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Revision as of 03:22, 30 September 2008 edit128.175.142.153 (talk) Plot Overview← Previous edit Latest revision as of 07:48, 27 December 2024 edit undoPeterSoby (talk | contribs)4 editsm Remakes: as the owner of the original 1962 Carnival of Souls film, as well as the producer of the "based on" film, I clarified details in the remake section.Tag: Visual edit 
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{{short description|1962 film by Herk Harvey}}
{{otheruses}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox Film
{{use American English|date=December 2019}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}{{Infobox film
| name = Carnival of Souls | name = Carnival of Souls
| image = Carnivalofsoulsposters.jpg | image = Carnival of Souls (1962 pressbook cover).jpg
| caption = ] cover art for "Carnival of Souls." | alt =
| caption = US film poster by F. Germain
| director = ] | director = ]
| producer = ] | producer = Herk Harvey
| writer = ]<br>John Clifford | writer = John Clifford
| story = {{plainlist|
| starring = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]
* Herk Harvey {{small|(uncredited)}}
| music = ]
* John Clifford {{small|(uncredited)}}<ref name="Clifford">{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a72e3c0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617134222/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a72e3c0|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 17, 2017|title=Carnival of Souls (1962)|publisher=]|accessdate=June 9, 2020}}</ref>
}}
| starring = {{plainlist|
* ]
* Sidney Berger
}}
| music = Gene Moore
| cinematography = ] | cinematography = ]
| editing = ]<br>] | editing = {{plainlist|
* Dan Palmquist
| distributor = ]
* Bill de Jarnette
| released = {{flagicon|USA}} ], ]
}}
| runtime = 78 min
| country = ] | studio = ]
| distributor = Herts-Lion International Corp.
| awards =
| language = ] | released = {{Film date|1962|9|26}}
| runtime = <!--Only theatrical cut belongs in infobox--> 80 minutes{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=93}}
| budget = $30,000 (estimated)
| preceded_by = | country = United States
| followed_by = | language = English
| amg_id = 1:8310 | budget = $33,000
| imdb_id = 0055830
}} }}
'''''Carnival of Souls''''' is a 1962 American ] film{{sfn|Olson|2018|p=36}} produced and directed by ] and written by John Clifford<ref name="Clifford"/> from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring ]. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival. Director Harvey also appears in the film as a ghoulish stranger who stalks her throughout.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Richard|last=Brody|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-front-row-carnival-of-souls|title=The Front Row: "Carnival of Souls"|magazine=]|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=September 27, 2016}}</ref> The film is set to an organ score by Gene Moore.
'''''Carnival of Souls''''' is a ] released in 1962. Produced and directed by ] for an estimated $33,000, the movie never gained widespread public attention when it was originally released as it was intended as a ] and today, has become somewhat of a ]. Set to an ] score by Gene Moore, ''Carnival of Souls'' relies more on atmosphere than on ] to create its mood of horror. The film has a extremely large ] and occasionally has screenings at local film and ] festivals.


Filmed in ], and ], ''Carnival of Souls'' was shot on a budget of $33,000, and Harvey employed various ] techniques to finish the production. The film is loosely based on the French short '']'' (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 ] by ], and Harvey was inspired by the visual style of filmmakers such as ] and ].{{sfn|Godfrey|Good|Goodall|2009|pages=17–18}} ''Carnival of Souls'' was Harvey's only feature film, and did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a ] with the now mostly forgotten '']'' in 1962.
Herk Harvey was a ]-based director and producer of industrial and educational films for the ]. While vacationing in ], he developed the idea for the movie after driving past the abandoned ] Pavilion. Hiring an unknown actress, ]-trained ], and otherwise employing mostly local talent, he shot ''Carnival of Souls'' in three weeks, on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City.


Since the 1980s, the film has been noted by critics and film scholars for its cinematography and foreboding atmosphere.<ref></ref> The film has a large ] and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals.
==Plot Overview==


==Plot==
The film tells the story of Mary Henry, a talented young organist (Hilligoss). At the beginning of the film, Mary is riding in a car with a few other girls when some boys challenge them to a ]. The girls' car runs over the side of a bridge and plunges into the river. Although the others in the car die, Mary mysteriously survives.
]
In ], Mary Henry is riding in a car with two other young women when two men challenge them to a road race. During the race, the women's car is nudged by the boy's and plunges off a bridge into a muddy river. Three hours after the police start dredging the water to look for them, Mary miraculously surfaces on the river bank, but cannot remember how she survived.
]
Mary moves to ], where she has been hired as a church organist. While driving near an ] on the shores of the ], Mary begins experiencing visions of a ghoulish, pale-faced figure (referred to as "The Man" in the credits). A gas station attendant tells her the pavilion was first a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival before it was abandoned. In town, Mary rents a room and visits the church where she will be playing the organ. Mary takes a ride out to the pavilion at the lake with the church's minister who stops her from entering, warning that it is against the law.


Mary continues experiencing visions of The Man and also rejects the repeated advances of John, a neighboring lodger. Mary goes to the pavilion by herself to investigate but does not find anything. Later, Mary begins experiencing terrifying interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she were not there. During one of these episodes, Mary meets Dr. Samuels who offers to help her while acknowledging he is not a ]. Mary returns to the church by herself to practice the organ and finds herself shifting from a hymn to eerie music. In a ], she sees visions of The Man and other ]s dancing at the pavilion. The minister, hearing the strange music, denounces it as ] and insists that Mary resign.
As Mary is drawn back to the scene of the accident, and then as she performs an impromptu concert in an organ factory, her character is revealed. While she is obviously a gifted organist, her interaction with the factory supervisor is emotionless and even cold, and there is a suggestion that she has become this way because of the accident.


That night, Mary accompanies John to a bar. Terrified of being alone with her nightmares, Mary tells John she wants his company. When they return home, John tries to convince Mary to let him stay the night, however Mary becomes ] when she sees The Man in the mirror. John leaves, believing Mary to be insane. The following morning, Mary returns to the pavilion where she encounters The Man and his fellow ghouls. She tries frantically to escape, however the locals do not acknowledge her and she only encounters more ghouls until she wakes up, revealing the previous scene to be merely a ]. She is later drawn back to the pavilion once again, where she finds the ghouls dancing, with a ghoul version of herself paired with The Man. She tries to run away but is chased by the ghouls onto the beach, where she collapses as they close in.
Mary then travels to ], where she takes a new job playing organ at a church. While driving there, she passes a large, abandoned pavilion (in reality, Salt Lake City’s ] amusement park), which seems to beckon to her in the twilight. Shortly thereafter, while driving along a deserted stretch of road, she sees an apparition: a deformed, ghoulish figure (aka the Man, played by director ]) whose image replaces her reflection in the passenger window. He stares at her fixedly through the window of her moving car until her own image returns.


