Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)

Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)


Starring:Bobbie Phillips, Shawnee Smith, Larry Miller, Paul Johansson, Cleavant Derricks, Henry G. Sanders, Brendan Thomas Dillion, Anna K. McKown, Raquel Beaudene, Tiffanie Ann Taylor, Joseph S. Griffo, Robert LaSardo, Mark Paskell, Ellen Albertini Dow, Andrew Craig, Michael Phenicie, Wendy Worthington, Brent Hinkley, Sidney Berger, Mark J. Ferreri
Director: Adam Grossman, Ian Kessner
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
For two-thirds of its spare 86 minutes, this remake of the 1962 cult classic is a tautly constructed, engaging, supernatural suspense thriller. Then, right when it needs to kick into high gear, it all goes flooey. Splatter fans will be disappointed by the low gore quotient and deliberate pacing; the film favors psychological horror over physical. The evil screaming worm-people that are intercut throughout the picture lose their shock value pretty quickly. The climax is, well, anticlimactic. And the shaggy-dog ending, which was a letdown in the original, is a letdown here too. But Larry Miller is superbly evil as the pederast and murderer who returns from the dead to terrorize the woman who helped put him behind bars. And Bobbie Phillips, despite her limitations, is nicely effective in the lead, especially in the quieter moments. It's two-thirds of a good movie (but then again, so was Apocalypse Now). Trivia factoid: Sidney Berger, who was the creepy neighbor in the original, plays the older cop in the end sequence. --Geof Miller
Carnival of Souls
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • AVOID THIS RELEASE!
  • In the dark...
  • Simply a classic.Also in color too!! This review is for the dvd itself not just the movie.
  • Psychic isolation rendered through landscape.
  • A story so unusual it will burn itself into your mind
Carnival of Souls
Starring: Ted Adams , Pamela Ballard , Sidney Berger , Steve Boozer , and Cari Conboy
Director: Herk Harvey
Manufacturer: Arts Alliance Amer
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007PAMBK
Release Date: 2005-03-29

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars AVOID THIS RELEASE!.......2006-12-17

The Criterion 2-disc edition is far superior in image and sound quality to this release and, most importantly, is the only one endorsed by the surviving creators. You can receive thoughtful and in-depth information on the film with that release, something Mike Nelson's comedic commentary could never provide. Plus you get the two original versions of the film, neither of which are colorized.

5 out of 5 stars In the dark..........2006-11-04

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them... but she can't escape from them forever.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. It was also the ending that has inspired creepy horror movies ever since. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand what it is that Mary is really running from.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

This version doesn't have the loads of extras the Criterion one has. But it does have a well-colorized version, as well as the original black-and-white. The icing on the cake: Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 does the commentary, which is the same sort of mockery they had for other such movies.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.

5 out of 5 stars Simply a classic.Also in color too!! This review is for the dvd itself not just the movie........2006-11-04

I'm not going into what the movie is about but i'm going to tell ya,this company did an excellent job restoring and colorizing this flick.they even restored it so you can catch it in all it's original black and white glory!!! If you're looking for gore this ain't gonna be your bag...but if you want to see a classic ahead of it's time this is a good one. and if you're thinking about trying to save a few bucks and buy the cheap version DON'T IT SUCKS big time, Trust me I own a copy.That's it for my review, but give this movie a watch and don't let it be forgotten by time as so many other greats have.

5 out of 5 stars Psychic isolation rendered through landscape........2006-02-17

Gallons of ink have been devoted, (justifiably) to this film. But few have perhaps paid sufficient due to the cinematographer, Maurice Prather.

Mr. Prather aids and abets the script at every turn in his rendering of Miss Hilligoss's (in the role of Mary Henry) isolation from those around her. From his crow's nest shots of her wandering through the deserted carnival to the scenes of her lone sedan traversing the twilight prairie highway, he unfailingly delivers a picture of un-peopled vastness--a vastness that cannot be breached by human or psychic outreach.

And that is what this film is really about--Mary Henry's inability to accept the fact that she has already departed from the world she continues to haunt.

Ultimately she knows, (as does her personal Charon--the Carnival Ghoul) that she must be reclaimed--and it is in her persistent refusal to yield to his summons, from which the conflict and tension of the film springs.

This is perhaps revealed most disquietingly in a scene near the beginning of the film, when the minister accompanies her to take a look at the abandoned carnival--but refuses to accompany her across the barricade. Thus, though the visit is without ostensible horrific incident--it concludes with a silhouette of the Carnival Ghoul dropping his head in resignation from behind a gated doorway inside the pavilion, while at the very same moment, Miss Hilligoss, (seemingly safe in a car already miles away) is stabbed with a sudden deja vu--reflected with a rueful knowing in her eyes--one of many brilliant moments in a film brimming with them.

And it should not merely be to the cognoscente that such an inevitable moment as this, terrifies far more meaningfully, than any knife wielding Friday the 13th slasher might.

As to Mr. Prather, note how similar are the contrast and tone levels he uses to depict the vast American mid-western landscapes under over-cast skies, to that used by Sven Nykvist in Bergman's "Winter Light." Though the Bergman film is set in Sweden--surely the similarity is not coincidental.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 out of 5 stars A story so unusual it will burn itself into your mind.......2006-02-09

The tagline reads Is there death after life? The movie is a weird tale of the unnatural and it will haunt you.

Mary is out enjoying a ride with two friends. The women accept a challenge to a drag and are forced off of a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until quite some time later Mary amazingly emerges from the river. Three days later Mary accepts a job in a new town as a church organist. On her way there she begins to be stalked by a mysterious phantom figure that seems to reside in an old abandoned carnival. It is here that Mary must confront the personal demons of her spiritual indifference.
This movie will take you on a surreal supernatural journey into the afterlife. One can't help but wonder if this film was a major influence for 'Final Destination'. This film is a great classic and worthy viewing for fans of the genre. FYI Sidney Berger who played John Linden would go on to star in 1998's Wes Craven Presents 'Carnival of Souls' as a Cop. This was not a remake and shared only the same title.


Carnival of Souls - Criterion Collection
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though.
  • REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!
  • Creepy low budget film
  • A great nightmare...
  • In the dark...
Carnival of Souls - Criterion Collection
Starring: T.C. Adams , Pamela Ballard , Sidney Berger , Steve Boozer , and Forbes Caldwell
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 1559409002
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Amazon.com essential video

An ultra-cheap B-horror movie, filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1962, with a really creepy Twilight Zone-style premise and some great shoestring atmosphere. Wandering into a small town after an auto accident, to begin her new job as a church organist, young Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) begins to pick up strange vibes: none of the normal people in town seem to be able to see her, and she keeps being accosted by freakish pasty-faced types who seem to be dead on their feet. The nightmarish finale benefits from its one-of-a-kind "found" setting, an empty amusement park rising like a ghostly castle from the prairie landscape. This is much less aggressive and violent film than George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, but for sheer skin- crawling spookiness, it's in the same class. --David Chute --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Description

Herk Harvey's macabre masterpiece gained a cult following through late night television and has been bootlegged for years. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, Carnival of Souls was intended to have the "look of a Bergman" and "feel of a Cocteau," and succeeds with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) survives a drag race in a rural Kansas town, then takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Criterion is proud to present the ultimate special edition of this eerily effective B-movie classic that continues to inspire filmmakers today.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though........2007-04-27

What can I say about this CRITERION release that hasn't already been posted here. I did want to mention a difference in print quality between the "Theatrical Version" and the "Extended Director's Cut". I watch my movies with a front projection setup, on a 10' wide DaLite HCCV screen, so image quality is important.

