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Plot:
Mary Henry is enjoying the day by riding around in a car with two friends. When challenged to a drag, the women accept, but are forced off a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until Mary, quite ...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:October 2, 2008Love this movie. Kind of slow and meandering throughout most of it, but in its creepy moments it's REALLY good--it actually feels years ahead of its time in these moments. Has a good ending as well. I recommend this Halloween season.
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MCT:September 3, 2008
A lot of creepy moments in this film. Candace Hilligoss was great and kept me watching right till the end. The organ music added to the film's eerie atmosphere.
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MCT:August 24, 2008
Not scary... just plain HILARIOUS Zombie movie. Not to be confuse with the more modern version which is not a remake. It's just a different story.
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MCT:August 24, 2008When i first saw this i though it was going to be a musical but i was wrong it end up being a horror classic movie and i though it was pretty gd it was creepy to i saw the remake of this movie and i thought this one was better the remake kinda sucked but anways still a great classic and if you like old horror movie classic's then you would really like this i it was okay
and its about Mary Henry is enjoying the day by riding around in a car with two friends. When challenged to a drag, the women accept, but are forced off a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until Mary, quite some time later, amazingly emerges from the river. After recovering, Mary accepts a job in a new town as a church organist, only to be dogged by a mysterious phantom figure that seems to reside in an old run-down pavilion. It is here that Mary must confront the personal demons of her spiritual insouciance.
and A group of teenagers lose control of their car which plunges off a bridge into a river. They must be dead, think the local townsfolk but out creeps a survivor who attempts to carry on with life as she knows it. so yea it was pretty weird but still a great horror classic so if you have not seen it you will like it if you like old horror classic's. cuz this one was a pretty gd old horror film=] -
MCT:July 7, 2008
What the movie lacks in budget and acting, it more than makes up for in over-all atmosphere. One of my all-time favorites. And just think, the director made his living doing industrial and hygiene films.
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MCT:July 4, 2008
Apparently, everyone's seen this movie but me and knows everything about it. I don't know when you all got together to have a Carnival of Souls party, but I'm pissed that I wasn't invited. The movie wasn't even that great so I don't know why I'm so offended.
I bought the Mike Nelson edition of this movie. Frankly, I loved his commentary on Night of the Living Dead and I was shocked by the fact that his commentary of Carnival of Souls had gone out of print. Luckily, I found a seller who sold it online for $4.88 and I couldn't turn that down. It was defintely worth the buy for the commenary alone. I'm also glad that I saw the movie just so I could be in the club knowing that Herk Harvey was the main ghoul in this film.
Which apparently everyone knows. *glare*
The story of this movie is pretty generic. It said on the back to the box that this movie was the predecessor to The Shining. In the fact that they both had ghosts in them, yeah, I guess that might be somewhat accurate. MAJOR SPOILER ALERT FOR THE FIVE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T GET INVITED TO THE PARTY: She was dead the whole time. Yeah, I know that it is 1962 and that seems shocking but I'm just getting bored with that ending. M. Night Shyamalan, I take back all that praise I gave you (except for Lady in the Water. I effing love that movie. Maybe that's why I wasn't invited to the party. Ooh...and Unbreakable.) But the story just follows her haunting. The only problem is the fact that the main character is kind of a b*tch so you don't care what happens to her. In fact, I hoped throughout the movie that she would be horribly mutilated by those zombies or ghouls or whatever they were. But she wasn't. Or was she? Who knows? All I know is that what was meant to be creepy only kind of succeeded twice. And one of those times wasn't even that creepy.
The two moments that I actually enjoyed is the first time that Herk Harvey came out of the water with that malicious smile and when all the ghouls ran at her in fast motion. I don't know if Herk knew how creepy he was when he got out of the water because he never succeeded in looking that creepy again, even the second time he got out of the water. The fast motion run wasn't super-creepy, but it was a little cool looking. But that's all that really impressed me about this film. I got a lot more pleasure out of the commentary than I did out of the actual film.