The following day, Dr. Samuels, the minister, and the police go to the pavilion to look for Mary. They find her footprints but note that she has otherwise vanished. Back in Kansas, the submerged car is finally pulled from the river. Mary's body is seen in the front seat alongside the other two women.
As the film progresses, Mary becomes acquainted with her new landlady and a lecherous, sinister fellow tenant (played by ]). Again and again, her reflection is replaced with the Man's image. At the same time, she continues to see visions of the Man that are no longer confined to mirrors or window reflections. Although no one else is aware of his presence, she begins to experience terrifying moments when she herself becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she simply isn’t there.


==Cast==
The dynamic soon becomes one of her suspension between the regular world and the world of the Man, or, more bluntly, between the realms of the living and the dead. At times she holds herself aloof from her fellow boarder, clearly repulsed by his carnal desires; at others she seems to encourage his advances. At one moment she seems in control of her life, dismissive of anything ] (including the possible salvation of ]); at the next she is frightened of the unknown, beyond the help of ] (in the person of a doctor from whom she seeks help) and religion, as represented by the minister (]) of the church where she plays.
{{cast listing|
* ] as Mary Henry
* Frances Feist as Mrs. Thomas
* Sidney Berger as John Linden
* ] 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
* ] as "The Man" (the main ghoul)
}}


==Production==
After arriving in town, Mary starts to become obsessed by the pavilion, as if she is somehow tied to it in a way that she can’t understand. She is also haunted by the organ music she seems to hear along with the audience--organ music which, unlike the wholesome tunes she played in the film’s earlier scenes, grows darker, more sinister, and finally somewhat demented. (This devolution is heightened by the fact that the film's score is played not on a church organ but a ], which is capable of producing many unique sounds that in the context of this film come across as quite eerie.) On her drive to Salt Lake City, she can find nothing on her car radio but this odd music. At one point, as she plays hymns on the church organ, her music turns eerie as (unknown to her) the Man appears below the organ loft; later, while taking a bath, she does a series of steps to the music in her head, a cross between playing the organ and dancing.
===Development===
]
] in Salt Lake City, Utah]]
These latter sequences foreshadow one of the film’s eeriest, best-shot, and most celebrated scenes. While at first Mary was unable to connect to the “real” world, she suddenly begins to open up and connect all too easily to the world of the Man; this shift is ingeniously represented by her sudden metamorphosis, in this key sequence, from a prim church organist to a seductress, if—perhaps—an unwilling one. While practicing alone in church one night, she falls into a ]. She pauses briefly and then resumes playing; as she does, her music abruptly shifts from proper and respectable ]s to a weird, demonic melody. Intercut with scenes of ] windows and lengthening shadows, Mary begins to sway suggestively to her music, and her splayed fingers now caress the keys with expansive, openly sensuous gestures very different from any that she has used before. Also unlike her earlier organ performances, we suddenly see that she has kicked off her shoes and is playing ], a surprising touch that makes her performance even more seductive and wanton. As she plays, her hands begin stroking the ] more urgently while her bare feet move dreamily on the organ’s long rows of ]s, her toes gently working them nearly ] in a coquettish ].
Harvey was a director and producer of ] and ]s based in Lawrence, Kansas, where he worked for the ].<ref></ref> While returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California, Harvey developed the idea for ''Carnival of Souls'' after driving past the abandoned ] in Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}} "When I got back to Lawrence, I asked my friend and co-worker at Centron Films, John Clifford, who was a writer there, how he'd like to write a feature," Harvey recalled. "The last scene, I told him, had to be a whole bunch of ghouls dancing in that ballroom; the rest was up to him. He wrote it in three weeks."<ref name="champlin" />


The screenplay is loosely based on the French short film '']'' (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 ] by ].{{sfn|Godfrey|Good|Goodall|2009|pages=17–18}}
As Mary continues to coax her malevolent tune from the organ, she moves more deeply into trance, beginning to experience an extended impressionistic vision of a throng of ]s emerging from the water to waltz to her music in the pavilion’s ruined ballroom. As the Man moves towards her and then reaches out for her while she watches in numb horror, her fingers spasm on the keyboards, signaling the approach of a not-too-metaphorical climax. But just before it occurs, the minister appears suddenly and wrenches her hands from the organ, furiously calling her music ]. He "asks her to resign" because of her lack of reverence and awareness of things significant to the church and concisely laments her "lack of soul". Before she leaves he softens his attitude a bit and tells her that the church can offer her help. She departs barefoot, in totally wordless dejection. At this point she seems to know that she is lost, and from here on her appeals for help to her acquaintances become more desperate.


===Casting===
After the organ trance scene, the ghouls appear more often. In one later scene, Harvey blurs the distinction between the real and surreal still further, by showing us that Mary has, at least apparently, been asleep and dreaming ''some'' of the scenes involving the ghouls. Though Mary tries frantically to escape them-- at one point boarding a bus to leave town only to find that ghouls comprise all of the passengers-- in the end she cannot resist being drawn back to the pavilion one last time, where they proceed to chase her down and spirit her away. The minister, the doctor, and the police, arriving at the pavilion to investigate, cannot explain her mysterious disappearance, as her bare footprints in the sand (the only ones) end abruptly, and her body is missing. The film’s final scene, however, shows us what had been hidden from Mary all along: a shot of her lifeless body in the car that plunged into the river. She has been dead all the while...
]
In New York City, Harvey discovered then-twenty six year-old actress Candace Hilligoss, who had trained with ], and cast her in the lead role of Mary Henry.<ref name="champlin" /> Hilligoss had been offered a role in the Richard Hilliard-directed horror film '']'' (1963), but opted for the role in ''Carnival of Souls''.{{sfn|Weaver|2003|p=146}} She stated that at the time, she took the role as a "take-the-money-and-run type of situation";{{sfn|Weaver|2003|p=147}} she was paid approximately $2,000 for her work in the film.{{sfn|Weaver|2003|p=152}}


== Remake == ===Filming===
Harvey shot ''Carnival of Souls'' in three weeks on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City,<ref name="champlin">{{cite news|first=Charles|last=Champlin|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-19-ca-2117-story.html|title=The Reincarnation of 'Carnival of Souls'|newspaper=]|date=April 19, 1990|access-date=December 27, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523165838/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-19-ca-2117-story.html|archive-date=May 23, 2019}}</ref> after taking three weeks off from his job at Centron in order to direct the film,{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}} and starting with an initial production budget of $17,000.{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}} He raised the $17,000 cash budget by asking local businessmen if they were willing to invest $500 in his production.{{sfn|Hillegass|1996|pages=18–33}} The other $13,000 of the total $30,000 budget was deferred.{{sfn|Hillegass|1996|pages=18–33}} Harvey was able to secure the rental of the Saltair Pavilion for $50, and several other scenes, such as the scene featuring Mary in the department store, were shot ], with Harvey paying off locals to allow the crew to quickly film.<ref name="champlin" /> {{sfn|Weaver|2003|pages=148–149}} Hilligoss described the filming process as brisk, with the cast and crew working seven days a week.{{sfn|Weaver|2003|p=148}}