Don't get me wrong, both versions are EXCELLENT quality, though the "Extended Director's Cut" is a little soft & fuzzy in comparison. It is also somewhat darker and "muddy" with less contrast than the "Theatrical Version" which is bright and crisp. This is apparent if you just compare the opening scene. They are drag racing on a bright, sunny day but in the "Director's Cut" it looks more like a cloudy "about to rain" day, and it's difficult to see anything inside the girls' car. When they pass the CONSTRUCTION sign on the road, in the "Director's Cut" it is quite dark and soft (still totally legible) while in the "Theatrical Version" the words on the sign are bright, perfectly sharp and crisp.

Of course, the first thing I did was to watch the "Extended Director's Cut" and found a *few* of the restored scenes to be integral to the story. I still watch this film from time to time, and it's always CRITERION'S "Theatrical Version" I pop in the 'ole DVD player.

Anyone else noticed this difference in print quality?

5 out of 5 stars REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!.......2007-04-17

This is an amazing film. If you like horror movies, this is a must see. This film has more creepyness than new films costing 100 times as much to make. Excellent story and eerie mood will keep the bed covers pulled up to your eyes. Watch this in the dark alone!......Spooky! Awesome DVD transfer by Criterion with a load of extra goodies!

4 out of 5 stars Creepy low budget film.......2007-01-25

I saw this film as a kid and recently saw it again. It really holds up. The scene on the bridge sent shivers down my spine and all the carnival stuff holds up well. The musical score by Gene Moore is sufficiently eerie to keep the mood creepy. All praise goes onto Candace Hilligoss who plays Mary Henry in a very intense performance, that is both eerie and surreal. She really makes the film work. The directing by Herk Harvey is very good for a B movie. This movie goes on a little long but it is still worth seeing.

5 out of 5 stars A great nightmare..........2006-11-22

I first saw this film on video when it was "somewhat" restored in the 1980's. Of course, it had the cult reputation of a long unseen film, and seeing it the first time was a bit of a letdown. But when Criterion released it in this deluxe 2 DVD edition, I decided to try again. I am very happy I did. This is a real gem, disquieting, scary, incredibly atmospheric, and haunting (no pun intended). I have always loved horror films that are quiet, that get inside your head, and really play around with your consciousness. Films like that are The Sixth Sense, Kwaidan, Daughters of Darkness, Dreyer's Vampyr, the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, the original Pulse), and this film too. They don't smash you over the head with violence and gore. They end up disturbing you in ways you can't really explain. As some reviewers have noted, Herk Harvey, the director, made only one feature film in his life, and this is it. He was an industrial filmmaker who worked at Centron Corporation in Lawrence, Kansas (where much of this film was shot) all his life. He made over 400 industrial films (those cheesy, "how to" films that get parodied to death on TV). Harvey said he wanted to make a film with "the look of a Bergman film, and the feel of a Cocteau one", and he did. There is much to like about this work. The organ score is exceptionally creepy, the photography is very good considering how low budget the film was, and the Pavillion where we see the souls dancing is one of the best locations I've ever seen for a film. A note to burgeoning filmmakers: to save money, shoot at a place that has been abandoned, but has great atmosphere (Kubrick did this with Full Metal Jacket. Hue City was actually an abandoned gas works outside London). Some of the acting here is rather amateurish, but it doesn't really bother me too much. Candance Hilgegrass is actually good, playing a cold, dispassionate woman. Her performance is rather off putting, but it works rather well here. Some of Harvey's industrial films are included on this set, and they're so incredibly cheesy. You can probably safely skip them. While this film didn't do rather well at first, I'm glad it got rediscovered, and Harkey got the credit he deserved. Make sure you buy the Criterion edition. There are some public domain copies floating around here, and they are more than likely horrible.

5 out of 5 stars In the dark..........2006-08-30

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them... but she can't escape from them forever.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. It was also the ending that has inspired creepy horror movies ever since. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand what it is that Mary is really running from.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

If you're willing to shell out for it, the Criterion version of "Carnival of Souls" is the one to get, especially since it includes both versions of the movie, nicely restored (if you don't have much money, try Alpha). When it first came out, five minutes were chopped off, and here the second disc contains those five extra minutes, reinserted. Nothing groundbreaking, but these little moments of utter creepiness add to the atmosphere.

Additionally, Criterion loads it up on fan-friendly extras -- galleries, interviews, company stills, tours of the Kansas town where it was shot, and other little goodies. The documentaries about the making of the film and its history are the highlight of the extra material, and this is mainly for the diehard fan.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.
Carnival of Souls and Horror Hotel
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though.
  • REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!
  • Creepy low budget film
  • A great nightmare...
  • In the dark...
Carnival of Souls and Horror Hotel
Starring: William Abney , Ann Beach , Valentine Dyall , James Dyrenforth , and Nickolas Grace
Manufacturer: Diamond Ent. Corp.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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  5. The Blob - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00004WGAA
Release Date: 2003-01-01

Amazon.com essential video

An ultra-cheap B-horror movie, filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1962, with a really creepy Twilight Zone-style premise and some great shoestring atmosphere. Wandering into a small town after an auto accident, to begin her new job as a church organist, young Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) begins to pick up strange vibes: none of the normal people in town seem to be able to see her, and she keeps being accosted by freakish pasty-faced types who seem to be dead on their feet. The nightmarish finale benefits from its one-of-a-kind "found" setting, an empty amusement park rising like a ghostly castle from the prairie landscape. This is much less aggressive and violent film than George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, but for sheer skin- crawling spookiness, it's in the same class. --David Chute --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though........2007-04-27

What can I say about this CRITERION release that hasn't already been posted here. I did want to mention a difference in print quality between the "Theatrical Version" and the "Extended Director's Cut". I watch my movies with a front projection setup, on a 10' wide DaLite HCCV screen, so image quality is important.

Don't get me wrong, both versions are EXCELLENT quality, though the "Extended Director's Cut" is a little soft & fuzzy in comparison. It is also somewhat darker and "muddy" with less contrast than the "Theatrical Version" which is bright and crisp. This is apparent if you just compare the opening scene. They are drag racing on a bright, sunny day but in the "Director's Cut" it looks more like a cloudy "about to rain" day, and it's difficult to see anything inside the girls' car. When they pass the CONSTRUCTION sign on the road, in the "Director's Cut" it is quite dark and soft (still totally legible) while in the "Theatrical Version" the words on the sign are bright, perfectly sharp and crisp.

