Carnival of Souls (1962)
- Directed by
- Herk Harvey
- Genre
- horror film, psychological horror fiction, ghost film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 24m
- Rated
- NR
- Rating
- 6.9 of 10 from 538 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
After a car accident, a young woman moves to a new city where she struggles to connect with people. She becomes obsessed with an abandoned carnival and is followed by a silent ghoul. Her grip on reality starts to slip away.
unsettlingdreamlikeslow-burnbleakeerielonelyatmosphericsurreal
What happens
Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American neo-noir psychological horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival. Herk Harvey also appears in the film as a ghoulish stranger who stalks her throughout. The film is set to an organ score by Gene Moore. Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, Carnival of Souls was shot on a budget of $33,000, and Harvey employed various guerrilla filmmaking techniques to finish the production. The film is loosely based on the French short An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce, and Harvey was inspired by the visual style of filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau. Carnival of Souls was Harvey's only feature film, and did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a double feature with the now mostly forgotten The Devil's Messenger in 1962. Since the 1980s, the film has been noted by critics and film scholars for its cinematography and foreboding atmosphere. The film has a large cult following and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
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Don't Go to Sleep (1982)
The Cabinet of Caligari (1962)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Poltergeist (1982)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
The Couch (1962)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.