Harvey aimed for the film to have "the look of ] and the feel of ],"{{sfn|Godfrey|Good|Goodall|2009|p=18}} and employed techniques he had learned in his work on industrial films in order to limit production costs.{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}} There was not enough money for a process screen to create a ], which was the method typically used at that time to create the impression that a scene was taking place inside a moving car, by combining footage shot inside a static car with separate footage of a moving background.{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}} Instead, Harvey used a battery-powered hand-held ] to film the shots inside moving cars, removing the need for ]. The Arriflex, which was at that time more often used by cameramen filming newsreel footage, also allowed them to use a moving camera in other scenes without the need for gear like dollies or cranes.{{sfn|Crouse|2003|pages=35–38}}

Harvey's assistant director was ], a young Iranian immigrant who was just beginning his film work in the States. At this time, Badiyi had been second-unit director on one other film, ]'s directing debut, '']'',{{sfn|Weaver|2011|p=88}} but would go on to make (amongst other notable work) some of the best-known, iconic ] openings and montages, including '']'', '']'', and '']''.<ref></ref> The shot in which the face of The Man appears in the car window was accomplished through the use of an angled mirror placed on the far side of the window. The scene at the start of the film in which the car goes off the bridge and into the river was filmed in ]. The town did not charge a fee for the use of the bridge, only requiring the film crew to replace the bridge's damaged rails once they were done filming. This was done, at a cost of $12 for the repair.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Interview with Carnival of Souls' director Herk Harvey - YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1GKYKJtmMo&ab_channel=CandaceHilligoss |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/Y1GKYKJtmMo |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=2020-11-09|website=www.youtube.com| date=September 9, 2014 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Musical score===
]
''Carnival of Souls'' features an original organ score by local Kansas City organist and composer Gene Moore. Film and music scholar Julie Brown comments on the score, noting: "The organ is one of the spectral presences in ''Carnival of Souls'', summoning up, or being summoned up by, the various allusions in the film to cinema's past."{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=3}} Screenwriter John Clifford has stated that the locations Harvey chose for the film (particularly the Saltair Pavilion, and the grand ]) influenced the decision to use an organ score.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=3}} The onscreen depiction of the organ played by Mary was implemented by Harvey to add to the film's "Gothic look."{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=4}}

An original soundtrack album for ''Carnival of Souls'' was released in 1988, featuring Gene Moore's original musical score.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/carnival-of-souls-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0000601096|title=Original Soundtrack: Carnival of Souls|website=]|accessdate=October 5, 2017}}</ref>

In 2023, Waxwork Records licensed the soundtrack rights from Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine and released "Carnival Of Souls" as part of the ] Presents soundtrack series. It was pressed on coloured vinyl and housed in special packaging featuring artwork by ].<ref>{{cite book |title=Nightmare on One Sheet |date=2023 |publisher=Korero Press |isbn=9781912740239 |pages=164, 165 |url=https://www.koreropress.com/nightmare-on-one-sheet/}}</ref>

==Release==
''Carnival of Souls'' had its world premiere at the Main Street Theatre in Lawrence, Kansas, in September 1962.{{sfn|Hilligoss|2016|p=187}} While the US release of ''Carnival of Souls'' failed to include a copyright on the prints, automatically placing them in the public domain,{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} the foreign release marketed by Walter Manley did contain a copyright card and was protected for overseas sales. The 35&nbsp;mm theatrical prints were cut by Herz-Lion to 78 minutes <ref></ref> which trimmed the camera original. However, the 16&nbsp;mm television copies were printed complete and individually cut by each station to fit their time slot, which is why they vary in length.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

] in New York City used to broadcast the film intact in a late night timeslot in the 1960s. 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 organ factory boss and a carpenter and an extra scene where the doctor talks to the landlady. In 1989, the film was screened at festivals across Europe and the United States, affording it renewed public interest,{{sfn|Weaver|2003|pages=154–155}} and it has subsequently appeared at numerous Halloween film festivals.<ref name="niccum">{{cite web|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/oct/29/carnival_writer_relishes/|work=Lawrence Journal-World|date=October 29, 2004|last=Niccum|first=Jon|archive-date=December 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221095650/http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/oct/29/carnival_writer_relishes/|title='Carnival' writer relishes film's rise from the dead}}</ref>

Prints of ''Carnival of Souls'' vary in length from 78 minutes in theatrical release to 84 minutes in the original cut. While some sources have erroneously listed the film at a 91-minute-runtime, Michael Weldon stated in '']'' that the original theatrical cut of the film ran approximately 80 minutes.{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=93}} He also stated that the director's cut, which runs 84 minutes, is "the best and most complete version we'll ever see."{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=93}}

===Reception and legacy===
''Carnival of Souls'' went largely unnoticed by critics upon its initial release and received "delayed acclaim" in the ensuing decades,<ref name="champlin" /> with numerous arthouse screenings in 1989 in conjunction with the Halloween season.<ref name="ebert" /> It has since become regarded by many film schools as a classic, often praised for its lighting and sound design, in which "sight and sound come together... in a horrifying way."{{sfn|Hawkins|2000|p=15}} Some scholars, such as ], consider ''Carnival of Souls'' more an ] than a straightforward horror film.{{sfn|Hawkins|2000|p=27}} The '']'' film guide commended the film's "striking black-and-white compositions, disorienting dream sequences and eerie atmosphere," adding that the film "has the feel of a silent ] movie. Unfortunately, so does some of the acting, which suffers from exaggerated facial expressions and bizarre gesturing. But the mesmerising power of the carnival and dance-hall sequences far outweighs the corniness of the awkward intimate scenes."<ref name="time">{{cite web|url=https://timeout.com/film/reviews/68886/carnival_of_souls.html|work=]|title=Carnival of Souls|accessdate=October 4, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108092059/https://timeout.com/film/reviews/68886/carnival_of_souls.html|archive-date=November 8, 2012}}</ref>

