|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
surprisingly interesting and good film, 9 Jan 2006
Being a devoted fan of the original cult classic 'Carnival of Souls' from 1962 I had to see this modern film of the same name. Although not nearly as brilliant as the original 'Carnival...' this film is definitely not without its merits and even has some very subtle and slight similarities and reworkings of the first film- including a cameo appearence from Sidney Berger, the slimy sex obsessed nextdoor neighbour of the heroine in the original, as a cop. The story concerns a young woman who owns a bar with her sister in a small coastal town where once a carnival used to take place annually but has been deserted 'for twenty years' in true horror film style. However, as a small girl, the young woman remembers a clown from the carnival who became romantically involved with her mother only to turn his attention onto the young girl in what is hinted at sexual abuse. He also killed the girls mother. Years later, he returns from a long spell in prison and pounces upon the woman while she is driving her car- to escape him she drives her car into the sea and drowns him, but survives herself. In the present she is recovering from the trauma of the accident several months afterwards but begins to have strange encounters with the 'clown' in what appear to be a series of bizarre and frightening hallucinations. There are many threads to be followed in the film told through flashbacks, dream sequences, hallucinations and what appear to be reality- in a manner not dissimilar to Adrien Lynne's 'Jacob's Ladder'. The disturbed woman becomes more and more distressed and it is obvious she is descending into some form of psychosis. She visists psychiatrists, the old carnival plot, a car wash and forms a relationship with a handsome stranger who owns a boat near to the plot. Although the storylines and plots appear to be quote random and unrelated by the end they all form into one as the plot begins to make some vague sense. The issues raised in the film are unpleasent, serious and disturbing but not approached in a serious way- the clown is so implauisble and played in such a blackly humorous and hammy way, the film itself is basically a low budget horror film and it's chief interest is to frighten which it doesn't really achieve. However, the central performance is very good- though the sublime Candace Hilligoss can never be bettered, and the photography and pace of the film is excellent. A worthy part of any horror collection and a minor classic in an exrecise of disorientating and sublime cinema.
|
![Wes Craven's Carnival of Souls [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E2GV0M2TL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Carnival Of Souls [1962] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WYT0SRQML._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![The Stuff [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YCDG29PTL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Michael Moriarty
![The People Under The Stairs [DVD] [1991]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-Xhb7geVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Brandon Quintin Adams
![It's Alive/It Lives Again/It's Alive 3 - Island Of The Alive [DVD] [1974]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KSN5PC54L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Dolls [DVD] [1987] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NE6AMRVVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Ian Patrick Williams
![Cemetery Man [DVD] [1994] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y948K0Z2L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Rupert Everett
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home
