As I was watching CARNIVAL OF SOULS, I kept thinking, "Where did this movie COME from?"
So, I read up on it. It was directed by a guy named Herk Harvey, and was the only feature film he ever made. But, if you look up his filmography, you'll see he's responsible for a huge list of short films, all of the educational and industrial variety. Turns out he made CARNIVAL OF SOULS over a couple weeks he took off of work. It initially flopped in 1962, gained a following on late night television over the next few decades, and was restored and re-released in the 90s.
I guess it's no surprise that such a weird movie has such an odd story behind it.
CARNIVAL OF SOULS is one of those flicks where you're never really sure exactly what's going on as it unfolds. When it ends, it supplies some vague answers that also open up some additional questions.
The movie stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry, a young woman who is the sole survivor of a terrifying car crash. Soon after the accident, she moves to Utah to take up work as an organist at a church. She moves into a rooming house where the only other border is a dude who won't stop asking her out on dates and won't take a clue that she's not interested.
Funny thing is, she doesn't seem much interested in anything. She basically shrugs off the fact that she miraculously surived a devestating accident. Despite the fact that she works in a church, she just views it as any old job and doesn't put any stock in religion. She spurns the advances of her neighbor and at one point admits she doesn't really care to ever be with anyone, at all.
But, her detachment is somewhat deceptive, because there is something going on inside her head. Not long after the accident, she begins to see startling images of what appear to be undead, zombie-like beings who seem to be following her. She also seems to get lost as she plays the organ, improvising not-so-church-like dirges and even hearing non-stop organ music on the radio. She's inexplicably drawn to an abandoned carnival pavilion and fairground on the edge of town and suffers through periods during which she seems to become invisible and no one around her acknowledges her presence.
Is she dead? Is she alive? Is she dreaming? Is she awake? Is it a little bit of everything? It's hard to tell, and that's one of the movie's strengths.
The movie isn't so much about what happens in the plot as it is about the unsettling mood it sets and the memorable images it dreams up (or nightmares up). Because of this, the film occasionally verges on the side of an experimental art film. But, you sense the filmmakers are sincere, so you never feel like the movie's trying to pull one over on you, and it avoids the level of exploitation.
My mind is probably drawing causal connections where they might not exist, but it seems fitting that the director, Herk Harvey, was primarily an educational and industrial filmmaker. Many of the educational and industrial films I've seen from the 50s and 60s tend to have a detached, creepy quality to them -- lots of people going through every day motions in a robotic, emotionless way, trying to relate to the viewer but not quite getting there. The same could be said about CARNIVAL OF SOULS, but in this case, it helps serve the tone of the movie.
The movie's about a woman who doesn't seem to fit in anywhere, who is going through the motions of life but who is not doing a very good job convincing everyone that she cares to be alive. In fact, she's disturbed by the prospect of life and constantly intruded upon by death.
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