] gave ''Carnival of Souls'' a score of two-and-a-half out of four stars, calling the film an "eerie" and "imaginative low budget effort."{{sfn|Maltin|2014|p=218}} Critic ] likened the film to a "lost episode of '']''," and noted that it possessed an "intriguing power."<ref name="ebert">{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Carnival of Souls|url=https://rogerebert.com/reviews/carnival-of-souls-1989|work=]|date=October 27, 1989|access-date=December 27, 2016}}</ref> Joe Brown of '']'' remarked upon the film's cinematography, writing: "Harvey's camerawork gives a new twist to the word 'deadpan,' making the most mundane places and people imaginable seem like ghastly hallucinations, and the director shows a flair for elegantly employing existing locations and lighting for maximum disorientation value."<ref name="washintonrev">{{cite news|first=Joe|last=Brown|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/carnivalofsoulsnrbrown_a0adb1.htm |title=Carnival of Souls|newspaper=]|date=October 6, 1989|accessdate=October 5, 2017}}</ref> ] of '']'' saw the 1989 screening at the Fantasy Festival and wrote: "What has earned ''Carnival of Souls'' its reputation is the director's knack for building a mood of fatalistic angst."<ref>{{cite news |first=Stephen|last=Holden |author-link=Stephen Holden|title= 'Carnival of Souls' Opens Fantasy Festival |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/19/movies/review-film-carnival-of-souls-opens-fantasy-festival.html|newspaper=]|date=July 19, 1989 }}</ref> The '']''{{'}} Peter Rainer perceived the film's cinematography to be inconsistent in merit, called the acting "fairly amateurish to begin with, has a one-take-only quality", and noted the "inept ]"; however, he wrote that "these rinky-dink elements only add to the horror."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-20-ca-1330-story.html|title=Movie Review : 'Carnival' Profits From Its Limitations|last=Rainer|first=Peter|date=April 20, 1990|website=]|access-date=June 16, 2021}}</ref>

'']'' gave ''Carnival of Souls'' a score of three stars out of four, praising the film's atmosphere, acting, and eerie score, calling it, "A chilling ghost story with artistic pretensions."<ref name="TVGuide">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/carnival-of-souls/review/110390/ |title=Carnival of Souls Review |magazine=]|accessdate=October 4, 2017}}</ref> ''Film Reel.com'' gave ''Carnival of Souls'' a positive review, praising the film's atmosphere, slow-building tension, and disturbing visuals.<ref></ref>

On ], the film has an approval rating of 87% based on {{nowrap|67 reviews}}, with a rating average of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states that the film "offers delightfully chilling proof that when it comes to telling an effective horror story, less can often be much, much more".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003612-carnival_of_souls/|title=Carnival of Souls (1962) – Rotten Tomatoes|website=]|publisher=]|location=San Francisco, California|access-date=November 21, 2022}}</ref>

=== Rights ===
Although some believe that ''Carnival of Souls'' is in the public domain, the original filmmakers received official copyright status on the film in 1987 in the names of Harold Harvey and John W. Clifford, under copyright registration number PAO1-230-677, in the Office of the United States Register of Copyrights, Washington, D.C. John W. Clifford also has a copyright as an unpublished manuscript his original screenplay (copyright # PAU2-064-013). Clifford and Harvey were legally able to copyright their film because the original distributor, Harcourt Productions, never filed for copyright in 1962. The film, including the original negative and a handful of surviving prints and outtakes were purchased from the filmmakers, along with all rights, by Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine of Chicago West Entertainment in January of 1997 <ref>{{Cite web |last=Weiner |first=Rex |date=1997-01-08 |title=Soby, Irvine buy ‘Carnival’ rights |url=https://variety.com/1997/scene/vpage/soby-irvine-buy-carnival-rights-1117433828/#! |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>.

===Home media===
]''Carnival of Souls'' has been released in a significant number of formats through numerous distributors, which, according to film scholars Chris Vander Kaay and Kathleen Fernandez-Vander Kaay, has ensured it "a constant presence in the video market and its enduring cult popularity."{{sfn|Vander Kaay|Fernandez-Vander Kaay|2016|p=48}} ] licensed the official copyright version of the film from Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine and issued a 2-disc ] set of the film in 2000, featuring both a 78-minute theatrical version and an extended 84-minute director's cut.<ref>{{cite book|title=Carnival of Souls (The Criterion Collection)|isbn=1559409002}}</ref> In 2009, ] released the film on DVD featuring both the black-and-white and a ] version of the directors cut, including an ] by comedian ], a former writer and host of '']''.<ref>{{cite web|work=]|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37618/rifftrax-carnival-of-souls-from-the-stars-of-mystery-science-theater-3000/|title=RiffTrax: Carnival of Souls|last=Jane|first=Ian|date=June 17, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904094942/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37618/rifftrax-carnival-of-souls-from-the-stars-of-mystery-science-theater-3000/|archive-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> In 2016, the Criterion Collection reissued the film on DVD, as well as premiering it on ], featuring a new restoration.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/carnival-of-souls/|work=]|last=Bowen|first=Chuck|date=July 12, 2016|url-status=live|title=Blu-ray Review: Carnival of Souls|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513104345/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/carnival-of-souls/|archive-date=May 13, 2020}}</ref>

''Carnival of Souls'' has gradually developed a ] since its release and is now considered a low-budget classic.<ref name="washintonrev" /><ref name="ebert" /><ref name="TVGuide" /> The film has since been included in multiple lists by various media outlets as one of the ]. ] ranked ''Carnival of Souls'' number 39 on its list of the 50 scariest movies ever made.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Matt|last=Barone|url=http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/07/scariest-movies-all-time/carnival-of-souls|title=The 50 Scariest Movies of All Time|magazine=]|display-authors=et al|date=July 18, 2013|accessdate=October 4, 2017}}</ref> ''Slant Magazine'' placed the film at #32 on its "100 Best Horror Movies of All Time".<ref name="slantmagazinelist">{{cite web |title=The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time: ''Carnival of Souls'' |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-100-greatest-horror-movies-of-all-time/7/ |website=] |author=''Slant Magazine'' Staff |url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200513102830/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/100-greatest-horror-movies-of-all-time/|archive-date=May 13, 2020}}</ref> ''Paste'' magazine ranked the film at #85 in its list of "100 Best Horror Movies of All Time".<ref name="vorel19">{{cite web |last1=Vorel |first1=Jim |title=The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movies-of-all-time/#85-carnival-of-souls |work=] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200513102743/https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movies-of-all-time/|archive-date=May 13, 2020|date=October 14, 2019}}</ref>

In 2012, the ] restored ''Carnival of Souls'' alongside Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine.<ref>{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=Carnival+of+Souls&filmmaker=&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive}}</ref> They also keep the original negatives stored in their facilities. The film has been named as a precursor to the works of various filmmakers, including ],<ref name="ew">{{cite web|first=Owen|last=Gleiberman|author-link=Owen Gleiberman|url=https://ew.com/article/2011/04/07/carnival-of-souls-the-original-insidious/|title='Carnival of Souls': The movie that inspired 'Insidious' is the spookiest, weirdest, and maybe greatest horror film you've never seen|magazine=]|date=April 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005201813/https://ew.com/article/2011/04/07/carnival-of-souls-the-original-insidious/|archive-date=October 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> ],<ref></ref> ]<ref></ref> and ].<ref name="ew" /><ref></ref><ref></ref>

