Horror Classic 1 of 50: CARNIVAL OF SOULS

-

So here I am, watching all the films in the 50 Movie Pack: Horror Classics DVD set. Click here to read the introductory post, in which I explain why.

The first film on the first side of the first disc of 50 Horror Classics is 1962's Carnival of Souls, starring Candace Hilligoss. After you read this post, you should check out the Wikipedia article I just linked to; it actually has a lot of interesting information on the film.

I had never heard of this movie, but the fact that it was co-written, directed and produced by a man named "Herk Harvey" prepared me for a so-fun-'cause-it's-so-bad romp, as did the opening scene with its obvious and flawed dialogue looping. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the...


Synopsis
Three young women agree to a street race against a dumb-looking guy in a dumb-looking hat. Whee, fun! But their car smashes through a guardrail and plunges into the river below. Boo, not fun! Rescue crews are unable to locate the car, but miraculously, one of the women, Mary, makes it to dry land alive. She's pretty shaken by the ordeal, but that doesn't stop her from going through with her plan to move to Salt Lake City to take a job as a church organist. You know what's spooky? Loud, menacing organ music, which is why that instrument was a better choice for the film than if Mary had been, say, a pro glockenspiel-er.

Following the accident, Mary is in a daze for most of the film, though the advances of her persistent, somewhat sleazy new neighbor provide a distraction. Meanwhile, scary stuff happens, as Mary begins to see visions of ghastly, zombie-like figures leering at her at inopportune moments, and for a while she becomes completely disconnected from the world, as she finds herself unable to interact with anyone. Man, that would be terrifying, although I wonder if she could still turn on the TV. If she's cut off from life, could she at least pass the time by watching Queen for a Day?

She goes on a date with Sleazy Neighbor, who's only after one thing, and consults a doctor, who's probably only after the same thing, because after all, all men are alike, am I right? But the whole time she finds herself drawn to the ornate, abandoned carnival outside of town, and at the film's end she ventures there alone to face her fears and bring an end to the haunting.

Is It Scary?
To my pleasant surprise, yes. The Ghastly Zombie People are effectively frightening, despite the film's low budget and the fact that a nice tan and some dental work would do them a world of good. Mary's freak-out scenes are quite competently executed, with evocative lighting and the ever-present organ music.

Lessons I Learned

  • Don't race. If you do race, don't drive off a bridge.
  • Playing organ music that sounds like the work of composer Oliver Messiaen will get you fired.
  • Your sleazy neighbor can see you changing clothes through the crack in the door.
  • Ghastly Zombie People are surprisingly good dancers.

Comments
This was a surprisingly not bad movie. There's some genuine characterization going on with Mary, especially in her scenes with Sleazy Neighbor. I would say that I got to know her about as well as Marion Crane from Psycho, another early 60s blonde who finds herself alone in a dangerous situation. IMDb tells me there's another Carnival of Souls from 1998, a loose remake "presented by" Wes Craven. I'm guessing it trades suspense for blood & guts, and that it's not as compelling as the original. Who knew ol' Herk Harvey would be a talented auteur?

The scary carnival complex in the movie is the Salt Lake City's Saltair Pavilion, which I've actually visited on a family vacation. I didn't see any zombies.

Letter grade for Carnival of Souls: B

Next film in the DVD set: Atom Age Vampire. If it's half as good as Atom Age Substitute Teacher, I know I'm in for a treat.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

50 Horror Classics: The Wrap-up

-
Image
I did it! I watched 50 old public domain movies slapped together by a cheap home video label under the claim that all of them are "horror classics." So... now what? I'll get to that later, but first, how about a breakdown of all 50 horror classics by letter grade? Before you read on, try guessing which letter grade I gave out most frequently! A: 2 Night of the Living Dead, Metropolis B+: 3 The Little Shop of Horrors, The Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde B: 9 House on Haunted Hill, The Bat, Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, Nosferatu, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Corpse Vanishes, Invisible Ghost, Creature From the Haunted Sea, Carnival of Souls B-: 9 The Amazing Mr. X, Bloodlust!, The Gorilla, Doomed to Die, The Killer Shrews, The Fatal Hour, The Giant Gila Monster, One Body Too Many, The Last Man on Earth C+: 5 A Shriek in the Night, Tormented, Bluebeard, The Vampire Bat, Nightmare Castle C: 8 Last Woman on Earth, Swamp Women, Indestructible Man, King of
Read more

Horror Classic 27 of 50: BLUEBEARD

-
Image
So, you know how I'm watching 50 old horror movies for this blog? And you know how sometimes it's been very, very difficult to find the willpower to carry on? Well, the other day I was in the Virgin Megastore, and what do you think I saw? I'll tell you what I saw. This: TWO HUNDRED FIFTY MOVIES ! And it's by the same video label as my 50-movie pack. My first thought is, where did they find 200 more crazy old horror movies? My second thought, of course, is, I sure am glad this isn't the DVD set I got for Christmas. I'd go completely bonkers before I finished watching 250 of these things. Speaking of things, (Is that a great transition or what?) this week I watched Bluebeard , a 1944 film which is not, as I expected, an adaptation of the old story of the ugly, many-wived Bluebeard . Nor does it have anything to do with Kurt Vonnegut's novel Bluebeard , other than the fact that both of them include a few allusions to the original story. Synopsis The pl
Read more

BONUS: Puss in Boots (1988) starring Christopher Walken

-
Image
Wow, it's been a long time since I watched a movie from my Drive-In Classics DVD set. I blame the rise of streaming video. With every movie ever made available at the click of a button, it's harder to find the motivation to watch Zombie Picnic or whatever when I know I could be watching a true classic. But here's something I watched recently, on DVD even. It's an obscure, low-budget movie. And it was part of a three-movie DVD I bought for about $2 at 7-11. So it's certainly in the spirit of this blog. The something in question is Puss in Boots , a 1988 film starring Christopher Walken as the titular talking cat. Yes, it's an actor playing a cat, but it's not animated, and in fact, there are almost no special effects at all. Puss starts out as a real cat, and then sometimes the camera cuts away or does a choppy editing trick, and then instead of the cat it's Mr. Walken. So he's really more of a Puss Who Looks a Lot Like a Man in Boots. For yea
Read more