Of course, the first thing I did was to watch the "Extended Director's Cut" and found a *few* of the restored scenes to be integral to the story. I still watch this film from time to time, and it's always CRITERION'S "Theatrical Version" I pop in the 'ole DVD player.

Anyone else noticed this difference in print quality?

5 out of 5 stars REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!.......2007-04-17

This is an amazing film. If you like horror movies, this is a must see. This film has more creepyness than new films costing 100 times as much to make. Excellent story and eerie mood will keep the bed covers pulled up to your eyes. Watch this in the dark alone!......Spooky! Awesome DVD transfer by Criterion with a load of extra goodies!

4 out of 5 stars Creepy low budget film.......2007-01-25

I saw this film as a kid and recently saw it again. It really holds up. The scene on the bridge sent shivers down my spine and all the carnival stuff holds up well. The musical score by Gene Moore is sufficiently eerie to keep the mood creepy. All praise goes onto Candace Hilligoss who plays Mary Henry in a very intense performance, that is both eerie and surreal. She really makes the film work. The directing by Herk Harvey is very good for a B movie. This movie goes on a little long but it is still worth seeing.

5 out of 5 stars A great nightmare..........2006-11-22

I first saw this film on video when it was "somewhat" restored in the 1980's. Of course, it had the cult reputation of a long unseen film, and seeing it the first time was a bit of a letdown. But when Criterion released it in this deluxe 2 DVD edition, I decided to try again. I am very happy I did. This is a real gem, disquieting, scary, incredibly atmospheric, and haunting (no pun intended). I have always loved horror films that are quiet, that get inside your head, and really play around with your consciousness. Films like that are The Sixth Sense, Kwaidan, Daughters of Darkness, Dreyer's Vampyr, the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, the original Pulse), and this film too. They don't smash you over the head with violence and gore. They end up disturbing you in ways you can't really explain. As some reviewers have noted, Herk Harvey, the director, made only one feature film in his life, and this is it. He was an industrial filmmaker who worked at Centron Corporation in Lawrence, Kansas (where much of this film was shot) all his life. He made over 400 industrial films (those cheesy, "how to" films that get parodied to death on TV). Harvey said he wanted to make a film with "the look of a Bergman film, and the feel of a Cocteau one", and he did. There is much to like about this work. The organ score is exceptionally creepy, the photography is very good considering how low budget the film was, and the Pavillion where we see the souls dancing is one of the best locations I've ever seen for a film. A note to burgeoning filmmakers: to save money, shoot at a place that has been abandoned, but has great atmosphere (Kubrick did this with Full Metal Jacket. Hue City was actually an abandoned gas works outside London). Some of the acting here is rather amateurish, but it doesn't really bother me too much. Candance Hilgegrass is actually good, playing a cold, dispassionate woman. Her performance is rather off putting, but it works rather well here. Some of Harvey's industrial films are included on this set, and they're so incredibly cheesy. You can probably safely skip them. While this film didn't do rather well at first, I'm glad it got rediscovered, and Harkey got the credit he deserved. Make sure you buy the Criterion edition. There are some public domain copies floating around here, and they are more than likely horrible.

5 out of 5 stars In the dark..........2006-08-30

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them... but she can't escape from them forever.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. It was also the ending that has inspired creepy horror movies ever since. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand what it is that Mary is really running from.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

If you're willing to shell out for it, the Criterion version of "Carnival of Souls" is the one to get, especially since it includes both versions of the movie, nicely restored (if you don't have much money, try Alpha). When it first came out, five minutes were chopped off, and here the second disc contains those five extra minutes, reinserted. Nothing groundbreaking, but these little moments of utter creepiness add to the atmosphere.

Additionally, Criterion loads it up on fan-friendly extras -- galleries, interviews, company stills, tours of the Kansas town where it was shot, and other little goodies. The documentaries about the making of the film and its history are the highlight of the extra material, and this is mainly for the diehard fan.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.
Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Dance, dance
  • Get That Cat Off The Organ!
  • Find yourself Miss Holligoss.........
  • Good black & white movie for the bucks
  • A shoe-string budget, black & white cult classic horror film
Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)
Starring: Carnival of Souls
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006RCLQ
Release Date: 2003-09-16

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Dance, dance.......2006-09-30

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them... but she can't escape from them forever.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. It was also the ending that has inspired creepy horror movies ever since. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand what it is that Mary is really running from.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.

3 out of 5 stars Get That Cat Off The Organ!.......2004-09-10

This is a classic horror movie from 1962 filmed in Kansas, and at an abandoned theme park on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, "Saltair." There is now a colorized DVD available from Off-Color Films featuring a commentary track by Mike Nelson. I recommend the version with the commentary for vastly improved entertainment value.

The film itself is actually modestly creepy. It stars Candace Hilligoss as a schizophrenic, antisocial church organist with a major spiritual dilemma being taunted by beings from beyond the grave, led by Zombie-In-Chief, and also Director, Herk Harvey (famous for making many Centron educational shorts like "Industrial Arts" and "Juvenile Delinquency.")

The plot is straightforward, and I won't reveal it here, but it involves drag racing, otherworldly (if not possessed) organ playing, and the creepiest boarding house in film history. The Off-Color DVD has several extras including the original trailer. I thought the movie was a tad better than Mike Nelson did, but while perhaps groundbreaking in 1962, it is tame if not boring in today's world. It is generally a credible effort with some genuine spookiness despite its dated appearance.

As an aside, the film makers decided on a soundtrack that was solo organ music, and the droning, buzzing noodling on the organ is extremely annoying in a very short while. It was evidently scored and performed by an organist who had not yet learned to play the organ.

5 out of 5 stars Find yourself Miss Holligoss................2003-09-28

Carnival of Souls aka "Corridors of Evil", is a crowning jewel in American Cinema. Despite the low budget and poor film quality, this 1962 masterpiece stands as a cult more than 40 years after it's release. Candice Hilligoss' fine performance will overwhelm you as she portrays a character caught in a purgatory between life and death. Her beauty alone will strike the viewer in a way few actresses can. Her physical acting, facial gestures, and line delivery will leave you wondering why this woman did not become a household name like Marilyn Monroe or Raquel Welch.

The story is as simple as it is complex. A woman is an innocent passenger in a car that gets into a drag race with some teenage thugs. The result is her car going over a bridge into a fast running, sandy river. As she crawls out of the wreckage covered in mud, the viewer thinks she has survived, but has she?

Ms. Hilligoss' character is a musician, an organist to be exact who takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City, Utah. As she begins her journey she is terrified of images of a phantom of sorts who seems to be seeking her out. Anyone who has driven for an average of twelve hours straight can tell you that driving can take its toll, and the mind can play tricks on a sleepy driver. However, after she checks into her room, she finds the same phantom lurking in the window, then in the hallway. Who is this creature, what does he want, where is he from?

The main point of the film is not horror, but human nature. Are we all alone in this world? Is everyone an island unto themselves. The lesson is thrown upon our character by a minister, a psychologist, and a would be male suitor. They all try to help her in their own way (except the suitor who is only interested in her for a chance to have sex). But our character waves a hand at them all, convinced that she can do it her own way. She is an independent woman who needs no man or companionship; a view that may have gone against society's thinking in 1962.