The film was used for a ] Live event in October 2016, where former '']'' cast members ], ] and ]<ref></ref> riffed the film for a live audience and broadcast to other theaters through ]. Rifftrax's website offers the video downloads of the live performance as well as a studio-recorded riff of the film.<ref></ref>

A novelization of the film titled ''Nightmare Pavilion'' written by Andrew J. Rausch was released by Happy Cloud Media in October 2020.<ref></ref>

===Remakes===
{{main|Carnival of Souls (1998 film)}} {{main|Carnival of Souls (1998 film)}}
There has yet to be a true remake of the original, however Peter Soby negotiated "based on" rights of ''Carnival of Souls'' with the writer, John Clifford, and the director Herk Harvey which led in 1998 to a "based on" film entitled 'Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls" directed by Adam Grossman and Anthony Hickox and starring ]. This "based on" film has little in common with the 1962 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. According to Candace Hilligoss, the filmmakers had asked for her, 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.{{sfn|Weaver|2011|pages=89–91}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Weaver|first=Tom|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223083543/http://www.bmonster.com/profile18.html| title=Stolen Souls: Candace Hilligoss left out in the cold|work=The Astounding B Monster | archive-date=February 23, 2008|accessdate= December 10, 2011|url=http://www.bmonster.com/profile18.html}}</ref> Peter Soby actually wanted Hilligoss to be a part of the "based on" film as a producer and to have a role in the film, however, she had written her own script on spec entitled "Carnival of Souls II" which Soby, Harvey and Clifford felt was not the right tone. It was centered on her character from the original film, Mary Henry, coming back as a ghost 35 years later and falling in love with a younger man. Candace refused to be a part of the new production if it wasn't her script, so unfortunately Soby, who officially acquired the rights from Harvey and Clifford, had to part ways with her. The "based on" film was marketed as ''] Presents 'Carnival of Souls{{'}}'' because Soby negotiated with TriMark Pictures to contractually agree to make a film "based on" the original and not a remake with the same title<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hindes |first=Andrew |date=1997-09-12 |title=New ‘Carnival’ wraps prod’n |url=https://variety.com/1997/film/news/new-carnival-wraps-prod-n-1116674761/#! |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>. It received negative appraisals from most reviewers <ref></ref> and did not manage to secure theatrical release, going ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120627/releaseinfo|title = Carnival of Souls (1998) - IMDb|website = ]}}</ref>
Negotiations with the film's writer, John Clifford, and the director, Herk Harvey, led in 1998 to a ] directed by ] and Ian Kessner and starring ]. The remake has little in common with the 1960s film, borrowing little more than the revelation at the end. ], who had appeared in the original film as John Linden, appeared in a cameo in the re-make, as a tribute. 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 in it, but she declined, feeling that Clifford and the film makers of the re-make had shown disrespect to her in initiating the film without consulting her or considering her treatment for a sequel to the 1962 version.<ref></ref><ref></ref> 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 ].


==Home video availability== ===In popular culture===
When Mary is speaking to the manager of the organ factory at the beginning of the film, he says to her: "It takes more than intellect to be a musician. Put your soul into it. OK?" This sample was used on the 1998 song "]" by the ] rock band ].<ref></ref>
The film varies in length from 78 minutes in theatrical release to 91 minutes in the original cut. The ] edition of the film contains the 78 minute theatrical version of the film and an 83 minute director's cut. The ] edition of the film contains both ] and black and white versions of the aforementioned director's cut and a humorous ] track by ], a former writer and host of '']''. The comedian mocks the low budget film's flaws in the style of an episode of the series.


Mary laments towards the end of the film: "I don't belong in the world, that's what it is. Something separates me from other people. Everywhere I turn, there's something blocking my escape." A sample of this line was used at the beginning of the ] song "]" on her album '']'' (2017).<ref>{{cite web|work=Filmhounds Magazine|title=Carnival of Souls' 60 Year Influence on Modern Pop Culture|date=June 30, 2022|last=Paterson|first=Marc|url=https://filmhounds.co.uk/2022/06/i-dont-belong-in-the-world-carnival-of-souls-60-year-influence-on-modern-pop-culture/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707092619/https://filmhounds.co.uk/2022/06/i-dont-belong-in-the-world-carnival-of-souls-60-year-influence-on-modern-pop-culture/|archive-date=July 7, 2022}}</ref>
==Images==

<gallery>
Clips of the film were used throughout the ] video "]".<ref></ref>
Image:COS 00.JPG|

Image:COS 01.JPG|
Clips of the film were also used by the band Why These Coyotes for their song ].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojg8fuLfjoM&pp=ygUnd2h5IHRoZXNlIGNveW90ZXMgZGFuY2UgYXJvdW5kIHRoZSBmaXJl | title=Dance Around the Fire by Why These Coyotes (Unofficial Video) | website=] | date=October 23, 2017 }}</ref>
Image:COS 02.JPG|

Image:COS 03.JPG|
The dancehall scenes featured at the end of the film were referenced in the music video for ]' ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Stephen |date=2017-01-17 |title=2017's Best New Artist Might Just Be Phoebe Bridgers |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/01/17/510254371/2017s-best-new-artist-might-just-be-phoebe-bridgers |access-date=2022-08-06}}</ref>
Image:COS 04.JPG|

Image:COS 05.JPG|
Peter Soby licensed the official perfume rights to Marissa Zappas<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marissa Zappas |url=https://marissazappas.com/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Marissa Zappas |language=en}}</ref> who released the official ''Carnival of Souls'' perfume on October 31, 2024<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-27 |title=Does a Film Have a Fragrance? Perfumer Marissa Zappas Thinks So |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/beauty/marissa-zappas-perfume-carnival-of-souls-interview |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=W Magazine |language=en}}</ref>.
Image:COS 06.JPG|

