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Not many people know of this film, surprisingly--this is one of the most intelligently constructed and atmospheric horror (for lack of a better term) movies of all time. Whenever I do run across someone else who has seen this film, there is an instantaneous, unspoken understanding in regards to the enduring creepiness of this film.

My first viewing of COS occurred when I had inexplicably awoke in the middle of the night as a boy and switched on the TV. I had missed the opening minutes, but was powerfully drawn into the story. I sat transfixed until the shock ending, and think I just stared until after the sign off and following screen static. The next day I was not entirely sure I had actually watched this film or dreamed it--nobody else had ever heard of it and I never did catch the title (for some reason, its never shown much). Needless to say I was creeped out for days! Films that can affect one's sensibilities like this are golden! Find it and watch it in the middle of the night--alone.

When I saw a copy of Carnival of Souls together with Night of the Living Dead for a measly buck, I figured I would go ahead and take advantage. After all, I could always use a backup copy of Night of the Living Dead, and this Carnival of Souls looked good for laughs. So I bought the set, having a bit of change on me, and that night I readied myself for some fun.

When I put Carnival of Souls into the player, I was at first a bit unimpressed. I mean, nothing really happened that related to any sort of plot. Then, about 25 minutes into the film I started feeling very uneasy, a feeling I was unfamiliar with in film with the exception of Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'. the story is simple, to put it short a woman survives a car accident, and delves into a dissolute surrealistic nightmare.

The surreal atmosphere, the sudden realizations of fear, and the general feel of the film gave a VERY foreboding atmosphere, which haunted me the entire following week. The film is just so foreboding, I could not help but remain uneasy, even the second time around.

The film also was also fairly technically impressive, at least more so then I thought. This film had come six years before George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, but the use of camera is very similar, and it is very evident that Romero has been influenced by this film's direction. It is a shame that Herk Harvey did not expand on his talent, this is his only feature, yet there is nothing amateur about it. It is very advanced considering what it is, and I was overtly impressed with it.

I suppose Carnival of Souls could, and maybe should warrant an 8/10, I gave it 7/10, but it is truly an original film, and one that I feel holds up very well in the present day. I think it is a must see for fans of surrealism, horror, or just experiences.

I didn't really know much CARNIVAL OF SOULS, other than that it was a low-budget horror movie with a cult fan-base. What I got was certainly interesting, but hardly a masterpiece. The story is probably the weakest element, as the characters don't really have any depth or personality, and the plot is paper-thin. It's still a compelling watch, though, due to the atmosphere created by a creepy organ score and some excellent cinematography. So, it succeeds as a mood-piece even while failing at the narrative level. The story is about a woman who survives a car wreck and then takes a job as a church organist in Utah. When she moves into town, she starts seeing a ghostly figure and is strangely drawn to an abandoned carnival. This basically sets the stage for a series of sequences where she hallucinates a lot and starts questioning her sanity, as do the people she encounters. There were also a few scenes which kind of tap into human fascination with religion and the supernatural. She sees herself as a rational person, only taking the organist position for the money, but the things she sees bring her into conflict with herself and others. Ultimately, though, the film is mostly about the creepy atmosphere and imagery, which are quite good. One scene I liked in particular took place in the church. She starts off playing out of her organ music book, but then transitions into carnival-esque music, almost as if in a trance. There was also a lot of good on-location shooting. For a film with such a low budget, it looked fairly decent. The only real complaint I have outside of the thin story was that the sound mix was muddled in places, making dialogue hard to hear. Ultimately, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, is an intriguing curiosity which, despite lacking in terms of story, has some cool visuals and a suitably unnerving score.

