Director and producer Herk Harvey had a great reputation as a contract filmmaker, creating short films for the industry, education, and government. "Carnival Of Souls" was his only feature film, and it was a flop on first release. Only decades later it began to get recognized as a prophetic vision, and became a cult-movie.
It's a low-budget production, it has some visible flaws, and one might even say it doesn't have a real story. But it has a runtime of 78 minutes, and a cult following. So what is happening? We follow Mary, beautifully played by actress Candace Hilligoss, stumbling through daily life as she knows it, only it's not quite what it seems. Or is it? Who knows?
In 1962, the term "liminal space" as we know it today wasn't born yet. Liminality has always been around, but as an aesthetic concept in movies, it would only show up at least a decade later. Sure, there have been liminal moments, rites of passage and limbo, in movies since the silent era. But only with later films such as "Messiah Of Evil" (1974) or "Phantasm" (1979) would the idea be given significant runtime, using it as the fundamental vocabulary, not just as supplementary effect.
"Carnival Of Souls" predates this evolution by more than a decade, and it's brilliant at doing so. On first contact, you may expect a razor-sharp psycho-thriller a la "Psycho" (1960) or "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" (1962), but this one is all about eerie atmosphere. At the time, there were few to no blueprints for such a movie, not much to provide an influence, "Carnival Of Souls" is an actual prototype. Time seems to stop when you watch it, you have no idea where this will be going - visually, aurally, in writing and in pacing, it's a cozy, but unsettling experience. There is no violence in it, not even a lot of spooky locations, darkness, etc., only beautifully precise cinematography that doesn't need fancy tricks.
It's the simplicity of the scenes, and the perfect editing, that works wonders. The imagery, as well as the sparse music and weirdly disturbing dialogue, is an actual cinematic translation of feelings of detachment, disorientation and insignificance, without literally mentioning it. "Carnival Of Souls" doesn't need an exposé to create these emotions, it just evokes them without much speaking. There are some actual horror scenes in it, and these are equally minimalist and effective, taking a bit of a clue from early expressionist cinema, which is another indicator of the way the film works in your head.
Overall, it's an outstanding little gem, that might be a little too little for some. It's a simple low-budget movie after all - if you're impatient, or looking for some spectacular transformation-effects or shoot-outs, you'll be disappointed. But if you have just a little bit of affinity to something more subconscious or "liminal", that gets under your goosebumps, and slowly pulls the rug out from under your feet, then by all means watch it - it's beautiful, it's sad, it's creepy, it's great. For horror film geeks, "Carnival Of Souls" is a must-watch anyway.
As a side note, the 1998 remake is a nice attempt that properly updates some of the ideas, but it just can't match the iconic original.
Verdict: Very tastefully creepy, bizarre and unique. 7/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055830/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Souls
Trailer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqMEbW7Pe2I
