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Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Herk Harvey ... see more see more... , Tom McGinniss , Ted Adams , Pamela Ballard , Steve Boozer , Cari Conboy , Stan Levitt , Lamy Sneegas , Bill de Jarnette , Dan Palmquist , Forbes Caldwell , Tom McGinnis

A drag race turns to tragedy when one car, with three young women inside, topples over a bridge and into the muddy river below. The authorities drag the river, but the search is fruitless and the girl... read more read more...s are presumed dead until a single survivor stumbles out of the water with no recollection of how she escaped. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) decides to forget her strange experience and carry on with her plan to move to Utah to accept a job as a church organist. She rejects the notion that because her profession leads her to work in the church, she is obligated to worship as part of the congregation, and this cold approach to her work unnerves many around her. While driving to the new city, she experiences weird visions of a ghoulish man who stares at her through the windshield, and passes an abandonded carnival on a desolate stretch of highway outside of town to which she feels strangely drawn. Mary tries to live her life in private, ignoring invitations to worship by the minister of her church and the leering propositions of a neighbor in her rooming house. Soon the ghostly apparition from the highway is appearing more often, and she experiences eerie spells in which she becomes invisible to people on the street. A doctor tries to help, but he too is rejected, and eventually Mary realizes that the deserted carnival holds the secret to her destiny. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi

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70% liked it

8,588 ratings

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81% liked it

31 critics

R, 1 hr. 20 min.

Directed by: Herk Harvey

Release Date: September 26, 1962

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DVD Release Date: May 16, 2000

 

Stats: 719 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (719)

  • cosmo313
    December 27, 2011
    cosmo313
    After a tragic car crash during a drag race, the sole survivor, a Kansas woman named Mary takes a job playing the organ at a church in Utah. On her journey ot Utah she begins experiencing ghostly visions and odd compulsions to visit an eeir abandoned carnival. Things get even wei... read morerder and more spooky from there, and her attempts to live a normal, quiet life seem all but impossible to do.

    Released in the early 1960s, this is a low budget indie before that concept really became what it is today. It might a horror film with a bunch of no names and little funds, but it makes the msot of what it has, and the result is a surprisingly fun and creepy atmospheric chiller that has become quite successful in the nearly 50 years since its release.

    The cinematogrpahy is surprisingly quite good, with the visuals being reminiscent of European arthouse fare as well as a bit of film noir. The acting is a bit stiff and wooden, and some of the makeup looks a bit cheesy in hindsight, but comared to a lot of stuff that came out after it did, these could have been far more terrible.

    The key to this film's success is in its atmosphere, which is quite excellent, and really strengthened thanks in large part to the film's organ score which is really hypnotic, creepy, and mesmerizing. The film has a heavy Twilight Zone vibe to it, and the increasing moodiness and bizarreness of events make for a fun little horror yarn.

    All in all, this is a strong effort given the circumstances, and I really liked it. I get the impression that I should love this, but even though as of now I merely just really, really enjoyed it, I think I could see myself eventually falling in love with it. If you want an entertaining and eerie film that helped set a certain standard for future similar films, then you need to give this one a watch.
  • fb1664868775
    October 30, 2011
    fb1664868775
    A film that creeps up on you and delivers. With breathtaking cinematography and direction, It's not just any regular old B-movie.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    August 26, 2011
    DragonEyeMorrison
    At times it feels like a Twilight Zone episode, wooden acting and everything, but when Carnival of Souls gets the mood right it never lets you go. Yes, mood, there was a time when movies had a sense of atmosphere, of building tension. All this with the right direction, the right ... read moreselection of music, performances, not CGI and loud soundtracks.

    Carnival of Souls works around it's budget and supporting cast issues by creating great moments, using wisely it's very obvious influences from german expresionism. Candice Hilligoss carries around the movie in a solid performance, and the director himself will keep creeping the crap out of you. People grown with thrillers/"horror" movies of the last decade will just try to keep guessing the ending. As for the rest of us, the journey of the movie will be the real joy here.
  • cancercapricorn2002
    July 16, 2011
    cancercapricorn2002
    When it comes to cult classics of the horror genre, I lump Carnival Of Souls into the same category as Night Of The Living Dead (1968). This movie had an extremely low budget - it was made for $30,000, or $17,000, depending on the source. Whatever it was, it was dirt cheap to mak... read moree. But in my opinion, sometimes low budget movies are better than the polished big budget movies with top-of-the-line actors and special effects. When it comes to horror movies, a small amount of money can produce the same desired result as big budget movies, which is to scare the audience. The goal is to create an eerie and spooky and scary atmosphere that taps into a person's feelings of fear. You really don't need a lot of money to accomplish this. A lot of low budget B horror movies are very effective. Carnival Of Souls is one of them.