The male suitor (or `just your normal guy' as he likes to call himself) is an obnoxious oaf to say the least. His headstrong pursuit of her is only his own selfish desire to have her. He's not an alcoholic he claims, yet he drinks at dawn. He quit college because he doesn't like to learn. This is not an ideal resume for a long term relationship for her or any other woman. When she is truly frightened by the visiting spectre, and she reaches out to him as a last resort for help, he runs. Not wanting to get involved, he was only interested in her for her body and his own sexual desire. Yet another lesson in this film for all the young ladies who care to pay attention.

As the story goes on Candace's soul seems to deteriorate. She slips in and out of reality and a strange sort of parallel world. This dimension looks the same as real life, but she cannot be seen or heard. The department store dressing room for example, shows how the lost spirit must learn that she is no longer of this world, but now belongs in the spirit world, where yet another companion awaits her.

Who is this man that haunts her in visions? We see at the end of the film that they are to be together forever. In the final seen where we see Candace's peek at her after-life. She screams in horror as the ghosts dance eternally as the haunt the carnival. She is finally captured by the ghosts and is spirited away. The police and minister are confused and baffled as her footprints and final body print leads nowhere. The minister gives a knowing look as if he has known all along, but says nothing.

The minister must have known there was something wrong with his new organist when he first met and eventually fired her. She had not the soul of a musician, she only had a knowledge for music. She was told this too by the organ builder in the beginning of the film. When she is possessed in the church and her true musician ship comes out as she plays without control, that is her true spirit, but the misinster fires her for `blasphony'.

This film cannot be watched once and dismissed. It deserves to be watched over and over again. It is a timeless movie where something seems new every time you watch it. I applaud you `Carnival of Souls'. One of the greatest movies ever made.

3 out of 5 stars Good black & white movie for the bucks.......2003-03-14

I bought this DVD on a whim, and I'm pleased.
It reminds me a little of Night of the Living Dead and The Tingler. The transfer from film could have been cleaner. The DVD still has all the "dirt & damaged film look" left in. In a way this adds to the character of the movie. The sound is in mono, and the DVD had no information inside (like a chapter list). No extra features other than chapter search here either. Can't complain, pretty good movie, cheap price, over an hour of entertainment. You can't rent for what it cost to buy this one.

5 out of 5 stars A shoe-string budget, black & white cult classic horror film.......2002-10-09

"Carnival of Souls," the only theatrical film every directed by Herk Harvey, is a cult classic with a most deserved reputation that puts it almost on a par with dead George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" in terms of shoestring productions (In fact, the two films appear together on a recent DVD Double Feature). Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) accepts a car ride from a group of other young girls, only to end up in a drag race that sees the car go over a bridge with only Mary surviving. Having taken a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City, Mary heads for her new home, passing a deserted pavilion on the outskirts of town. Mary is drawn to the ruined bathing center/carnival, but has bigger problems since she keeps seeing a leering, corpse-like man (played by Harvey) watching her. Again and again Mary has the eerie experience of suddenly finding herself in a silent world where no one seems to notice her. Eventually she returns to the pavilions to come to the terrifying realization of what has happened.

"Carnvial of Souls" came about because Herk Harvey drove by Saltair, the deserted 1940s tourist resort outside Salt Lake City, and decided it would make a powerful location for a horror film. Harvey recruited John Clifford to come up with a screenplay that would involve Harvey's image of dead bodies rising from the lake to pursue their victim. The finished product certainly evokes a nightmarish quality that makes you ignore the technical problems with overdubbing, campy performances by the supporting cast, and such. Hilligloss, trained in the Method by Strassberg but denied any hint of her character's motivation by the director (think about it), only made one other film, "Curse of the Living Corpse" (1964), but this film is enough to secure her reputation in the field. Sidney Berger, the all too friendly guy down the hall at her boarding house, does a cameo as a cop in the 1998 "Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls" debacle, which does not compare on any level to this evocative horror classic. Given the high gloss shlock that is out there it is nice to see a horror film that is actually effective at creating a sense of unease without resorting to special effects.
Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • In the dark, your fantasies get so far out of hand
  • Low-budget winner
  • Sound and Music Tell the Story
  • Very good film from the early horror genre
  • An Eerie Dream
Carnival of Souls (1962) (B&W)
Starring: Candace Hilligoss
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006L90T
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars In the dark, your fantasies get so far out of hand.......2006-08-26

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them. But she can't escape what has already happened.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand that Mary was not meant to be where she was -- having never lived, she could not bear to accept the inevitable.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

The Alpha Video version of this is a good cheap version -- the picture is clear, though slightly tinted with purple in some scenes; it seems that Alpha got their hands on a very good print of this movie. Not a snap, crackle or pop to be heard on the soundtrack either.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.

4 out of 5 stars Low-budget winner.......2005-11-07

Given its low-budget pedigree, this film is far better than anyone had any right to expect. Director Herk Harvey, in his only production (!), shows himself to be a master of atmosphere. There's not much to the story: after a near-death experience, a young woman (Candace Hilligoss) is stalked by ghosts. She sometimes appears to become invisible to those around her and has a weird attraction to an abandoned resort out in the Utah desert. I can imagine that this was the perfect drive-in movie; the images are of paramount importance and deliver an eerie experience without the necessity of distracting teenagers from their necking with the need to follow a story. The film ends with a "twist" that is very passe today (and probably was in the 60s as well), but by this time Harvey has already delivered plenty of shivers. Our heroine's mysterious end is a beautifully orchestrated black-and-white nightmare. What would Harvey have accomplished if he had continued making films...and why didn't he?/

5 out of 5 stars Sound and Music Tell the Story.......2005-04-01

One of the best things about Carnival of Souls is the way the sound and music create the film's atmosphere. The first organ chords that open the film with shots of the river's murky surface foreshadow a later diegetic appearance of the same music. The magnified sound of the boards of the fateful wooden bridge ratchet up the eeriness of the mood, and echo the distorted sound of Mary Henry's footsteps when, toward the end, in her last terrified flight through the town, the clacking of her heels on the street takes on a strange and unreal rhythm.
After the accident, we see Mary Henry from above, from the point of view of the crowd on the bridge. She crawls out of the muddy water where the police have been dragging for the car, which had earlier plunged from the bridge. This is the first of many times that she is viewed from an overhead angle. The second time we see her from such a height is at the organ manufacturing warehouse, from the balcony where several of the workers, lured away from their various jobs as if hypnotized by her music, have gathered to see her practicing. In this scene we learn that she is leaving for Salt Lake City to take a job as a church organist. The installation supervisor wishes her luck, and tells her: Put your soul into it a little OK? (Spot the low-budget dialog, OK...?)

