Carnival of Souls
Encyclopedia
Carnival of Souls is a 1962 independent
horror film
starring Candace Hilligoss
. Produced and directed by Herk Harvey
for an estimated $33,000, the film did not gain widespread attention when originally released, as a B film; today, however, it is a cult classic
. Set to an organ
score by Gene Moore, Carnival of Souls relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create a mood of unease and foreboding. The film has a large cult following
and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween
festivals. It has been cited as an important influence on the films of both David Lynch
and George A. Romero
.
Harvey was a director and producer of industrial and educational film
s based in Lawrence, Kansas
, where he worked for the Centron Corporation
. While vacationing in Salt Lake City, he developed the idea for the film after driving past the abandoned Saltair
Pavilion. Hiring an unknown actress, Lee Strasberg
-trained Candace Hilligoss, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, he shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City.
Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) is riding in a car with two other young women when some men challenge them to a drag race. As they speed across a bridge, the women's car plunges over the side into the river. The police spend three hours dragging the murky, fast-running water without success. Then Mary miraculously surfaces. She cannot remember how she survived.
Mary then drives to Utah
, where she has been hired as a church organist. Odd things happen along the way. At one point, she can get nothing on her car radio but strange organ music. (This recurring music was played not on a church organ but a theater organ, which is capable of producing many unique sounds.) She passes a large, abandoned pavilion (in reality, Salt Lake City’s Saltair
amusement park) sitting all by itself in the countryside. It seems to beckon to her in the twilight. Shortly thereafter, while speeding along a deserted stretch of road, a ghoulish, pasty-faced figure (The Man, played by director Herk Harvey) replaces her reflection in the passenger window and stares at her. When The Man suddenly appears in front of her, she swerves off the road. She manages to get back on the road. At a gas station, the attendant tells her the pavilion was first a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival before shutting down.
In town, Mary rents a room from Mrs. Thomas; John Linden, the only other lodger, wants to become better acquainted with the blonde newcomer, but she is not interested. That night, she becomes upset when she sees The Man downstairs in the large house and retreats to her room. Mrs. Thomas, who kindly brings her some food, says she did not pass anyone.
Soon, Mary begins experiencing terrifying interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she simply is not there. When The Man appears briefly in front of her in a park, she flees, right into the arms of Dr. Samuels. Samuels, though he acknowledges he is not a psychiatrist, tries to help her.
Her new employer, the minister (Art Ellison), is a bit put off when she declines his suggestion of a reception to meet the congregation. When she practices for the first time, she finds herself shifting from a hymn to eerie music. In a trance, she sees The Man and others of his ilk dancing. The minister, hearing the strange music, denounces it as "profane" and insists upon her resignation.
Terrified of being alone, Mary agrees to go out on a date with Linden. When they return home, he talks his way into her room, but when she sees The Man in the mirror, she becomes upset and tries to tell him what has been happening to her. He leaves, believing she is losing her mind.
After talking with Samuels again, Mary believes she has to go to the pavilion. There, however, she finds no answers.
Other ghouls join The Man. Mary tries frantically to escape, at one point boarding a bus to leave town, only to find that all the passengers are ghouls. Then she wakes up, showing that she dreamed this sequence at least. In the end, she is drawn back to the pavilion. She finds her tormenters dancing in a large hall. A pale version of herself is paired with The Man. When she runs away, they chase her out onto the beach. She collapses, and they close in.
The minister, the doctor, and the police investigate afterward, but are baffled. Her bare footprints in the sand (the only ones) end abruptly, but there is no trace of her.
In the final scene, the car is finally located and pulled from the river. Mary's body is in the front seat.
edition of the film contains the 78-minute theatrical version of the film and an 83-minute director's cut
. The Legend Films
edition of the film contains both colorized
and black-and-white versions of the aforementioned director's cut and a humorous audio commentary track by Michael J. Nelson
, a former writer and host of Mystery Science Theater 3000
. The comedian offers humorous commentary about the film similar to the style of an episode of MST3K.
While the US release of the film failed to include a copyright on the prints, automatically placing them in the public domain, the foreign release marketed by Walter Manley did contain a copyright card and was protected for overseas sales. The 35mm theatrical prints were cut by Herz-Lion to 78 minutes which trimmed the camera original. However, the 16mm television copies were printed complete and individually cut by each station to fit their time slot, which is why they vary in length. WOR
in New York City used to broadcast the film intact in a late night timeslot in the sixties. The scenes cut by the theatrical distributor include a scene where Mary stops at a gas station and discusses the carnival building with the attendant, a longer dialogue sequence between the minister and carpenter and an extra scene where the doctor talks to the landlady. All of them were put back into the camera negative in 1989.