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==See also==
Image:COS 08.JPG|
* ]
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* ]
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* ]
</gallery>
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Brown|first=Julie|editor-last=Lerner|editor-first=Neil|year=2009|title=Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear|chapter=''Carnival of Souls'' and The Organs of Horror|publisher=Routledge | location = New York | isbn= 978-1-135-28044-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Crouse|first=Richard|title=The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen|location=Toronto|publisher=ECW Press|year=2003|isbn=978-1-55022-590-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/100bestmoviesyou0000crou}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Godfrey|editor1-first=Will|editor2-last=Good|editor2-first=Jill|editor3-last=Goodall|editor3-first=Mark|year=2009|title=Crash Cinema: Representation in Film|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|location=Cambridge, England|isbn= 978-1-443-81518-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Hawkins|first=Joan|title=Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=2000|location=Minneapolis|isbn= 978-1-4529-0430-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Hillegass|first=Jeff|chapter=Carnival of Souls|editor-last=Svehla|editor-first=Gary|title=Cinematic Hauntings|location= Baltimore|publisher=Midnight Marquee Press|year= 1996| isbn=978-1-936168-11-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Hilligoss|first=Candace|author-link=Candace Hilligoss|year=2016|title=The Odyssey and The Idiocy, Marriage to an Actor, A Memoir|publisher=First Edition Design Publishing | location = Sarasota | isbn=978-1-5069-0334-7}}
*{{cite book|editor-last=Maltin|editor-first=Leonard|editor-link=Leonard Maltin|title=Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide|edition=1st|location=New York|publisher=Penguin Group|year=2014|isbn=978-0-451-41810-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780451418104}}
*{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Christopher J.|title=100 Greatest Cult Films|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2018|isbn=978-1-442-21104-9}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Vander Kaay|editor1-first=Chris|editor2-last=Fernandez-Vander Kaay|editor2-first=Christine|year=2016|title=Horror Films by Subgenre: A Viewer's Guide|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn= 978-0-786-49837-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Weaver|first=Tom|title=Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews|publisher=McFarland|year=2003|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn= 978-0-7864-8215-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Weaver|first=Tom|title=I Was a Monster Movie Maker: Conversations with 22 SF and Horror Filmmakers|publisher=McFarland|year=2011|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn= 978-0-7864-6265-0}}
*{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Weldon|title=The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film|date=1996|isbn= 978-0-312-13149-4 |publisher=]|location=New York City}}
{{Refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons|Carnival of Souls}} {{Commons category|Carnival of Souls}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* at the
* {{IMDb title|0055830}}
*Download at the ]
* {{TCMDb title|70341}}
*
* {{AFI film|21225}}
*
* {{rotten-tomatoes|1003612-carnival_of_souls}}


===Critical essays===
]
* an essay by John Clifford at the ]
]
* an essay by Bruce Kawin at the ]
]
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===View the film===
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] * {{youTube|fFhKLBr-1us|Carnival of Souls}}
* {{Internet Archive film | CarnivalOfSoulsVideoQualityUpgrade | Carnival of Souls}}
]

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Latest revision as of 07:48, 27 December 2024

1962 film by Herk Harvey For other uses, see Carnival of Souls (disambiguation).

Carnival of Souls
US film poster by F. Germain
Directed byHerk Harvey
Written byJohn Clifford
Story by
  • Herk Harvey (uncredited)
  • John Clifford (uncredited)
Produced byHerk Harvey
Starring
CinematographyMaurice Prather
Edited by
  • Dan Palmquist
  • Bill de Jarnette
Music byGene Moore
Production
company
Harcourt Productions
Distributed byHerts-Lion International Corp.
Release date
  • September 26, 1962 (1962-09-26)
Running time80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$33,000

Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American psychological horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival. Director Harvey also appears in the film as a ghoulish stranger who stalks her throughout. The film is set to an organ score by Gene Moore.

Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, Carnival of Souls was shot on a budget of $33,000, and Harvey employed various guerrilla filmmaking techniques to finish the production. The film is loosely based on the French short An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce, and Harvey was inspired by the visual style of filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau. Carnival of Souls was Harvey's only feature film, and did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a double feature with the now mostly forgotten The Devil's Messenger in 1962.

Since the 1980s, the film has been noted by critics and film scholars for its cinematography and foreboding atmosphere. The film has a large cult following and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals.

Plot

Carnival of Souls (1962) by Herk Harvey

In Kansas, Mary Henry is riding in a car with two other young women when two men challenge them to a road race. During the race, the women's car is nudged by the boy's and plunges off a bridge into a muddy river. Three hours after the police start dredging the water to look for them, Mary miraculously surfaces on the river bank, but cannot remember how she survived.

Still frame of the car falling off the bridge.

Mary moves to Salt Lake City, where she has been hired as a church organist. While driving near an abandoned pavilion on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, Mary begins experiencing visions of a ghoulish, pale-faced figure (referred to as "The Man" in the credits). A gas station attendant tells her the pavilion was first a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival before it was abandoned. In town, Mary rents a room and visits the church where she will be playing the organ. Mary takes a ride out to the pavilion at the lake with the church's minister who stops her from entering, warning that it is against the law.

Mary continues experiencing visions of The Man and also rejects the repeated advances of John, a neighboring lodger. Mary goes to the pavilion by herself to investigate but does not find anything. Later, Mary begins experiencing terrifying interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she were not there. During one of these episodes, Mary meets Dr. Samuels who offers to help her while acknowledging he is not a psychiatrist. Mary returns to the church by herself to practice the organ and finds herself shifting from a hymn to eerie music. In a trance, she sees visions of The Man and other ghouls dancing at the pavilion. The minister, hearing the strange music, denounces it as sacrilege and insists that Mary resign.

That night, Mary accompanies John to a bar. Terrified of being alone with her nightmares, Mary tells John she wants his company. When they return home, John tries to convince Mary to let him stay the night, however Mary becomes hysterical when she sees The Man in the mirror. John leaves, believing Mary to be insane. The following morning, Mary returns to the pavilion where she encounters The Man and his fellow ghouls. She tries frantically to escape, however the locals do not acknowledge her and she only encounters more ghouls until she wakes up, revealing the previous scene to be merely a nightmare. She is later drawn back to the pavilion once again, where she finds the ghouls dancing, with a ghoul version of herself paired with The Man. She tries to run away but is chased by the ghouls onto the beach, where she collapses as they close in.

The following day, Dr. Samuels, the minister, and the police go to the pavilion to look for Mary. They find her footprints but note that she has otherwise vanished. Back in Kansas, the submerged car is finally pulled from the river. Mary's body is seen in the front seat alongside the other two women.

Cast

  • Candace Hilligoss 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 Harvey as "The Man" (the main ghoul)

Production

Development

Harvey centered and shot the film around the then-abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah

Harvey was a director and producer of industrial and educational films based in Lawrence, Kansas, where he worked for the Centron Corporation. While returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California, Harvey developed the idea for Carnival of Souls after driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City. "When I got back to Lawrence, I asked my friend and co-worker at Centron Films, John Clifford, who was a writer there, how he'd like to write a feature," Harvey recalled. "The last scene, I told him, had to be a whole bunch of ghouls dancing in that ballroom; the rest was up to him. He wrote it in three weeks."

The screenplay is loosely based on the French short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce.