An interesting sound device occurs next in the car, en route to Salt Lake City. We discover that the music we hear is not coming from the radio as we had thought, because as she turns the dials, nothing happens. The source of the music appears puzzling to her as well. Hilligoss is stunning here - crazy-eyed, her face in ECU lit by otherworldly light.
The film was made in 1962, and so we never see a pack of Marlboros or a can of Pepsi. But when Mary Henry arrives at the rooming house in Salt Lake City and we meet the landlady, Mrs. Thomas, she happens to be carrying a can of Ajax - quite amusing!
Most of the scenes are tense as Mary is often in claustrophobic spaces: inside her car, or with the cloying Mr. Linden, the neighbor, who continually forces into her space with his hands, face, and body. Later, the minister too crowds her in the blocked area behind the organ. The first peaceful scene is the one where she first visits the abandoned fairground, which inexplicably draws her. Again we see her from high above when she enters the pavilion.

Probably the most important scene in the film occurs when Mary visits the empty church to practice. She starts out with all the correct organ music, pauses to look at her hands as if they don't belong to her, and resumes. But now the music changes. It becomes the haunted carnivalesque score building on what we'd heard briefly in the opening scene. Gene Moore is credited with the music, and it's superb! Has anything been written anywhere about this? (Did it influence the opening of Led Zeppelin's "Your Time is Gonna Come"?) She's become one with the organ, and we see her bare feet floating over the pedals, rows of choir robes shiver disembodied on their hangers, we see images of clouds over the moon then reflected in the water, saints frozen in the stained glass, and dancers in the pavilion in compressed time. I think this is really an amazing cinematic moment! It ends when the minister bursts on this scene, horrified. He's heard all this, and shrieks: Profane! Sacrilege! He blurts out that he pities her for her "lack of soul" and instantly banishes her from the church, firing her from her job as church organist forever.

There is a particularly sublime shot in the film to watch for. It occurs in the scene of Mary Henry's final visit to the pavilion. There is a long shot of the ballroom dancers in the dark pavilion, embracing and motionless, entangled with the long dangling streamers. This is count one. Counts two, three, and four occur like this: the strings of lights illuminate, the music starts, and the dancers begin. The lights, the music, and the motion occur with a cadence so deliberate and careful as though counted out by metronome, and as if to suggest that everything will happen in order, as it should. No need to hurry, no need to run. This time we see Mary from a low angle, the sky behind her instead of the ground.

5 out of 5 stars Very good film from the early horror genre.......2004-12-25

This film is really subtle; it doesn't rely on gore or "camp" for one; secondly, it has some really nice, haunting imagery that is unforgettable (especially the "creepy man" everyone refers to, who I learned was actually played by the director). The music also adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the atmosphere and I really like the elusive idea of a "Carnival of Souls" and how the main character is drawn there but doesn't know why until the very end.

4 out of 5 stars An Eerie Dream.......2004-10-26

The opening credits of CARNIVAL OF SOULS appear on the screen across a turbulent body of water. This symbolic image is augmented by a haunting score of organ music. Then the action begins. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) is the passenger in a vehicle with some female friends. A car full of boys challenges the girls to a drag race through the country and it's off to the races. The speeding chase comes to an end when the girls' care accidently swerves off the bridge into the rushing, high-water river below. Hours later as the river is dragged and witnesses are question, Mary climbs out of the river. She is covered in mud, scraped up a little, and chilled from the water. She is alive, but the accident has wiped away her memory of how she escaped.

A week later, Mary moves away from her hometown and begins a cross-country drive to Salt Lake City, Utah where she has accepted a job as an organist in a small church. During the drive, she is almost involved in another accident as she sees the face of a pale, death-like man appear in her window. She also becomes strangely intrigued by a closed Carnival Pavillion on the outskirts of the city. Mary soon settles into her new life, but begins seeing the pale man more frequently. She becomes obsessed with the closed and condemned carnival building outside of town and like the frightening man, the carnival begins to haunt her sleeping dreams and waking thoughts. Soon Mary experiences a phenomena where she cannot hear any sounds except the ones she makes and where other people seem oblivious to her prescence. Mary is an excellent organist, an attractive woman, and a colorful individual but she is told by the preacher at her church, the neighbor next door who lusts after her body, and a counselor who listens to her problems that she seems to have lost her soul. As the organ music picks up tempo, Mary's life snowballs out of control leading to a horrifying confrontation and bitter realization at the Carnival.

CARNVIAL OF SOULS was released in 1962 and was made on a shoe-string budget. Along with the later 1968 film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, CARNIVAL OF SOULS established the framework and set the foundation for the modern day horror movie. Most of the acting in the movie is standard for a low-budget scary movie, though Hilligoss' performance stands out as a rare exception. Hilligoss had some talent and it would have been interesting to see her in more movies (she only acted in one other movie besides CARNIVAL OF SOULS). The sets are scenery are pretty standard fare and nowadays the plot has been overly done, though in 1962 it was a fairly fresh and original idea. Besides Hilligoss' acting and a few starkly vivid images, the other standout component of the movie is the score. Organ music usually doesn't work very well as a movie score, especially in scary movies. However, the music in CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a key element in establishing the mood and tone of the movie. It's something to remember and like those catchy little advertisement jingles, can haunt one's musical memory for days.

Not everyone will enjoy CARNIVAL OF SOULS and many will find it quite cheesy today. Nevertheless, for movie and horror buffs, the film is worth watching for its cinematic legacy and cult appeal.
Carnival Of Souls
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though.
  • REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!
  • Creepy low budget film
  • A great nightmare...
  • In the dark...
Carnival Of Souls
Starring: T.C. Adams , Pamela Ballard , Sidney Berger , Steve Boozer , and Forbes Caldwell
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:
  1. Eyes Without a Face - Criterion Collection
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  5. The Blob - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00004W199
Release Date: 2000-09-26

Amazon.com essential video

An ultra-cheap B-horror movie, filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1962, with a really creepy Twilight Zone-style premise and some great shoestring atmosphere. Wandering into a small town after an auto accident, to begin her new job as a church organist, young Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) begins to pick up strange vibes: none of the normal people in town seem to be able to see her, and she keeps being accosted by freakish pasty-faced types who seem to be dead on their feet. The nightmarish finale benefits from its one-of-a-kind "found" setting, an empty amusement park rising like a ghostly castle from the prairie landscape. This is much less aggressive and violent film than George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, but for sheer skin- crawling spookiness, it's in the same class. --David Chute --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Description

Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) survives a drag race in a rural Kansas town, then takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavillion. Herk Harvey's macabre masterpiece gained a cult following on late night television and has been bootlegged for years. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, "Carnival of Souls" was intended to have the "look of a Bergman" and "feel of a Cocteau," and succeeds with its strikingly-used locations and spooky organ score.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars CRITERION! SUPERB! ... quality difference noted, though........2007-04-27

What can I say about this CRITERION release that hasn't already been posted here. I did want to mention a difference in print quality between the "Theatrical Version" and the "Extended Director's Cut". I watch my movies with a front projection setup, on a 10' wide DaLite HCCV screen, so image quality is important.