    This movie was shot in Lawrence, Kansas and also at the Saltair Pavilion amusement park in Salt Lake City, Utah. This movie stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry, a church organist who survives a car accident in which her two girl companions died. The accident was the result of a car full of guys challenging the girls to a drag race. The race turns tragic as the car goes off a bridge and plunges into a river below. Her two companions die in the accident, but Mary somehow survives basically unscathed. She then goes to Salt Lake City and takes a new job playing organ in a church. Throughout the movie, she often sees the ghostly image of a man (played by director Herk Harvey) practically everywhere she goes. This man seems to be haunting her. Nobody else but her sees this man. It isn't long before she seems to become non-existent to the people around her, all of whom don't see or hear her. Along the way, a fellow tenant named John (played by Sidney Berger) who lives across the hall from her takes a great interest in her. At first she pushes him away, then at other times she wants to be with him and goes out to dinner with him. But at one point he realizes that she is "off her rocker" and storms out of the room and never sees her again. Mary seems to be scared of unknown forces throughout the movie. It also seems as if what is living and what is dead is a blur to her. She can't tell the difference. She basically is caught between the living and the dead. She is even haunted by her own organ music, which changes from happier tones early in the movie to more sinister and darker tones while she's practicing at the church one night. It seems as though ever since she saw the pavilion she became drawn to it. As a result, she falls into a trance and sees, in her mind, zombies coming out of the water near the pavilion to delight in her sinister organ music. Suddenly the church minister appears out of nowhere and disapproves of her organ playing and fires her. At first it appears she's still in a trance. Then it becomes apparent that she's probably in shock about being fired.

    Near the end, it seems as if Mary has been dreaming about these zombies at the abandoned carnival. The end of the movie has a bizarre ending that I won't reveal. Watch it to find out what happens.

    This movie's score is 100% theater organ, performed by Gene Moore. That's it - an organ. The organ music is eerie throughout the movie and seems to be off key a lot of the time (intentionally, of course) and has an underlying, subtle carnival melody during a lot of the scenes at the pavilion. I must say I'm surprised that Candace Hilligoss only appeared in one other movie (The Curse Of The Living Corpse in 1964). She is nice looking, has very good screen presence, and does a good job in her role.

    This movie can be classified as having subtle, atmospheric psychological horror. This movie has no blood and gore. Instead, the music, camera angles, lighting, howling winds, shadows, and feeling of emptiness make this movie creepy.

    This film is a must see for any fan of classic horror.
  • FilmFanatik
    May 12, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Much more interesting visually than story-wise. Kind of reminded me of Polanski...perhaps a poor man's Polanski. Well, that is, before there even was a Polanski. Anyway, the story is a pretty predictable affair and some of the performances are pretty schlocky, but the overall ... read moreatmosphere, mood, and visuals are what make this film worth watching.
  • ajv2688
    November 23, 2010
    ajv2688
    This is one of my favourite horror films of the sixties, it keeps you guessing till the end, and it's very atmospheric and creepy. I love this movie and I highly recommend it.
  • webalina
    September 8, 2010
    webalina
    The inspiration for Night of The Living Dead. When I saw it, I recognized the....ghosts? zombies?... as being in my dreams or nightmares Or maybe I saw it in my childhood and buried the memories. With good reason...even though the phantoms are just in cheap whiteface, they and th... read moreis whole film still scares the hell out of me.
    UPDATE: Yep, still scary.
  • flixsterman
    April 5, 2010
    flixsterman
    This is one of those rare films where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. The budget is low, the acting is suspect, the editing is choppy, and the makeup is downright cheesy - and yet Carnival of Souls is wonderfully creepy. A horror classic.
  • matertenebraum
    December 22, 2009
    matertenebraum
    I love this film! It's one of my all time favourite movies and I'd rate it as a deservedly acclaimed cult classic and the eeriest, most strangely compelling, most unforgettable and greatest horror movie of all time.