The restored 35mm camera negative was deposited at the George Eastman House archive and is part of their collection. Prints struck from it were shown at a number of film festivals in 1989 including the Toronto venue. Despite some questions of whether the film is in public domain, in February of 1996, a Chain of Title was performed which established John Clifford's copyright ownership of Carnival of Souls in its entirety. The film, its negatives, video masters, sound materials, and all registered copyrights (three in number) were sold by Clifford to Matthew Irvine in May of 1996. Irvine then negotiated with MPI Media and Criterion Collection to re-release the film on DVD. Irvine also transferred the original negative and all subsequent theatrical and director's cut from Eastman House in New York to the Academy Archives in Los Angeles.
, led in 1998 to a remake
directed by Adam Grossman
and Ian Kessner and starring Bobbie Phillips
. The remake has little in common with the 1960s film, borrowing little more than the revelation at the end. Sidney Berger, who had appeared in the original film as John Linden, appeared in a cameo in the remake. The remake followed the story of a young woman (Phillips) and her confrontation with her mother's murderer. The film makers had asked for Candace Hilligoss, the star of the first film to also appear, but she declined, feeling that Clifford and the filmmakers of the remake had shown disrespect to her in initiating the film without consulting her or considering her treatment for a sequel
to the 1962 version. The remake was marketed as Wes Craven
Presents 'Carnival of Souls. It received negative appraisals from most reviewers and did not manage to secure theatrical release, going direct-to-video
.
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
starring Candace Hilligoss
Candace Hilligoss
Candace Hilligoss is an American actress.After three years at the University of Iowa, she came to New York City to study acting at the American Theatre Wing and made her professional debut in summer stock in Pennsylvania...
. Produced and directed by Herk Harvey
Herk Harvey
Harold Arnold "Herk" Harvey was an American film director, actor, and film producer.-Early life:Harvey was born in Windsor, Colorado, the son of Everett and Minnie R. Prewitt Harvey. He grew up in Fort Collins and was a graduate of Fort Collins High School before serving in the U.S...
for an estimated $33,000, the film did not gain widespread attention when originally released, as a B film; today, however, it is a cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
. Set to an organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
score by Gene Moore, Carnival of Souls relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create a mood of unease and foreboding. The film has a large cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
festivals. It has been cited as an important influence on the films of both David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
and George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
.
Harvey was a director and producer of industrial and educational film
Educational film
An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods.-Cultural significance:...
s based in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
, where he worked for the Centron Corporation
Centron Corporation
Centron Corporation was an industrial and educational film production company. Founded in 1947 in Lawrence, Kansas by Arthur H. Wolf and Russell A. Mosser, Centron would come to the forefront of the industrial and educational film companies in the United States. Centron competed with large...
. While vacationing in Salt Lake City, he developed the idea for the film after driving past the abandoned Saltair
Saltair, Utah
Saltair, also The SaltAir or Saltair Pavilion, is the name which has been given to several resorts located on the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, United States, about fifteen miles from Salt Lake City.-Saltair I:...
Pavilion. Hiring an unknown actress, Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
-trained Candace Hilligoss, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, he shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City.
Plot
Mary then drives to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, where she has been hired as a church organist. Odd things happen along the way. At one point, she can get nothing on her car radio but strange organ music. (This recurring music was played not on a church organ but a theater organ, which is capable of producing many unique sounds.) She passes a large, abandoned pavilion (in reality, Salt Lake City’s Saltair
Saltair, Utah
Saltair, also The SaltAir or Saltair Pavilion, is the name which has been given to several resorts located on the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, United States, about fifteen miles from Salt Lake City.-Saltair I:...
amusement park) sitting all by itself in the countryside. It seems to beckon to her in the twilight. Shortly thereafter, while speeding along a deserted stretch of road, a ghoulish, pasty-faced figure (The Man, played by director Herk Harvey) replaces her reflection in the passenger window and stares at her. When The Man suddenly appears in front of her, she swerves off the road. She manages to get back on the road. At a gas station, the attendant tells her the pavilion was first a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival before shutting down.
Soon, Mary begins experiencing terrifying interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she simply is not there. When The Man appears briefly in front of her in a park, she flees, right into the arms of Dr. Samuels. Samuels, though he acknowledges he is not a psychiatrist, tries to help her.
Her new employer, the minister (Art Ellison), is a bit put off when she declines his suggestion of a reception to meet the congregation. When she practices for the first time, she finds herself shifting from a hymn to eerie music. In a trance, she sees The Man and others of his ilk dancing. The minister, hearing the strange music, denounces it as "profane" and insists upon her resignation.
After talking with Samuels again, Mary believes she has to go to the pavilion. There, however, she finds no answers.
Other ghouls join The Man. Mary tries frantically to escape, at one point boarding a bus to leave town, only to find that all the passengers are ghouls. Then she wakes up, showing that she dreamed this sequence at least. In the end, she is drawn back to the pavilion. She finds her tormenters dancing in a large hall. A pale version of herself is paired with The Man. When she runs away, they chase her out onto the beach. She collapses, and they close in.
The minister, the doctor, and the police investigate afterward, but are baffled. Her bare footprints in the sand (the only ones) end abruptly, but there is no trace of her.