Don't get me wrong, both versions are EXCELLENT quality, though the "Extended Director's Cut" is a little soft & fuzzy in comparison. It is also somewhat darker and "muddy" with less contrast than the "Theatrical Version" which is bright and crisp. This is apparent if you just compare the opening scene. They are drag racing on a bright, sunny day but in the "Director's Cut" it looks more like a cloudy "about to rain" day, and it's difficult to see anything inside the girls' car. When they pass the CONSTRUCTION sign on the road, in the "Director's Cut" it is quite dark and soft (still totally legible) while in the "Theatrical Version" the words on the sign are bright, perfectly sharp and crisp.

Of course, the first thing I did was to watch the "Extended Director's Cut" and found a *few* of the restored scenes to be integral to the story. I still watch this film from time to time, and it's always CRITERION'S "Theatrical Version" I pop in the 'ole DVD player.

Anyone else noticed this difference in print quality?

5 out of 5 stars REALLY CREEPY CHEAPY CLASSIC!.......2007-04-17

This is an amazing film. If you like horror movies, this is a must see. This film has more creepyness than new films costing 100 times as much to make. Excellent story and eerie mood will keep the bed covers pulled up to your eyes. Watch this in the dark alone!......Spooky! Awesome DVD transfer by Criterion with a load of extra goodies!

4 out of 5 stars Creepy low budget film.......2007-01-25

I saw this film as a kid and recently saw it again. It really holds up. The scene on the bridge sent shivers down my spine and all the carnival stuff holds up well. The musical score by Gene Moore is sufficiently eerie to keep the mood creepy. All praise goes onto Candace Hilligoss who plays Mary Henry in a very intense performance, that is both eerie and surreal. She really makes the film work. The directing by Herk Harvey is very good for a B movie. This movie goes on a little long but it is still worth seeing.

5 out of 5 stars A great nightmare..........2006-11-22

I first saw this film on video when it was "somewhat" restored in the 1980's. Of course, it had the cult reputation of a long unseen film, and seeing it the first time was a bit of a letdown. But when Criterion released it in this deluxe 2 DVD edition, I decided to try again. I am very happy I did. This is a real gem, disquieting, scary, incredibly atmospheric, and haunting (no pun intended). I have always loved horror films that are quiet, that get inside your head, and really play around with your consciousness. Films like that are The Sixth Sense, Kwaidan, Daughters of Darkness, Dreyer's Vampyr, the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, the original Pulse), and this film too. They don't smash you over the head with violence and gore. They end up disturbing you in ways you can't really explain. As some reviewers have noted, Herk Harvey, the director, made only one feature film in his life, and this is it. He was an industrial filmmaker who worked at Centron Corporation in Lawrence, Kansas (where much of this film was shot) all his life. He made over 400 industrial films (those cheesy, "how to" films that get parodied to death on TV). Harvey said he wanted to make a film with "the look of a Bergman film, and the feel of a Cocteau one", and he did. There is much to like about this work. The organ score is exceptionally creepy, the photography is very good considering how low budget the film was, and the Pavillion where we see the souls dancing is one of the best locations I've ever seen for a film. A note to burgeoning filmmakers: to save money, shoot at a place that has been abandoned, but has great atmosphere (Kubrick did this with Full Metal Jacket. Hue City was actually an abandoned gas works outside London). Some of the acting here is rather amateurish, but it doesn't really bother me too much. Candance Hilgegrass is actually good, playing a cold, dispassionate woman. Her performance is rather off putting, but it works rather well here. Some of Harvey's industrial films are included on this set, and they're so incredibly cheesy. You can probably safely skip them. While this film didn't do rather well at first, I'm glad it got rediscovered, and Harkey got the credit he deserved. Make sure you buy the Criterion edition. There are some public domain copies floating around here, and they are more than likely horrible.

5 out of 5 stars In the dark..........2006-08-30

Some brilliant directors only make a few movies. Herk Harvey made over four hundred -- but sadly, he only brought his astounding talents into one non-educational movie.

That one brilliant movie is cult horror flick "Carnival of Souls," a nightmarish tale of a young woman who is lingering on in the world of the living -- and is pursued by the dead. Made for a piddling seventeen thousand dollars, this little gem is as eerie now as it was in the 1960s.

Three young women decide to drag race a car of young men -- and their car goes off a bridge into the river. Only Mary (Candace Hilligoss) staggers out of the water, seemingly undisturbed by the accident. The next day she travels to Utah for her new job as a church organist, but on the trip she keeps seeing a grinning, corpselike man watching her from the road.

Mary tries to distract herself with shopping, dodging her lecherous neighbor, and playing the organ. But she keeps seeing the corpse-man), having strange moments where nobody can see or ear her, and also finds herself drawn to a run-down former carnival pavilion. As the dead close in on her, Mary runs from them... but she can't escape from them forever.

A simple plot, but Herk Harvey handles it with brilliant skill. There's a goofy moment here or there -- at one point Mary turns around to shriek into the camera lens. But most of the time, Harvey keeps the atmosphere piling on, with relatively little dialogue (the most memorable lines are usually shrieked ones like "I don't want to be alone!").

In short, Harvey had the ability to inspire something a lot rarer than fear or shocks -- dread. Mary's confusion, fear and denial are almost palpable as she wanders through the town. By the climax, it has transformed into a sort of nightmarish maze that Mary can just run through, with the dead people just a few steps behind her. And there's that creepy organ music all the time.

The ending is not so much a twist as the inevitable answer to all the bizarre events that came before it -- and it's a brilliant, bittersweet ending. It was also the ending that has inspired creepy horror movies ever since. Suddenly the "invisibility" moments and the dead faces make perfect sense, and we understand what it is that Mary is really running from.

Mary is also not your typical early-sixties heroine -- she's sharp-tongued ("Thank you, but I'm NEVER coming back here") and kind of spinsterish by nature. What's more, she is completely detached from everyone around her, since she is not meant to be in the world of the living. Hilligoss (who only made one other movie) is absolutely amazing here, with her distant attitude and frightened eyes.

If you're willing to shell out for it, the Criterion version of "Carnival of Souls" is the one to get, especially since it includes both versions of the movie, nicely restored (if you don't have much money, try Alpha). When it first came out, five minutes were chopped off, and here the second disc contains those five extra minutes, reinserted. Nothing groundbreaking, but these little moments of utter creepiness add to the atmosphere.

Additionally, Criterion loads it up on fan-friendly extras -- galleries, interviews, company stills, tours of the Kansas town where it was shot, and other little goodies. The documentaries about the making of the film and its history are the highlight of the extra material, and this is mainly for the diehard fan.