While I am a self-avowed fan of low-budget horror flicks, "cult" classics, etc.., I was expecting to be disappointed by Carnival of Souls. The little I allowed myself to read about COS before watching it made me feel like it was either going to be disappointing and slow or right on target (weighted average is around 7). Instead, it was almost certainly the creepiest, eeriest movie I have ever seen. At the age of 21, most might expect me to have had my senses dulled by MTV-style shock theatre, but whatever damage has been done was not enough to diminish in any way the effect of this brilliant movie. I, in fact, read the screenplay to "The Hitch-hiker" (the Twilight zone script many have referenced as an inspiration for this movie) for an 8th grade class, but even that knowledge did not diminish my admiration for this low-budget masterpiece. The photography is incredible and atmospheric, with many of the lighting contrasts and unexpected appearances of "the ghoul" extremely effective. The acting was actually rather good, with Candace Hilligoss believable as the cold, yet seemingly psychotic lead character. I found the slimy man-next-door to be played even more convincingly, with all the repulsiveness of a real-life slum Casanova. The Saltair setting was also brilliant. Honestly, I have to stop exuding praise, but this movie really knocked me off my feet, with only occasional moments of slow-but-tensionless action early in the movie keeping this from being a ten. All in all, the best low-budget indie horror movie I've ever seen (and that includes Night of the Living Dead).

I really got a kick out of this movie. It is all atmosphere and strange organ music. People just speaking lines of everyday dialogue become as frightening as the dead man whose face appears time and time again. The central figure, Mary Henry, was apparently as spooky before she went in the water as she was after she walked onto the muddy riverbank. Her relationships with a series of townsfolk are as dull as can be (I love her landlady who tells her she can have as many baths as she wants)--and yet the sterility other encounters really adds to the suspense. The scene after she is fired for playing Satanic organ music, as she goes on a date with her sleazy fellow boarder who is hustling her from the get go, is a classic. She is so boring and yet he keeps on coming. She is attractive at times and a nut case at other. She makes no connections with human beings, but that's probably the point.

I enjoyed the place where the doctor kept his back to Mary so he could turn the chair around and transform into that same dead guy and frighten us. Whoa, I never expected that. It was really fun in a Pinteresque kind of way. On an obvious shoestring budget, shooting in Kansas, Herk Harvey (what a great name; director of the Academy Award winning "Fire Safety Is Your Problem"), plays with light, shadows bad makeup, overly quick cuts, but it does work. It's a scary movie and I would recommend it.

I was really excited to watch this movie, so I finally sat down and watched it. I had high expectations but it let me down hard. My biggest problem is that nothing happens the entire runtime aside from the last 5 minutes which had a disappointing twist ending. The overbearing score damn near gave me a migraine, and the only "scary" thing were a few jumpscares that meant nothing.

The acting was also atrocious and greatly took away from the experience. I was constantly checking the runtime, desperately waiting for anything at all to happen but almost nothing did. And I really don't care how low the budget was or about the fact that it was made in 1962. For the record, Nosferatu, a much more unsettling and well-made horror film, was made 40 years before this. The year it was made doesn't excuse it from being sinfully boring.

I've never heard of this movie and came upon it only while flipping channels. This is a great movie but it's one of those movies that grows on you. At first I thought it was dumb and I just didn't get it. It's very eerie and has somewhat a dreamlike quality to it. This was in the '60s so the movie depended on fright-makeup and really ugly people for special effects.

I appreciated the movie beyond its celluloid being. The filmmakers threw in every idea they had in their heads into the movie. No line was drawn. Nothing was unassailable. It didn't have to make sense as long as an idea was weird and creeped out someone on the set. To some people this might seem senseless but for some strange reason I got it. The innocent quality of the movie is a breath of fresh air. No hidden messages. No untruths to be uncovered from the facts.

While watching the movie I thought about directors whose work I love. Films whereby passion outweighed everything else. Did Ed Wood had some influence on Herk Harvey? Was David Lynch inspired by Carnival of Souls?

Watch it without prejudice and you'll see the simplicity and brilliance the filmmakers were trying to acheive. Watch it with a jaded, pretentious eye and you could be missing out on a movie that was more thought provoking than it intended to be.

A solidly entertaining and, at times, pretty creepy supernatural horror film which doubles as a psychiatric character study. After surviving a car wreck, Mary, an aloof organist, is haunted by repeated visions of a man who seems to be pursuing her. She becomes increasingly distressed, and eventually seeks answers in a nearby abandoned carnival which she feels strangely drawn to.