Casting

Candace Hilligoss, 1962

In New York City, Harvey discovered then-twenty six year-old actress Candace Hilligoss, who had trained with Lee Strasberg, and cast her in the lead role of Mary Henry. Hilligoss had been offered a role in the Richard Hilliard-directed horror film Violent Midnight (1963), but opted for the role in Carnival of Souls. She stated that at the time, she took the role as a "take-the-money-and-run type of situation"; she was paid approximately $2,000 for her work in the film.

Filming

Harvey shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City, after taking three weeks off from his job at Centron in order to direct the film, and starting with an initial production budget of $17,000. He raised the $17,000 cash budget by asking local businessmen if they were willing to invest $500 in his production. The other $13,000 of the total $30,000 budget was deferred. Harvey was able to secure the rental of the Saltair Pavilion for $50, and several other scenes, such as the scene featuring Mary in the department store, were shot guerrilla style, with Harvey paying off locals to allow the crew to quickly film. Hilligoss described the filming process as brisk, with the cast and crew working seven days a week.

Harvey aimed for the film to have "the look of Bergman and the feel of Cocteau," and employed techniques he had learned in his work on industrial films in order to limit production costs. There was not enough money for a process screen to create a rear projection effect, which was the method typically used at that time to create the impression that a scene was taking place inside a moving car, by combining footage shot inside a static car with separate footage of a moving background. Instead, Harvey used a battery-powered hand-held Arriflex camera to film the shots inside moving cars, removing the need for compositing. The Arriflex, which was at that time more often used by cameramen filming newsreel footage, also allowed them to use a moving camera in other scenes without the need for gear like dollies or cranes.

Harvey's assistant director was Reza Badiyi, a young Iranian immigrant who was just beginning his film work in the States. At this time, Badiyi had been second-unit director on one other film, Robert Altman's directing debut, The Delinquents, but would go on to make (amongst other notable work) some of the best-known, iconic television series openings and montages, including Hawaii Five-O, Get Smart, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The shot in which the face of The Man appears in the car window was accomplished through the use of an angled mirror placed on the far side of the window. The scene at the start of the film in which the car goes off the bridge and into the river was filmed in Lecompton, Kansas. The town did not charge a fee for the use of the bridge, only requiring the film crew to replace the bridge's damaged rails once they were done filming. This was done, at a cost of $12 for the repair.

Musical score

Hilligoss (as Mary Henry) playing organ.

Carnival of Souls features an original organ score by local Kansas City organist and composer Gene Moore. Film and music scholar Julie Brown comments on the score, noting: "The organ is one of the spectral presences in Carnival of Souls, summoning up, or being summoned up by, the various allusions in the film to cinema's past." Screenwriter John Clifford has stated that the locations Harvey chose for the film (particularly the Saltair Pavilion, and the grand church organ) influenced the decision to use an organ score. The onscreen depiction of the organ played by Mary was implemented by Harvey to add to the film's "Gothic look."

An original soundtrack album for Carnival of Souls was released in 1988, featuring Gene Moore's original musical score.

In 2023, Waxwork Records licensed the soundtrack rights from Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine and released "Carnival Of Souls" as part of the Rob Zombie Presents soundtrack series. It was pressed on coloured vinyl and housed in special packaging featuring artwork by Graham Humphreys.

Release

Carnival of Souls had its world premiere at the Main Street Theatre in Lawrence, Kansas, in September 1962. While the US release of Carnival of Souls 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 35 mm theatrical prints were cut by Herz-Lion to 78 minutes which trimmed the camera original. However, the 16 mm television copies were printed complete and individually cut by each station to fit their time slot, which is why they vary in length.

WOR-TV in New York City used to broadcast the film intact in a late night timeslot in the 1960s. 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 organ factory boss and a carpenter and an extra scene where the doctor talks to the landlady. In 1989, the film was screened at festivals across Europe and the United States, affording it renewed public interest, and it has subsequently appeared at numerous Halloween film festivals.

Prints of Carnival of Souls vary in length from 78 minutes in theatrical release to 84 minutes in the original cut. While some sources have erroneously listed the film at a 91-minute-runtime, Michael Weldon stated in The Psychotronic Video Guide to Film that the original theatrical cut of the film ran approximately 80 minutes. He also stated that the director's cut, which runs 84 minutes, is "the best and most complete version we'll ever see."

Reception and legacy

Carnival of Souls went largely unnoticed by critics upon its initial release and received "delayed acclaim" in the ensuing decades, with numerous arthouse screenings in 1989 in conjunction with the Halloween season. It has since become regarded by many film schools as a classic, often praised for its lighting and sound design, in which "sight and sound come together... in a horrifying way." Some scholars, such as S. S. Prawer, consider Carnival of Souls more an art film than a straightforward horror film. The Time Out film guide commended the film's "striking black-and-white compositions, disorienting dream sequences and eerie atmosphere," adding that the film "has the feel of a silent German expressionist movie. Unfortunately, so does some of the acting, which suffers from exaggerated facial expressions and bizarre gesturing. But the mesmerising power of the carnival and dance-hall sequences far outweighs the corniness of the awkward intimate scenes."

Leonard Maltin gave Carnival of Souls a score of two-and-a-half out of four stars, calling the film an "eerie" and "imaginative low budget effort." Critic Roger Ebert likened the film to a "lost episode of The Twilight Zone," and noted that it possessed an "intriguing power." Joe Brown of The Washington Post remarked upon the film's cinematography, writing: "Harvey's camerawork gives a new twist to the word 'deadpan,' making the most mundane places and people imaginable seem like ghastly hallucinations, and the director shows a flair for elegantly employing existing locations and lighting for maximum disorientation value." Stephen Holden of The New York Times saw the 1989 screening at the Fantasy Festival and wrote: "What has earned Carnival of Souls its reputation is the director's knack for building a mood of fatalistic angst." The Los Angeles Times' Peter Rainer perceived the film's cinematography to be inconsistent in merit, called the acting "fairly amateurish to begin with, has a one-take-only quality", and noted the "inept post-dubbing"; however, he wrote that "these rinky-dink elements only add to the horror."

TV Guide gave Carnival of Souls a score of three stars out of four, praising the film's atmosphere, acting, and eerie score, calling it, "A chilling ghost story with artistic pretensions." Film Reel.com gave Carnival of Souls a positive review, praising the film's atmosphere, slow-building tension, and disturbing visuals.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 87% based on 67 reviews, with a rating average of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states that the film "offers delightfully chilling proof that when it comes to telling an effective horror story, less can often be much, much more".