Brilliant and creepy, "Carnival of Souls" is a deserving cult classic. It's a shame that Herk Harvey never made another horror flick, but at least we have this one.
Carnival of Souls
Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • HEAVY DRAMA, LOTS OF LESSONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH, BUT OBVIOUSLY NOT A.D.D. FRIENDLY
  • Not as good as the original, but it didn't suck as much as I was expecting it to.
  • Stink, Stank, Stunk!
  • They await...
  • I HATE THIS MOVIE!
Carnival of Souls
Starring: Bobbie Phillips , Shawnee Smith , Larry Miller , Paul Johansson , and Cleavant Derricks
Director: Ian Kessner , and Adam Grossman
Manufacturer: Rhino Theatrical
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:
  1. Party Crashers (1999)
  2. Hustle
  3. Cheyenne
  4. Face of Evil
  5. Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain

ASIN: B000068QMO
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Amazon.com

For two-thirds of its spare 86 minutes, this remake of the 1962 cult classic is a tautly constructed, engaging, supernatural suspense thriller. Then, right when it needs to kick into high gear, it all goes flooey. Splatter fans will be disappointed by the low gore quotient and deliberate pacing; the film favors psychological horror over physical. The evil screaming worm-people that are intercut throughout the picture lose their shock value pretty quickly. The climax is, well, anticlimactic. And the shaggy-dog ending, which was a letdown in the original, is a letdown here too. But Larry Miller is superbly evil as the pederast and murderer who returns from the dead to terrorize the woman who helped put him behind bars. And Bobbie Phillips, despite her limitations, is nicely effective in the lead, especially in the quieter moments. It's two-thirds of a good movie (but then again, so was Apocalypse Now). Trivia factoid: Sidney Berger, who was the creepy neighbor in the original, plays the older cop in the end sequence. --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars HEAVY DRAMA, LOTS OF LESSONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH, BUT OBVIOUSLY NOT A.D.D. FRIENDLY.......2006-07-15

The 1998 version of the 1962 low-budget horror classic.

It was a bad idea to classify this as a "horror" story, even though some of the events do qualify as horror. But too many people try to match this to the original, and that in itself is a mistake. In the day where original films are passe, at least this tries to make a new story based on a similar premise. That being a young woman is made to face her fear.

The Phillips character (Alex), as a young naive girl, witnesses the rape and murder of her mother, and could have shot this fiend (Louis, portrayed by Larry Miller) before he killed her; he foolishly left his gun on the nightstand. Watching the mother character's neck snap in the hands of Louis, is singularly unpleasant to watch, and downright disturbing. Instead, she panics and runs. He was obviously caught, and served twenty years for his offense, and now he's out to even the score ("I never hold a grudge, once I get even").

It's about sacrifice, facing the thing that scares you the most, and letting your worries go. Many times in the film, the Sandra character (Shawnee Smith) tells her big sister not to worry about her, "You worry too much, I'll be fine." Alex sees herself as the reason the girls were orphaned so early, and denied the relationship with their mother; she could have shot Louis before he killed her mother (the father was absent all along, pretty typical in too many families) and fretted over Sandra as if she were her own daughter. In an act of closure, on the twentieth anniversary of the murder, Alex goes to the seaside to let the wind blow the ashes of her dead mother over the ocean, and when she returns to the car, there's a balloon on her car's antenna. Louis has obviously been stalking her, and at gunpoint, he decides it's time to finish old business. You are forced to drive to your home and watch this monster at work again. So what do you do? With a murderer's gun to your ear, you floor your gas pedal, steer your car off the pier, and even though you die yourself, you rid the world of this filth who has ruined at least three lives.

The entire middle of the film is a personal journey through life in an alternate dimension. Her aquaintences are all there, with their own lives, but everything they say and do, is geared to her dilemma. She's dead, and refuses to face it. She is afraid to leave her sister behind, and afraid of the man who has tormented her for twenty years, and afraid to move to the next. The "beings," I'll call them, are symbolic of crucial times , people and events in her world, and they are called "annoying" by some people, but they are symbolic of personal demons in her life; they pop up at crucial moments. Startling to look at, because they come in so unexpectedly, they are meant to catch you off guard, as they do Alex.

The events are about closure, and moving on, and in one flashback scene toward the end, the old man in the bar asks her, "You're not afraid, are you?" And again, Sandra says "You worry too much; I'll be fine."

It's a movie about life, that's all.

2 out of 5 stars Not as good as the original, but it didn't suck as much as I was expecting it to........2006-07-10

A young girl sees her mother violently killed at the hands of the live-in boyfriend (who also happens to be a carnival clown). Later as an adult she is haunted by her past when the carnival comes back to town.


I loved the original black and white Carnival of Souls movie and I'm usually a little skittish about remakes. I must admit that I was given some forewarning that Wes Craven changed the plot in this one, which probably helped my overall take on it. So from the start I wasn't expecting much.

In this version the girl and her sister own a bar. There is no church and no organ music, which takes away from the eeriness that we all loved. Hmm how to describe? In another review someone described the original b&w movie as being "darkly poetic and haunting," which can't be said any better. In this version, Wes Craven turns the carnival into a brighter, more chaotic and psychotic place. The ending is similar in the sense that everything is not what it seemed, but obviously with the different plot comes an entirely new scene.

Shawnee Smith is in this film, which is a definite bonus. Also Larry Miller plays a great sicko clown!

I'm giving the movie a 2.5. Compared to the original, the movie deserves a 1 or less. However, anyone who enjoys Wes Craven flicks and sees this movie before seeing the original will probably enjoy it enough to rate it a 3 or 4. So I'll be generous and rate in the middle.

2 out of 5 stars Stink, Stank, Stunk!.......2005-06-14

This 1998 version of the 1963 orignal is a pathetic attempt to scare, with its mundane "slamming-door-type" effects and stolen Jabob's Ladder gouls! I was very disappointed by this cheap imitation to conjour the allure and intrigue of the original masterpiece. I expected more, because of its later date of production. The only pleasant thing I can say about this movie,
save your money and buy the original version, whether it be re-mastered, colorized, or un-cut, but don't buy this!

5 out of 5 stars They await..........2005-01-19

A classic horror film which reaches deep inside the psyche to manifest those dark primal fears.

Some people just can't deal with stress very well. A young lady is transported into the shadowy recesses of her own darkside, cued by the infernal instrument of the organ. Her life becomes haunted by her fears & nightmares, as they slither into reality.

The camera angles are very creativly utilized, & the sense of eeriness is preserved well throughout the movie. I thought it a great touch to present the movie mostly non-verbal but for a couple of occasions, in order to present realistic dream sequences. Mental torment & fantasy / reality crossover rampant here, without the demoralization. Very well recommended.