For an older horror film, Carnival of Souls really does have some surprisingly effective and unsettling moments and has a lot of things going for it. It has a nice, creepy organ score, simple yet effective ghoul makeup, memorable locations like the abandoned carnival, and most off all, a warped and dream-like atmosphere. The best and most memorable sequences in the film really draw you in to Mary's troubled mind and make you feel like you're living in her confused version of reality.

Mary reminds me quite a bit of the schizophrenic protagonist in Roman Polanski's Repulsion as well as a bit of Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin. She's attractive and seems put-together, but has an icy, distant quality and doesn't relate well to others. Although by the end of the film it becomes clear that the story is supernatural in nature, part of what I really liked about it is that much of the film also works as a portrayal of a first-break psychosis. Mary's character fits some criteria for schizoid personality disorder in that she is pathologically unable to connect with others, and furthermore lacks any interest in forming relationships. Individuals with schizoid personality disorder can have brief psychotic episodes, which are essentially defined by losing touch with reality and frequently involve hallucinations. Psychotic episodes are also commonly brought on by extreme stress, so given her recent near-death experience the pieces really do fit together nicely to explain her symptoms from a psychiatric standpoint.

In addition to the positives, there were definitely some things that brought this film down for me, the most distracting of which was probably the acting. Some of the dialogue scenes in this movie just feel so incredibly wooden. There are many instances when the characters feel like they are simply reciting their lines rather than actually having a conversation with one another. I guess you could kind of forgive Mary seeing as her character is meant to be aloof and awkward, but really no one in the film was any better and it often broke the immersion. And speaking of immersion-breaking, wow they really didn't even attempt to make it appear like Mary was actually playing the organ. Her hands don't come even remotely close to matching the music that she is supposedly playing and it's pretty distracting. Maybe it's just me though - it's a pretty big pet peeve.

Part of me feels like this movie would have been even better if it was a silent film that was completely backed by the great organ music. They honestly wouldn't have to change much of the story at all. The best scenes in the movie are already long, hallucinatory, organ-backed, dialogue-lacking sequences. If it had just cut down completely on the immersion-breaking dialogue and went fully avant-garde with it, the movie could've really, really shined. Regardless, Carnival of Souls was definitely a solid and creepy horror film and it's worth the watch for sure, just be ready to cringe a few times between the best parts.

Title: Carnival of Souls (1962)

Director: Herk Harvey

Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Tom McGinnis

Review: I love going back in time while watching old horror films. I love to see what scared people in different eras and times. Some people completely dismiss old films just because they are old. I relish the moment when I can find an obscure gem and just indulge in it. Sometimes I find a true classic like when I saw White Zombie for the first time...sometimes I find a dud like when I saw the original 13 Ghosts. This time around in my humble opinion I have found a really creepy and surreal film in director Herk Harveys Carnival of Souls.

The story is about this girl called Mary who gets involved in a car accident in which she emerges completely unharmed. All her friends die, but she is left in a perfect state. She decides to move to a new town to start anew. She takes a job in a church as a "profesional organist" and moves into a new place. Unfortunately she begins seeing a ghostly apparition and she is strangely attracted by the spooky abandoned amusement park near her new home. What horrors await for her inside? And why is she seeing these visions? This film has a few faults in various departments. For one, I thought that the editing in the movie really sucked. You'll notice little skips here and there in the continuity of the film, it doesn't flow fluidly. It hits a few speed bumps along the way. The sound was also a bit atrocious at times, I could barely make out what they were saying in certain parts at the beginning of the film. But somehow...in spite of all of its flaws this movie had me reeled in from the get go.

The character of Mary is likable so I felt like sticking with her and seeing where she was going to end up. I liked her attitude about her job in church just "being a job". She didn't take religion seriously and I was like "whoa, there's a girl with a head on her shoulders!". Anyhows, I kept watching and things began to get a whole lot more interesting as the film progressed. Its one of those films that has a bad start (mainly because of its technical faults) but as it goes on it gets really good.

