Carnival Of Souls (1962)
Carnival Of Souls (1962)
The 1960s were the age of independent filmmakers, anyone one who could scrape together a bit of money and have some working knowledge of film making could make films, and some of those films were the most exciting, groundbreaking, and experimental. My favourite film from that era was a 1962 independent film called Carnival Of Souls. This film has an interesting story behind it, Herk Harvey who worked for a company in Kansas making educational and industrial films, was on a trip in California and passed by the Saltair Pavilion near Salt Lake City UT, and came up with the idea of a horror film. He contacted his friend/coworker John Clifford to come up with a screenplay based on his idea. They got local Lawrence Kansas business owners to donate money to make the film, and Harvey had met actress Candace Hilligoss in New York, and asked her to star in the film (paid her a little over $2000 to be in the film. So with a budget of merely $33,000 they set out to make an atmospheric psychological horror film, that would go on to be a hugely influential film, it would even be a major influence for George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead.
Carnival Of Souls was directed by Herk Harvey, with a screenplay by John Clifford. The film was produced by Harvey and Clifford's employer Harcourt Productions and distributed in 1962 by Hertz-Lion International Corp. The film had an eerie organ score by Gene Moore. Due to a failure to include the copyright card in the credits the film went immediately into the public domain. Upon its initial release Carnival Of Souls went mostly unnoticed, it would be the only feature film that Herk Harvey would direct, and sadly he would die before the film would become a cult classic many years later. Carnival Of Souls was also one of the few films that Candace Hilligoss would star in, and her only leading role.
Carnival Of Souls stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry, Sidney Berger as John Linden, Frances Feist as Mrs. Thomas, Art Ellison as Minister, and director Herk Harvey plays "The Man" or the main ghoul. I really wish that Candace Hilligoss had done more films, she was so perfect for this film, are aloofness and her going through the film as in a daze, helped to create the eerie and psychological horror tone of the film. All of the characters feel a little unreal, almost dreamlike in their own ways, like the character of John Linden's aggressiveness was almost nightmarish, and worked to jostle Mary out of her daze. I don't know if the actors played their characters intentionally as they did, or if it was their lack of experience, but either way the characters coupled with the cinematography and creepy organ music help to create the tone of the film.
Carnival Of Souls was a very experimental film, using techniques that were not used by the major film companies. Director Harvey used hand held cameras, to shoot in moving cars, and to get some of the motion shots without the need of dollies or cranes. He also used guerilla filming techniques, shooting without permits, and paying off locals to allow them to film. Some of the camera angles and effects were quite effective and helped to establish the eerie tone of the film. Honestly, I cannot say enough great things about this film, it was an amazing film, that took decades before it received the recognition that it deserved.
I first learned about this film when I was in high school. Around Halloween one year, my mum and I were watching a horror film marathon hosted by Rob Zombie, and he introduced the film, by saying that it was the film he almost named his band after, before instead opting for White Zombie (which was a Bela Lugosi film) as their namesake. He talked about how influential the film was, and I remember my mum and I absolutely loving it, and it became one of my favourite films. To this day this is still a film that I could watch repeatedly. It works on so many levels, and is just an absolutely amazing atmospheric psychological horror film. If you have not yet seen it I highly recommend checking it out, it is pretty easy to find since it is public domain, though if you have the money to spend, I recommend getting the Criterion Collection release of it.
Also there was a remake made of Carnival Of Souls in 1998, I have not seen it, but I have read that it has little to nothing to do with the original film, and I have heard nothing but negative things about it. Candace Hilligoss had written a sequel, but it was rejected. There was also an official German remake from 2008 called Yella .
Carnival Of Souls was directed by Herk Harvey, with a screenplay by John Clifford. The film was produced by Harvey and Clifford's employer Harcourt Productions and distributed in 1962 by Hertz-Lion International Corp. The film had an eerie organ score by Gene Moore. Due to a failure to include the copyright card in the credits the film went immediately into the public domain. Upon its initial release Carnival Of Souls went mostly unnoticed, it would be the only feature film that Herk Harvey would direct, and sadly he would die before the film would become a cult classic many years later. Carnival Of Souls was also one of the few films that Candace Hilligoss would star in, and her only leading role.
Carnival Of Souls stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry, Sidney Berger as John Linden, Frances Feist as Mrs. Thomas, Art Ellison as Minister, and director Herk Harvey plays "The Man" or the main ghoul. I really wish that Candace Hilligoss had done more films, she was so perfect for this film, are aloofness and her going through the film as in a daze, helped to create the eerie and psychological horror tone of the film. All of the characters feel a little unreal, almost dreamlike in their own ways, like the character of John Linden's aggressiveness was almost nightmarish, and worked to jostle Mary out of her daze. I don't know if the actors played their characters intentionally as they did, or if it was their lack of experience, but either way the characters coupled with the cinematography and creepy organ music help to create the tone of the film.
Carnival Of Souls was a very experimental film, using techniques that were not used by the major film companies. Director Harvey used hand held cameras, to shoot in moving cars, and to get some of the motion shots without the need of dollies or cranes. He also used guerilla filming techniques, shooting without permits, and paying off locals to allow them to film. Some of the camera angles and effects were quite effective and helped to establish the eerie tone of the film. Honestly, I cannot say enough great things about this film, it was an amazing film, that took decades before it received the recognition that it deserved.
I first learned about this film when I was in high school. Around Halloween one year, my mum and I were watching a horror film marathon hosted by Rob Zombie, and he introduced the film, by saying that it was the film he almost named his band after, before instead opting for White Zombie (which was a Bela Lugosi film) as their namesake. He talked about how influential the film was, and I remember my mum and I absolutely loving it, and it became one of my favourite films. To this day this is still a film that I could watch repeatedly. It works on so many levels, and is just an absolutely amazing atmospheric psychological horror film. If you have not yet seen it I highly recommend checking it out, it is pretty easy to find since it is public domain, though if you have the money to spend, I recommend getting the Criterion Collection release of it.
Also there was a remake made of Carnival Of Souls in 1998, I have not seen it, but I have read that it has little to nothing to do with the original film, and I have heard nothing but negative things about it. Candace Hilligoss had written a sequel, but it was rejected. There was also an official German remake from 2008 called Yella .
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