Movie Review: Carnival of Souls (1962)

The 1962 horror flick Carnival of Souls is an example of how a movie that is made on only a very small budget can generate more scares than the expensive, CGI-heavy movies of today. This movie makes heavy use of symbolism and of genuinely creepy direction to create an eerie atmosphere. The fact that it was shot in glorious black and white instead of color also added to the atmosphere of this movie.

One reason for the artistic success of Carnival of Souls is the fact that its creator, Herk Harvey, made only one dramatic film his entire life. Harvey was a maker of industrial training films, documentaries and educational films. This background gave him an unique perspective to approach making a horror flick and enabled him to come up with new ideas for creating a scary show. Another reason is that many of its actors never appeared in any other movies. This helps to give it a fresh look and also prevents the audience from looking at the cast through the lens of the prior roles that they played.

Carnival of Souls is at its heart a deeply spiritual movie. The movie begins with a young lady, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), having a near-death experience as the car that she is in goes off a bridge into a river Chappaquiddick style. It appears that of the trio of females in the car, she is the one and only survivor.

However, things are not what they seem. Mary starts seeing a pale faced man wherever she goes. Mary suddenly loses the ability to hear the people around her. Likewise, the people around Mary get to the point where they cannot see or hear her either. In Mary's job as church organist, the music goes from the inspirational to the horrific. It is clear that things are going from bad to worse for young Mary Henry and it all leads up to a classic horror movie finish.

Even today, the quality that was achieved on a miniscule budget is impressive. This is a horror flick with an unique dark waking dream atmosphere. This atmosphere is what gives this motion picture its charm. One of the reasons for this success is the fact that its lead actress, Candace Hilligoss, neither looks nor acts like an average person.
This is a film that is not so much scary as it is eerie and the narrative regarding the character of Mary Henry is fascinating. This is a movie that leaves viewers with a lingering feeling of dread and paranoia.

Basically, Carnival of Souls is a movie based on strong imagination, good use of symbolism and the end result is a great surprise. The overall effect of this movie is much like that of one of the best episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV show. This effect is aided by the excellent black and white cinematography. The end result is a classic horror flick that comes highly recommended.