I loved the strange location they used to shoot the old abandoned amusement park. Apparently there really was an abandoned amusement park in the middle of nowhere and they shot part of the movie there! The director was wise to take advantage of this location and shoot the hell out of it. It has a real isolated feel to it. You can tell, it really is in the middle of nowheresville. So that added to the feeling of creepyness and isolation. Specially seeing Mary going into it all by herself.

Once the spooks join in on the story, well things get really nightmarish. And heres where the film won its classic status for me. The images that the film conjures up, specially towards the last half of the film are some of the most surreal, nightmarish I have seen on screen. And to top things off, its all in black and white which adds another layer of spookiness to the whole affair.

As I watched it I thought to myself, man, this director was really ahead of his time! And he was! He managed to make some truly haunting imagery all the way back in 1962! Sadly because the critics shot this movie down, he never made more feature films. He did manage to make a lot of educational documentaries. But no more movies.

So if you are up from some truly spooky surreal images that feel like something that came out of your worst nightmares, go rent this baby. Just remember it has a few imperfections here and there, but once you get through the rough stuff, you'll get to what really matters. Those spooky ass visions filled with ghosts and ghouls! Sweet Dreams! Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

This strangely, hypnotic film has been in the back of my mind since I was a kid, and I can't even remember where I first saw it. Images have stuck with me - the floating fingers on the organ, Mr. Linden the creepy neighbor in the boarding house, the ghostly amusement park, and all of the bizarre characters this young woman comes in contact with during her journey of discovery.

The lead actress seemed like an amateur, which made her all the more realistic in the long run. What happened to Mr. Harvey? Anyone who has viewed this one is not likely to forget it. The music, cinematography, and sound were right on the money. A bizarre journey for anyone who can find it. A 7 out of 10.

The is finest film ever made in America, barr none. That it was directed by a professional documentarian on what appears to be a budget of a hundred bucks, with a cast of total unknowns, only makes it all the more remarkable. First, let's get the 'low-budget' issue out of the way, because during the later '80s this film developed a following among those who especially admire cheap films. Applying that to this film is a big mistake. This film isn't about money, it's about cinema - what you can and cannot do with a camera and an editing board, using whatever it is one has to work with.

As with all pure cinema - from Citizen Kane to the Wild Bunch, from the Battleship Potemkin to the Seven Samurai - this film works on many levels at the same time. It is, first, an effective ghost story, in fact probably the only instance of a film that has a real ghost story to tell (most ghost-story films are really horror movies or romances). Then it is also an uncompromising psychological analysis of female frigidity. It is also surrealistic psycho-drama, but it is also a genuine slice of Americana - the film certainly has resonance with the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, but it is determined to present its American characters in their American locations as American, and not as europhilic wannabes. Consequently it is also an historical document of what America was like in the early '60s - really a kind of weird place by today's standards.

One of the qualities that makes a film 'pure cinema' is that the viewer should, on reflection, feel utterly convinced that there is not a camera shot out of place, not a wasted moment, not an image or sound we don't need to have the complete film before us. But of course while watching the film, we should be so captivated by it, we set our critical mind to rest. Despite the darkness of its themes and images, this film drags us along like some obsessive-compulsion we didn't even know we had.

Finally, when watching a truly great film, when the final credit rolls, we should feel as if we have actually experienced the film, not simply watched it. This quality does diminish after repeated viewing - when you find yourself reciting the dialog by heart, you know that you've passed onto the level of remembering the film's experience, rather than living it. But certainly, after the initial viewing we should feel as though we have been changed by the film, and that we now look at the world through different eyes.

This film is really about the fundamental puritanism that remains the core of the American world-view. It treats that world-view with both outrage, sympathy, and even, if one pays close attention, a touch of humor. The souls in this movie are lost souls - but its their carnival, after all; and we're welcomed to it any time we care to visit. However, be forewarned: once inside, we may have to stay.