I really just don't dig this genre. I know Greg will go to town about this kind of stuff, but it does little to nothing for me. The worst part is that not only is this a low-budget horror thriller (that is slightly better than most, but not by much), but it is directed by a guy who only made Centron educational shorts and PSA's. The entire cast are people from educational shorts and what does that do for a movie? I know that this literally had to be a shoestring budget, but why make these kinds of movies unless you really have something to say. People still make horror movies on shoestring budgets because they're fans of the genre, but I always hoped that my first foray into filmmaking (which I have really no drive of bieng involved with) would be something really personal and good. Herk Harvey went on to do...nothing. He was just the guy who did some sh*tty Centron educational shorts and Carnival of Souls. Now the movie has a cult following, but I have no real understanding why. I mean, this movie is one line reading away from being a Roger Corman joint.
Here's the long and short of it. The best part of this movie are some of the visuals. While repetetitve at times, there are some cool effects that Harvey pulls off with the over use of pancake makeup and speeding up the film. You've seen it before. He does it better than some. The bad part is that it is really a low budget horror movie that just has a lot of filler and annoying moments. For example, why have the entire sleazy neighbor? Just to show she can't relate to humanity? Why not make him a strong male lead? That would have added character and been more disturbing. When she goes crazy with that guy, it's no shock. You could argue with me and say that she was so desperate to cling to humanity that she tolerated him. But if that's the case, make the character much more real than an almost comic addition to an already annoying movie. I'm sorry to all the Carnival of Souls fans, but I can only say that this movie is "okay." Yes, that will disappoint a good deal of my readers, but I just don't like this entire genre of film. -
MCT:June 18, 2008One of my favorite older horror films. Definitely on the top ten of older classic horror movies. This is one spooky ride. Drenched in creepy atmosphere beyond belief and one of the spookiest horror scores I have ever heard. This movie reminds me of just one long Twilight Zone episode, which is great, because The Twilight Zone is probably the best horror series ever to be created. Carnival of Souls is the perfect movie for a dark and stormy night, and it wouldn't feel better any other way. This movie was only made for night time viewing, period. Even better, a great movie to watch around Halloween time.
Up there with "Horror Hotel", this is one of the most atmospheric horror films ever made. And spooky too. I highly recommend Carnival of Souls(that is of course if you appreciate older horror films). This movie is truly a classic!
Plot -
"Mary Henry is enjoying the day by riding around in a car with two friends. When challenged to a drag, the women accept, but are forced off of a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until Mary, quite some time later, amazingly emerges from the river. After recovering, Mary accepts a job in a new town as a church organist, only to be dogged by a mysterious phantom figure that seems to reside in an old run-down pavilion. It is here that Mary must confront the personal demons of her spiritual insouciance."
Other Reviews:
"Creepy, creepy."
- ColeSmithey.com
"A genuinely creepy thriller, humble in scope and lacking some polish, but executed with ghoulish intuition."
- Nick's Flick Picks
"A cult classic that would have subtle yet meaningful influences on the horror genre for decades to come."
- eFilmCritic
"An influential little horror gem."
- Lawrence Journal-World
"A chilling ghost story with artistic pretensions."
- TV Guide's Movie Guide
"A haunting ghost story."
- Ozus World Movie Reviews
"Carnival of Souls works well enough as chill-up-the-spine cinema."
- Washington Post
"It depends on crisp black-and-white photography, atmosphere and surprisingly effective acting."
- Roger Ebert
"Carnival of Souls is unlike any other movie I've ever seen. I don't think it would make any serious film fan's "best ever" list, but it is unique and at times chilling enough to have carved a niche for itself in horror history."
- Classic-Horror
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MCT:June 8, 2008
So you could see the ending coming a mile away. So what! What movie doesn't have that problem these days. I thought it was really well done and alot creepier than some modern "horror" films.
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MCT:May 30, 2008
Creepy, Herk Harvey rising out of the water was the inspiration for Martin Sheen's scene in Apocalypse Now.
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MCT:April 13, 2008slow, not scary, should have been paried down to an hour and featured as a twilight zone episode...whats that light at the end of the tunnel??-----Oh yes, its the 'surprise' ending..something the viewer sees coming about 20 minutes into the movie..predictable...
