy stalking Mary. Mary’s antisocial behavior is awfully creepy for when this movie came out. Actually, every character seems to be creepy.

One of the biggest problems is the movie is awfully slow at points. It doesn’t have the typical stock footage padding. But it seems like it could have had 10 minutes or so easily cut from it. There are several versions of this movie: a 75 minute version which was shown as part of drive-in double feature with The Devil's Messenger (starring Lon Chaney, Jr. as Satan). There is an 83 minute director’s cut version.

After the car crash, we spend our time wondering was Mary this alienated before the wreck. That is probably the weakest part of the movie. They really wanted to get into creepy horror at the expense of Mary's humanity. We're supposed to think that she's to afraid to let anyone get close enough to hurt her emotionally. Her attitude makes her seem emotionally dead to everyone around her.

Carnival of Souls is a creepy movie from the early 60s. That is an accomplishment. I can't help but think of some of the similarities between in and Romero's Night of the Living Dead. And not just me, Romero has admitted by being influenced by Carnival of Souls. It's not just both are shot in black and white. The endings of both movies are from happy. With Carnival coming out in 1962, I think Romero had to be inspired by some degree by it.

Why am I sort of reminded of the Sixth Sense? Never was interested enough to see it after a friend blurted out the ending. The pacing for the most part is very slow to help set the stage for it just to be unnerving. Granted, if you think about it, the ending seems to be very easy to guess. But, Carnival of Souls is a more cerebral horror movie like a prolonged episode of the TWILIGHT ZONE.

This is the kind of movie that is rediscovered and overanalyzed to make it sound more pretentious than a French art film. How can I get away with saying something like that? I can't imagine looking for pretentious French ninjas. But, why is it so important to look for a deep meaning in a horror movie? Because, far too many people can't just admit they like a movie. So they go into so much detail analyzing it so it no longer resembles what it originally was. Fling a few buzzwords on a movie to make it "artistically safe." You aren't watching a horror movie. But a socially relevant thought-provoking piece of cinema.

How is what I do different? I would rather just say "dude, Sonny Chiba rips a guy's vocal cords out while growling like a cat" than trying to say "the lead perfomer has a unique ability to appear to be committing what would be considered in Clockward Orange vernacular as a bit of the ulrtraviolence while summoning the spirit of Bruce Lee as he channels his chi." Trying to cloak your thoughts in film-school pseudo-speak to sound like an armchair film critic. I'm just a guy that enjoys a lot of movies that a lot of my friends wouldn't watch. Not a critic, just write these reviews because I enjoy doing it. Honesty, you can only lie to yourself for so long before the lie becomes your truth. Is is to so terrible to admit you enjoyed Carnival of Souls as a movie where a woman is being stalked by a creepy zombie, ghoul guy than bundling it up with phrases like "existential angst in a post modern world?"



4 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"I'm not taking the vows. I'm just going to play the organ."
"You cannot live in isolation from the human race."
"It's not the recommended breakfast for the church organist."
"It was unsanitary but delicious."


Morals of the Story

Near death experiences make you a proficient organ-player.
Tossing a penny in a wishing well grants you a dead guy.
It is better to play with your organ barefoot.