Rights

Although some believe that Carnival of Souls is in the public domain, the original filmmakers received official copyright status on the film in 1987 in the names of Harold Harvey and John W. Clifford, under copyright registration number PAO1-230-677, in the Office of the United States Register of Copyrights, Washington, D.C. John W. Clifford also has a copyright as an unpublished manuscript his original screenplay (copyright # PAU2-064-013). Clifford and Harvey were legally able to copyright their film because the original distributor, Harcourt Productions, never filed for copyright in 1962. The film, including the original negative and a handful of surviving prints and outtakes were purchased from the filmmakers, along with all rights, by Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine of Chicago West Entertainment in January of 1997 .

Home media

Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls has been released in a significant number of formats through numerous distributors, which, according to film scholars Chris Vander Kaay and Kathleen Fernandez-Vander Kaay, has ensured it "a constant presence in the video market and its enduring cult popularity." The Criterion Collection licensed the official copyright version of the film from Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine and issued a 2-disc DVD set of the film in 2000, featuring both a 78-minute theatrical version and an extended 84-minute director's cut. In 2009, Legend Films released the film on DVD featuring both the black-and-white and a colorized version of the directors cut, including an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson, a former writer and host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In 2016, the Criterion Collection reissued the film on DVD, as well as premiering it on Blu-ray, featuring a new restoration.

Carnival of Souls has gradually developed a cult following since its release and is now considered a low-budget classic. The film has since been included in multiple lists by various media outlets as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Complex magazine ranked Carnival of Souls number 39 on its list of the 50 scariest movies ever made. Slant Magazine placed the film at #32 on its "100 Best Horror Movies of All Time". Paste magazine ranked the film at #85 in its list of "100 Best Horror Movies of All Time".

In 2012, the Academy Film Archive restored Carnival of Souls alongside Peter Soby and Matthew Irvine. They also keep the original negatives stored in their facilities. The film has been named as a precursor to the works of various filmmakers, including David Lynch, George A. Romero, Lucrecia Martel and James Wan.

The film was used for a RiffTrax Live event in October 2016, where former Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast members Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Michael J. Nelson riffed the film for a live audience and broadcast to other theaters through NCM Fathom. Rifftrax's website offers the video downloads of the live performance as well as a studio-recorded riff of the film.

A novelization of the film titled Nightmare Pavilion written by Andrew J. Rausch was released by Happy Cloud Media in October 2020.

Remakes

Main article: Carnival of Souls (1998 film)

There has yet to be a true remake of the original, however Peter Soby negotiated "based on" rights of Carnival of Souls with the writer, John Clifford, and the director Herk Harvey which led in 1998 to a "based on" film entitled 'Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls" directed by Adam Grossman and Anthony Hickox and starring Bobbie Phillips. This "based on" film has little in common with the 1962 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. According to Candace Hilligoss, the filmmakers had asked for her, 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. Peter Soby actually wanted Hilligoss to be a part of the "based on" film as a producer and to have a role in the film, however, she had written her own script on spec entitled "Carnival of Souls II" which Soby, Harvey and Clifford felt was not the right tone. It was centered on her character from the original film, Mary Henry, coming back as a ghost 35 years later and falling in love with a younger man. Candace refused to be a part of the new production if it wasn't her script, so unfortunately Soby, who officially acquired the rights from Harvey and Clifford, had to part ways with her. The "based on" film was marketed as Wes Craven Presents 'Carnival of Souls' because Soby negotiated with TriMark Pictures to contractually agree to make a film "based on" the original and not a remake with the same title. It received negative appraisals from most reviewers and did not manage to secure theatrical release, going direct-to-video.

In popular culture

When Mary is speaking to the manager of the organ factory at the beginning of the film, he says to her: "It takes more than intellect to be a musician. Put your soul into it. OK?" This sample was used on the 1998 song "Church of Noise" by the Northern Irish rock band Therapy?.

Mary laments towards the end of the film: "I don't belong in the world, that's what it is. Something separates me from other people. Everywhere I turn, there's something blocking my escape." A sample of this line was used at the beginning of the Lana Del Rey song "13 Beaches" on her album Lust for Life (2017).

Clips of the film were used throughout the Drake video "Knife Talk".

Clips of the film were also used by the band Why These Coyotes for their song Dance Around the Fire.

The dancehall scenes featured at the end of the film were referenced in the music video for Phoebe Bridgers' "Smoke Signals".

Peter Soby licensed the official perfume rights to Marissa Zappas who released the official Carnival of Souls perfume on October 31, 2024.

See also

References

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  2. ^ Weldon 1996, p. 93.
  3. Olson 2018, p. 36.
  4. Brody, Richard (September 27, 2016). "The Front Row: "Carnival of Souls"". The New Yorker. New York City: Condé Nast.
  5. ^ Godfrey, Good & Goodall 2009, pp. 17–18.
  6. Immediate Family, The Bear, Dad, Next of Kin, Carnival of Souls, 1989 – Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews
  7. Clifford, John - Interview, Carnival of Souls, 1999 posted by Demolition Kitchen Media on Internet Archive
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  9. ^ Champlin, Charles (April 19, 1990). "The Reincarnation of 'Carnival of Souls'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
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  18. Reza Badiyi-IMDB
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  20. ^ Brown 2009, p. 3.
  21. Brown 2009, p. 4.
  22. "Original Soundtrack: Carnival of Souls". AllMusic. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  23. Nightmare on One Sheet. Korero Press. 2023. pp. 164, 165. ISBN 9781912740239.
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  33. ^ Brown, Joe (October 6, 1989). "Carnival of Souls". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
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  41. Carnival of Souls (The Criterion Collection). ISBN 1559409002.
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  48. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 7, 2011). "'Carnival of Souls': The movie that inspired 'Insidious' is the spookiest, weirdest, and maybe greatest horror film you've never seen". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017.
  49. Carnival of Souls: “Thinkin’ Like That, Don’t It Give You Nightmares?”|Current|The Criterion Collection
  50. Lucrecia Martel’s Closet Picks-Criterion Collection on YouTube
  51. INDIE HORROR MEETS WORLD CINEMA IN THE CULT ‘CARNIVAL OF SOULS’|PopMatters
  52. How Obscure Horror Film 'Carnival of Souls' Influenced Everything You've Ever Seen - No Film School
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  54. RiffTrax
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  61. Church of Noise by Therapy - Topic on YouTube
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  63. Knife Talk Drake official YouTube channel
  64. "Dance Around the Fire by Why These Coyotes (Unofficial Video)". YouTube. October 23, 2017.
  65. Thompson, Stephen (January 17, 2017). "2017's Best New Artist Might Just Be Phoebe Bridgers". NPR. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  66. "Marissa Zappas". Marissa Zappas. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
  67. "Does a Film Have a Fragrance? Perfumer Marissa Zappas Thinks So". W Magazine. November 27, 2024. Retrieved December 26, 2024.

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