"Carnival of Souls" (1962)

Herk Harvey is a creepy looking dude, and, with the make-up effects used on him in Carnival of Souls, his every appearance as the mysterious figure the Man is deeply unsettling. But sometimes all you need is a few memorable images such as the ghastly looking creep of Carnival of Souls to give you some chilling goose bumps. Harvey also directed the film and he turns the film’s B-movie limitations into its greatest asset. In the Val Lewton mold, the film plays around with suggestion, lighting and use of space to instill fear in us by playing on our expectations and by what we don’t see as much as what we do. A woman (Candance Hilligoss) who survives a drag-racing car crash into a river is haunted by her survivor’s guilt, and as she moves away to take up a job as a church organist she’s drawn to a bizarre run-down carnival. The image of the giant carnival structure looms over the film like a frightening eyesore and it sets the mood for the film. The film plays like a more modestly-budgeted Repulsion, watching the mental state of the protagonist deteriorate, and it also has the vibe of a David Lynch or George Romero film. The woman has a lout of a suitor in the form of her next door neighbor, and she draws concern from her landlady and a psychiatrist. The film’s strangest and most disturbing moments are its quietest; she seems to slip out of reality and finds herself incapable of communicating or being seen by anyone. Does it really happen, or is it just in or head? The film’s great surreal and unnerving ending suggests it may still be something else entirely. But the film doesn’t need to make sense; it’s playing on our fears, and looking surprisingly great and mesmerizing while doing it, and that it does it so effectively with so little is still deeply impressive. 

Grade: A-