- Actors: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt
- Directors: Herk Harvey
- Writers: Herk Harvey, John Clifford
- Producers: Herk Harvey
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Spearhead
- VHS Release Date: 25 Nov 1996
- Run Time: 78 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000057430
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 469 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Product details |
Product Description
About the Director
Having survived a car accident that should have claimed her life, Mary begins a new job as a church organist. Plagued by evil visions of a ghoulish figure, she is drawn to an abandoned amusement park.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I saw this years ago when BBC 2 ran a late night art house movie strand on Sundays and it has stayed with me ever since. The plot concerns a young woman who has survived a car accident taking up her new job in a small Midwestern town. It is genuinely chilling, creates an otherworldy, unsettling mood with the use of silence, the spiky organ score, a supporting cast of predatory grotesques and bleached black and white cinematography. It also bears comparison with Polanski's 'Repulsion' as a study in isolation and a vulnerable innocent's fast slipping grip on reality; or what she thinks is reality. The climax in the abandoned fairground is deeply spooky, sad and satisfying in equal measure. And on top of all this it has a classic 'jump out of your seat' shock as the heroine drives through a rainy night and looks twice at her reflection in the car's windscreen...
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
"Carnival of Souls," the only theatrical film every directed by Herk Harvey, is a cult classic with a most deserved reputation that puts it on a par with dead George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" in terms of shoestring productions. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) accepts a car ride from a group of other young girls, only to end up in a drag race that sees the car go over a bridge with only Mary surviving. Having taken a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City, Mary heads for her new home, passing a deserted pavilion on the outskirts of town. Mary is drawn to the ruined bathing center/carnival, but has bigger problems since she keeps seeing a leering, corpse-like man (played by Harvey) watching her. Again and again Mary has the eerie of experience of suddenly finding herself in a silent world where no one seems to notice her. Eventually she returns to the pavilions to understand her final fate.
"Carnvial of Souls" came about because Herk Harvey drove by Saltair, the deserted 1940s tourist resort outside Salt Lake City, and decided it would make a powerful location for a horror film. Harvey recruited John Clifford to come up with a screenplay that would involve Harvey's image of dead bodies rising from the lake to pursue their victim. The finished product certainly evokes a nightmarish quality that makes you ignore the technical problems with overdubbing, campy performances by the supporting cast, and such. Hilligloss, trained in the Method by Strassberg but denied any hint of her character's motivation by the director, only made one other film, "Curse of the Living Corpse" (1964), but this film is enough to secure her reputation in the field. Sidney Berger (the all too friendly guy down the hall at her boarding house) does a cameo as a cop in the 1998 "Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls" debacle, which does not compare on any level to this evocative horror classic.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film was rediscovered in the 80's and featured on the BBC series "Videodrome". Without wanting to spoil the plot I'll just say that it's a genuinely creepy story that directly inspired George Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead. The plot focuses on Candace Hillgoss as a beautiful but cold church organist (Who is actually non-religious and just plays for money).In the opening scenes we see that she is the only girl to survive when a car filled with her and some friends careers off a bridge. She makes it to shore. From then on she is disturbed by stange nightmares and visions centering on a long abandoned funfair and it's pale inhabitants. That's all the plot I'm going to give away. If you love strange films then I cannot urge you enough to buy this one. As in the original Night of the Living Dead (and for that matter Psycho) the black and white photography only adds to the surrealism and detracts nothing from the plot or the genuine sense of unease that unfolds as the film plays.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A 5 star original but...
please note..the Black & white versions that Amazon sell are the standard 75 mjin versions-NOT the extended 90 mins as advertised! Read more
Published 1 month ago by KentishWench
Superb scary b movie
Just love this movie - shot on a shoestring, but so full of energy and amazing shots and creepy effects....
Well worth adding to your DVD collection!
Well worth adding to your DVD collection!
Published 4 months ago by Jinjapewbs
Carnival of Souls
Although I would give this movie a 3 and half stars this is probably the worst DVD I have ever seen. Absolutely no restoration has been done. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Pravesh
Film noir or Avante Garde? it,s still creepy
This film still stands up as a great film ahead of its time. S'pose the ending is a bit predictable, but boy we arrive there in some style. This version is colourised .. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. A. W. Cheetham
Superb digital transfer
Having only previously seen very poor quality DVD copies of this classic film, to see a version that has been treated to digital remastering is wonderful. Read more
Published 13 months ago by David Parr
Romero Rip Off....
This film is a direct rip off of the George Romero's zombie films and it also inspired 'White Zombie' by Victor and Edward Halperin, the Jedward of their day, due to its black and... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ramsey Tupper - Raven's Foot
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
The film starts with a racy scene. Two cars racing over the bridge and one vehicle falls in to a swift river. Three hours later, a dirty Mary surfaces. Read more
Published 24 months ago by bernie
Superb low-budget early 60s horror film now in colour with superb...
Firstly I note that reviews from other editions of this film have carried over to this one so ignore comments on poor picture quality and sound. Read more
Published on 18 April 2010 by D. J. HORN
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
The film starts with a racy scene. Two cars racing over the bridge and one vehicle falls in to a swift river. Three hours later, a dirty Mary surfaces. Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by bernie
An unusual film, but worth the watching
This is an eerie film with some excellent cinematography at points. It has that sense of fading granduer which can be effective. Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2010 by Mr. C. Ewing
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