CARNIVALE OF SOULS is a very entertaining movie. The mood is both creepy and surreal, the pacing is nice, and the performance by Candace Hilligoss is very good. The movie is both mysetrious and ambiguous in nature.

I'd recommend this film to all fans of the horror genre, particular those who are fond of older black & white horror.

How scary a movie can be? Carnival of souls is scary as no other movie is by one simply reason, this film won't only frighten you to death but also will lead you to a desolation state: You won't shout, you won't scream because you'll feel too desolated and scared to do it. The plot happens to be superb: I love it when the whole plot starts making sense by the very end.

Candace Hilligoss play Mary Henry the lead role; the character is great and her performance is magnificent, she just gives the movie a vulnerable element that sometimes turns to be dark and mysterious.

Carnival of Souls became a cult film with plenty of honors; it's not only one of the most scary movies ever but also is a masterpiece of moviemaking.

Before the days of Herschell Gordon Lewis, when heavy gore in the average horror movie started to become a staple, filmmakers had to scare audiences in other ways. Through mood, lighting, and plot movement, CARNIVAL OF SOULS manages to accomplish just as much horror as any modern flick.

This is the story of Mary Henry (Candice Hilligoss), a church organist who, one fateful day, finds herself in the passenger side of a car engaged in a drag race. Granted, the cars are obviously moving very slowly, but they do race across a bridge. Suddenly, Mary and her friends plummet off of the bridge (it doesn't clearly show why this happens) and the credits roll. Later, Mary is seen rising up from the waters below, cold and wet but otherwise unharmed.

This is only the beginning for poor Mary, as she starts having flashes in which everything around her goes silent and people completely ignore her, as though she didn't exist. She also begins seeing a pale, ghastly man everywhere she goes. The man torments her relentlessly, later joined by an ensemble of zombie-like people who pursue her.

In spite of the somewhat campy dialogue and effects, CARNIVAL OF SOULS does stand up to the test of time and is very much worth watching for fans of older horror movies. It is currently public domain, so anyone wishing to see it might be able to find it for free online.

The story behind this movie wasn't bad, but to be honest it would have benefited greatly from some better acting and character development. I sometimes rail against the tendency of some movies to overdo character development at the expense of story, but here one of the things that put me off from the beginning was the rather sudden move right into the story. With no introduction to the characters - we don't even know the name of the main character - we're thrown right into the story, as a car driven by three girls goes off a bridge and into the river. Once she emerges from the water - to the surprise of everyone - we discover that the main character's name is Mary Henry, and it's her that we follow, although we never really learn much about her except that she's an accomplished organist. Mary was played by an actress named Candace Hilligoss in what I thought was a forgettable performance. I never got much sense of emotion from her, and the emotion the movie did try to portray seemed to me to be forced. In a movie that featured mostly underwhelming and forgettable performances, the "best" was probably from Sidney Berger as Mary's somewhat lecherous neighbour John Linden, and - because I thought his performance was passable, it's not surprising to me that I found Hilligoss's best scenes were probably those she shot with him.

In addition to poor performances, there were a couple of points I thought were just poorly done. One is a technical point: as Mary plays the organ, the problem is that the music being played doesn't at all match what she's playing if you watch her hands on the keyboard. In fact, it isn't even close. And I thought it rather strange that Dr. Samuels (Stan Levitt) would take Mary back to his office and spend an hour - according to her - in what seemed to be some sort of psycho-therapy, only to then say to her "well, I'm no psychiatrist." As I said, the story is not bad. I had kind of figured out what was happening early on, but there was a fair enough feeling of "creepiness" that's important for this kind of movie. I would have appreciated knowing why the carnival was so important that Mary feels drawn to it long before she arrives in Utah from wherever she started out (I don't remember her starting point being identified.) That was a significant weakness to me. The plot (of a soul caught somewhere between life and death) was OK, but the mystery of the carnival's attraction was never resolved.

The weak acting put me off this one, I have to admit. Some apparently see it as a cult classic, but it doesn't make that grade for me. 3/10