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MCT:April 7, 2008I was reading an article about the arcade rail-shooter "CarnEvil", and it cited this film as an inspiration. I read the synopsis shortly after reading said article, and it sounded intriguing...
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MCT:April 3, 2008
eerie, sublime....amazing acting....fascinating story and background true tale of who made it and how and where....this is an ABSOLUTE must-see. creepy but in a smart, cerebral way sans modern gore technique. this is a mind freaky freak thing! fantastic to the Nth. again, very creepy though!
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MCT:March 7, 2008
Carnival Of Souls is easily one of the creepiest, most atmospheric horror movies of all time. The thrills start early and never really stop, even at the end. Carnival Of Souls is very scary and has a great plot. One of the best horror movies.
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MCT:March 6, 2008
This is a weird, slow moving movie, I guess it is a horror film but it doesn't seem like one. I do like it a lot though.
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MCT:February 6, 2008
This is a film in the ?twilight zone? style and is in black and white, telling the story of a soul?s migration to purgatory. I liked the scene transition from the church to the boarding house and the dance of souls. Not the greatest movie but it was fun to study the filming techniques used. Also note this is Looooow budget film - lol.
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MCT:February 3, 2008
not really all that great until you think about all the movies since that used this movie for inspiration.
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MCT:January 24, 2008
I got this on a whim and hoped that it was good. Thankfully it
was. It may have been released in 1962 but it still packs an eerie punch. I actually jumped once or twice. The segments where she loses her hearing were done interestingly enough. The finale is what got me though, the other souls in their simple makeup and attire dancing, whirling and beckoning her nearer. For a second i though the end was kinda cliché at first and then realized that movies that followed it made the ending a cliché and was entirely satisfied with my selection. -
MCT:December 10, 2007
Oh, my. That playing-the-piano-while-being-hypnotized-or-in-some-sort-of-trance scene alone is enough to scare me for life.
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MCT:November 10, 2007
hmmm... well me and my friend were w atching shows on tv and this came on, it freaked us out it was funny! so yeah... we didnt even watch the whole thing but...... lol
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MCT:November 6, 2007
Wow. Seriously, wow. Nice use of suspense. You think it's going down, then all of a sudden BAM! The Man shows up and you're back on the edge of your seat. And the ending... I was left with my mouth hanging open. I loved it.
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MCT:October 27, 2007
Good movie. I immediately recognized the location shots as the Saltair amusement park and well...I felt sort of the same way while visiting that area and the people were similar in real life :-) The place is creepy and one would wonder why it kept getting rebuilt after fires and the Great Salt lake receding from it. Could be some truth to the movie :-)
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MCT:October 23, 2007
This is one of those rare films where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The budget is low, the acting is suspect, the editing is choppy, and the makeup is downright cheesy - and yet, CARNIVAL OF SOULS is wonderfully creepy. A true horror classic.
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MCT:October 22, 2007
Truly chilling, though it starts a little slowly. The movie examines, successfully the facets of death.
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MCT:September 30, 2007
The spiritual retreat for Jack Torrance, Carnival of Souls remains one of the most original and nightmarish movies to have leaked from the low-budget American ether.
It's the tale of a woman, Mary Henry, who emerges from a car accident only to be plagued by waking visions of a ghoulish figure that nobody else can see. Shot in an abandoned summer pleasure palace near Salt Lake City, the sequences in which the doomed lady is drawn towards the eerie Carnival are wildly creative for their visual splendour, conjuring up an unlikely Expressionist/gothic visual style that is deployed for the sole purpose of chilling your bones.
This unique film is made all the more remarkable for the fact that the director, the late Herk Harvey, was a mere corporate education film-maker and that this was his only full feature effort. Not unlike Robin Hardy and Anthony Schaeffer's The Wickerman, Carnival is an utterly unique and peerless vision of horror, with themes of isolation and repression at it's dark heart.
I highly recommend the excellent Criterion Collection edition of the DVD. With some fascinating deleted scenes and an in-depth documentary (in which an elderly Herk dons the white powder once more), this is one of the stellar Criterion crew's best packages.
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