1 out of 5 stars I HATE THIS MOVIE!.......2002-09-24

Why do I hate this movie? For many resons, in fact UNCOUNTABLE reasons. I'm not a snob, but truly, this is the stupidest remake ever! I'm a big fan of the original, it's one of the deepest, most disturbing films of all time. But this! It's a blasphemous (to the original)piece of garbage, which is unbeleivably tedious, and uses the original's title wi9thout hardly using any of the great material presented. Whatever you do, PLEASE don't watch this movie! Watch the original!
Carnival of Souls
Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • HEAVY DRAMA, LOTS OF LESSONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH, BUT OBVIOUSLY NOT A.D.D. FRIENDLY
  • Not as good as the original, but it didn't suck as much as I was expecting it to.
  • Stink, Stank, Stunk!
  • They await...
  • I HATE THIS MOVIE!
Carnival of Souls
Starring: Bobbie Phillips , Shawnee Smith , Larry Miller , Paul Johansson , and Cleavant Derricks
Director: Adam Grossman , and Ian Kessner
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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  1. Party Crashers (1999)
  2. Hustle
  3. Cheyenne
  4. Face of Evil
  5. Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain

ASIN: B00000I1LL
Release Date: 1999-02-23

Amazon.com

For two-thirds of its spare 86 minutes, this remake of the 1962 cult classic is a tautly constructed, engaging, supernatural suspense thriller. Then, right when it needs to kick into high gear, it all goes flooey. Splatter fans will be disappointed by the low gore quotient and deliberate pacing; the film favors psychological horror over physical. The evil screaming worm-people that are intercut throughout the picture lose their shock value pretty quickly. The climax is, well, anticlimactic. And the shaggy-dog ending, which was a letdown in the original, is a letdown here too. But Larry Miller is superbly evil as the pederast and murderer who returns from the dead to terrorize the woman who helped put him behind bars. And Bobbie Phillips, despite her limitations, is nicely effective in the lead, especially in the quieter moments. It's two-thirds of a good movie (but then again, so was Apocalypse Now). Trivia factoid: Sidney Berger, who was the creepy neighbor in the original, plays the older cop in the end sequence. --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars HEAVY DRAMA, LOTS OF LESSONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH, BUT OBVIOUSLY NOT A.D.D. FRIENDLY.......2006-07-15

The 1998 version of the 1962 low-budget horror classic.

It was a bad idea to classify this as a "horror" story, even though some of the events do qualify as horror. But too many people try to match this to the original, and that in itself is a mistake. In the day where original films are passe, at least this tries to make a new story based on a similar premise. That being a young woman is made to face her fear.

The Phillips character (Alex), as a young naive girl, witnesses the rape and murder of her mother, and could have shot this fiend (Louis, portrayed by Larry Miller) before he killed her; he foolishly left his gun on the nightstand. Watching the mother character's neck snap in the hands of Louis, is singularly unpleasant to watch, and downright disturbing. Instead, she panics and runs. He was obviously caught, and served twenty years for his offense, and now he's out to even the score ("I never hold a grudge, once I get even").

It's about sacrifice, facing the thing that scares you the most, and letting your worries go. Many times in the film, the Sandra character (Shawnee Smith) tells her big sister not to worry about her, "You worry too much, I'll be fine." Alex sees herself as the reason the girls were orphaned so early, and denied the relationship with their mother; she could have shot Louis before he killed her mother (the father was absent all along, pretty typical in too many families) and fretted over Sandra as if she were her own daughter. In an act of closure, on the twentieth anniversary of the murder, Alex goes to the seaside to let the wind blow the ashes of her dead mother over the ocean, and when she returns to the car, there's a balloon on her car's antenna. Louis has obviously been stalking her, and at gunpoint, he decides it's time to finish old business. You are forced to drive to your home and watch this monster at work again. So what do you do? With a murderer's gun to your ear, you floor your gas pedal, steer your car off the pier, and even though you die yourself, you rid the world of this filth who has ruined at least three lives.

The entire middle of the film is a personal journey through life in an alternate dimension. Her aquaintences are all there, with their own lives, but everything they say and do, is geared to her dilemma. She's dead, and refuses to face it. She is afraid to leave her sister behind, and afraid of the man who has tormented her for twenty years, and afraid to move to the next. The "beings," I'll call them, are symbolic of crucial times , people and events in her world, and they are called "annoying" by some people, but they are symbolic of personal demons in her life; they pop up at crucial moments. Startling to look at, because they come in so unexpectedly, they are meant to catch you off guard, as they do Alex.

The events are about closure, and moving on, and in one flashback scene toward the end, the old man in the bar asks her, "You're not afraid, are you?" And again, Sandra says "You worry too much; I'll be fine."

It's a movie about life, that's all.

2 out of 5 stars Not as good as the original, but it didn't suck as much as I was expecting it to........2006-07-10

A young girl sees her mother violently killed at the hands of the live-in boyfriend (who also happens to be a carnival clown). Later as an adult she is haunted by her past when the carnival comes back to town.


I loved the original black and white Carnival of Souls movie and I'm usually a little skittish about remakes. I must admit that I was given some forewarning that Wes Craven changed the plot in this one, which probably helped my overall take on it. So from the start I wasn't expecting much.

In this version the girl and her sister own a bar. There is no church and no organ music, which takes away from the eeriness that we all loved. Hmm how to describe? In another review someone described the original b&w movie as being "darkly poetic and haunting," which can't be said any better. In this version, Wes Craven turns the carnival into a brighter, more chaotic and psychotic place. The ending is similar in the sense that everything is not what it seemed, but obviously with the different plot comes an entirely new scene.

Shawnee Smith is in this film, which is a definite bonus. Also Larry Miller plays a great sicko clown!

I'm giving the movie a 2.5. Compared to the original, the movie deserves a 1 or less. However, anyone who enjoys Wes Craven flicks and sees this movie before seeing the original will probably enjoy it enough to rate it a 3 or 4. So I'll be generous and rate in the middle.

2 out of 5 stars Stink, Stank, Stunk!.......2005-06-14

This 1998 version of the 1963 orignal is a pathetic attempt to scare, with its mundane "slamming-door-type" effects and stolen Jabob's Ladder gouls! I was very disappointed by this cheap imitation to conjour the allure and intrigue of the original masterpiece. I expected more, because of its later date of production. The only pleasant thing I can say about this movie,
save your money and buy the original version, whether it be re-mastered, colorized, or un-cut, but don't buy this!

5 out of 5 stars They await..........2005-01-19

A classic horror film which reaches deep inside the psyche to manifest those dark primal fears.

Some people just can't deal with stress very well. A young lady is transported into the shadowy recesses of her own darkside, cued by the infernal instrument of the organ. Her life becomes haunted by her fears & nightmares, as they slither into reality.

The camera angles are very creativly utilized, & the sense of eeriness is preserved well throughout the movie. I thought it a great touch to present the movie mostly non-verbal but for a couple of occasions, in order to present realistic dream sequences. Mental torment & fantasy / reality crossover rampant here, without the demoralization. Very well recommended.

1 out of 5 stars I HATE THIS MOVIE!.......2002-09-24

Why do I hate this movie? For many resons, in fact UNCOUNTABLE reasons. I'm not a snob, but truly, this is the stupidest remake ever! I'm a big fan of the original, it's one of the deepest, most disturbing films of all time. But this! It's a blasphemous (to the original)piece of garbage, which is unbeleivably tedious, and uses the original's title wi9thout hardly using any of the great material presented. Whatever you do, PLEASE don't watch this movie! Watch the original!
Classic Ghost Movies (Dominique / Carnival of Souls / Tormented)
Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • carnival of souls is the best of the lot here,but you can find much better prints in other collections
  • Not Worth Your Time!
  • Pretty good movies for the price
  • Pretty good movies for the price
Classic Ghost Movies (Dominique / Carnival of Souls / Tormented)
Starring: Classic Ghost Movies
Manufacturer: Bfs Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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