In the final scene, the car is finally located and pulled from the river. Mary's body is in the front seat.
Cast
- Candace HilligossCandace HilligossCandace Hilligoss is an American actress.After three years at the University of Iowa, she came to New York City to study acting at the American Theatre Wing and made her professional debut in summer stock in Pennsylvania...
as Mary Henry - Frances Feist as Mrs. Thomas
- Sidney Berger as John Linden
- Art Ellison as Minister
- Stan Levitt as Dr. Samuels
- Tom McGinnis as Organ factory boss
- Forbes Caldwell as Organ factory worker
- Dan Palmquist as Gas station attendant
- Bill De Jarnette as Mechanic
- Steve Boozer as Chip
- Pamela Ballard as Dress saleslady
- Herk HarveyHerk HarveyHarold Arnold "Herk" Harvey was an American film director, actor, and film producer.-Early life:Harvey was born in Windsor, Colorado, the son of Everett and Minnie R. Prewitt Harvey. He grew up in Fort Collins and was a graduate of Fort Collins High School before serving in the U.S...
as The Man
Home video availability
Prints of this film vary in length from 78 minutes in theatrical release to 91 minutes in the original cut. The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
edition of the film contains the 78-minute theatrical version of the film and an 83-minute director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
. The Legend Films
Legend Films
Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietary technology and software...
edition of the film contains both colorized
Colorization
Colorization or colourisation may refer to:*Film colorization - a process that adds color to black and white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images...
and black-and-white versions of the aforementioned director's cut and a humorous audio commentary track by Michael J. Nelson
Michael J. Nelson
Michael John Nelson is a U.S. comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...
, a former writer and host of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
. The comedian offers humorous commentary about the film similar to the style of an episode of MST3K.
While the US release of the film failed to include a copyright on the prints, automatically placing them in the public domain, the foreign release marketed by Walter Manley did contain a copyright card and was protected for overseas sales. The 35mm theatrical prints were cut by Herz-Lion to 78 minutes which trimmed the camera original. However, the 16mm television copies were printed complete and individually cut by each station to fit their time slot, which is why they vary in length. WOR
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in New York City used to broadcast the film intact in a late night timeslot in the sixties. The scenes cut by the theatrical distributor include a scene where Mary stops at a gas station and discusses the carnival building with the attendant, a longer dialogue sequence between the minister and carpenter and an extra scene where the doctor talks to the landlady. All of them were put back into the camera negative in 1989.
The restored 35mm camera negative was deposited at the George Eastman House archive and is part of their collection. Prints struck from it were shown at a number of film festivals in 1989 including the Toronto venue. Despite some questions of whether the film is in public domain, in February of 1996, a Chain of Title was performed which established John Clifford's copyright ownership of Carnival of Souls in its entirety. The film, its negatives, video masters, sound materials, and all registered copyrights (three in number) were sold by Clifford to Matthew Irvine in May of 1996. Irvine then negotiated with MPI Media and Criterion Collection to re-release the film on DVD. Irvine also transferred the original negative and all subsequent theatrical and director's cut from Eastman House in New York to the Academy Archives in Los Angeles.
Remake
Negotiations with the film's writer, John Clifford, and the director, Herk HarveyHerk Harvey
Harold Arnold "Herk" Harvey was an American film director, actor, and film producer.-Early life:Harvey was born in Windsor, Colorado, the son of Everett and Minnie R. Prewitt Harvey. He grew up in Fort Collins and was a graduate of Fort Collins High School before serving in the U.S...
, led in 1998 to a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
directed by Adam Grossman
Adam Grossman
Adam Grossman is the guitarist and singer of the Texas-based Industrial metal band Skrew and the crossover thrash band Angkor Wat, both of which he co-founded with his friend Danny Lohner...
and Ian Kessner and starring Bobbie Phillips
Bobbie Phillips
Bobbie Phillips is an American television and film actress.-Career:Born in Charleston, South Carolina 29 January 1972. Phillips moved to Hollywood in 1991 and began working in television soon after. Her first acting job was guest starring with Halle Berry on the short lived Fox comedy They Came...
. The remake has little in common with the 1960s film, borrowing little more than the revelation at the end. Sidney Berger, who had appeared in the original film as John Linden, appeared in a cameo in the remake. The remake followed the story of a young woman (Phillips) and her confrontation with her mother's murderer. The film makers had asked for Candace Hilligoss, the star of the first film to also appear, but she declined, feeling that Clifford and the filmmakers of the remake had shown disrespect to her in initiating the film without consulting her or considering her treatment for a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the 1962 version. The remake was marketed as Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
Presents 'Carnival of Souls. It received negative appraisals from most reviewers and did not manage to secure theatrical release, going direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by John Clifford
- Criterion Collection essay by Bruce Kawin
- Carnival of Souls at LivestreamLivestreamLivestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is a live streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet...
- Carnival of Souls at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....