    The camera work is beautiful. The organ music, creepy carnival ... read moreand director Herk Harvey as the figure of Death are all unforgettably eerie. The first time I saw this film (I had already read about it's making in an issue of Fangoria) was on BBC2's Moviedrome introduced by Alex Cox (himself the director of Repo Man, the lackluster and innacurate Sid & Nancy and the amazing Well Did You Evah music video. On watching the film I was captivated and fascinated and ultimately at the film's conclusion had a strange feeling of déja vu, as if I'd seen it before in a dream or something, long ago.

    There are a number of surreal and creepy scenes in the film. The scene where Mary (Candace Hilligoss) goes to the abandoned carnival during the day has a surreal, dreamlike and sensual beauty. Whereas the later scenes

    of Mary playing the church organ and seeing in her mind, the dead rising from the sea and the film's carnival/beach conclusion are at once dreamlike and yet somehow documentary like at the same time. It's unforgettable imagery like this that makes this film such an unforgettable experience. On the other hand, the drunk lodger's attempts to seduce Mary are amusing and some of her biting dialogue and sarcasm helps keep the non horror moments entertaining. The film is also notable for having a clear influence on

    films and filmmakers like George A Romero's classic "Night Of The Living Dead" (another 60s b/w horror classic) and David Lynch (compare Herk Harvey's ghoul with Killer Bob's surreal and frightening appearances at unexpected times in Twin Peaks). Be warned however, once you experience the dreamlike qualities of this eerie masterpiece, I can't guarantee you'll ever awake from it.
  • 366weirdmovies
    March 29, 2009
    366weirdmovies
    A church organist survives a drowning accident and finds herself seeing visions of a pale, ghostly man while she's drawn towards a mysterious abandoned amusement park on the outskirts of town. Made for next to nothing by a first-time feature director, written by a first-time fea... read moreture screenwriter, and featuring a first-time actress (the mesmerizing Candace Hilligoss), the haunting CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a masterpiece of bargain-basement atmosphere and a small miracle on film.

View All Carnival of Souls Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
September 21, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

Occasionally a feature film emerges from the midwest, although this is the first ever out of Lawrence, Kans, where a group of commercial film pros veered off into a try at producing theatrical enterta... Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
September 21, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

There isn't very much here to sustain interest. Full Review

Joe Brown
January 1, 2000
Joe Brown, Washington Post

Carnival of Souls works well enough as chill-up-the-spine cinema. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It depends on crisp black-and-white photography, atmosphere and surprisingly effective acting. Full Review

Steve Biodrowski
August 14, 2010
Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

There is a nightmare quality to its best scenes, but the film is essentially a great half-hour Twilight Zone padded out to feature length. Full Review

Anton Bitel
March 1, 2009
Anton Bitel, Eye for Film

Harvey leaves enough questions unanswered in this twilight zone to ensure that Carnival Of Souls enjoys a haunting afterlife in the viewer's mind. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
October 27, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A haunting ghost story. Full Review

September 21, 2007
Film4

This is one of the most original and unsettling horror movies to come out of America during its B-movie saturated, drive-in friendly period. Full Review

Adam Smith
September 21, 2007
Adam Smith, Empire Magazine

It retains an atmosphere of melancholic, surreal dread. Full Review

September 21, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A chilling ghost story with artistic pretensions. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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    • Landlady: Take all the hot baths you want. I'm not one to fuss about a thing like that.
    • Mary Henry: To me a church is just a place of business.
    • Mary Henry: It's funny, the world is so different in the daylight. In the dark, your fantasies get so out of hand. But in the daylight everything falls back into place again.
    • John Linden: That's just what I need! Get mixed up with some girl who's off her rocker!
    • Landlady: You just let your imagination run away with you.
    • John Linden: You're gonna need me in the evening; you just don't know it yet.
Submit a Fact | View All

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Carnival of Souls Trivia

  • The view of the zombies rising from out of the river in Land of the Dead is an homage to the classic scene where the dead rise out of the Great Salt Lake before the dance sequence in which movie?  Answer »
  • Which actress starred in the 1962 horror classic 'Carnival of Souls?'  Answer »
  • Each answer is a film based on a novel or story by Stephen King, compared to another film to which it may bear a VERY striking similarity. Which pairing is the most dissimilar?  Answer »
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