This film is one of the best known of classic horror films of th early 1960's. This film has hitchcockian elements and even can remind one of Shyamalan's film, "The Sixth Sense"

The story follows a young Kansas woman who survives a tracic car accident, she later moves to Salt Lake City Utah to be a church orgainist (at a non-Mormon chruch.) While driving there, she passes the old Saltair resort, recently abandoned. She feels an overwhelming compulsion to go closer but does not yet do so. She later has visions of a man who seems to be caling her to the resort. Later she enters an unusual state of mind where noone else can see or hear her. I don't want to say anything else as it would be a spoiler. The movie is filmed on location at the Saltair pavilion. At the time it held the largest indoor ballroom ever built. It since was destroyed by fire but another was built and later flooded.

The film has many special features.

2 versions of the film. The theatrical version and the Director's cut. The director's cut has optional partial length audio interviews with some of the film crew.

Disc 1 has
An illustrated history of the Saltair resort on the lake shore. Theatrical trailer, Outtakes of filming, a vidoe update on filming locations, and a documentary on the 1989 reunion of cast & crew.

Disc 2 has
Interviews with members of the cast and crew, and an Essay on the film's production comapny, Centron.

It also has 5 short documentary films made by the movie's production company Centron.

Star 34; A docudrama about tourism in Kansas

Signals: Read 'em or Weep; a saftey film for the Caterpillar Tractor company

To Touch a Child; a documentary about the school system in Flint Michigan.

Jamaica, Hati, and the Lesser Antilles; a documentary film on the afforementioned countries.

Korea: Overview; a documentary film on Korean culture.

This DVD set was one of the most comprehensive released by Criterion at the time of it's release.

"I'm not taking vows. I just play the organ." (Rating: 4.00)
Review : Carnival of Souls is the horror movie Albert Camus might have made. It's a lot like George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead - - black and white, low-budget, a simple horror story that's really about human beings' isolation in their own skins.

The acting ensemble in Romero's film is consistently better, but Carnival of Souls only has one real character, and Candace Hilligoss as Mary is very good. It's probably only her performance that has kept this movie around for over forty years.

It's 1962 in a small town, and two young guys in a hot rod and three young women in another car are drag racing. They get to the bridge outside of town, finally going fast enough to feel alive when . . .

. . . Mary crawls out of the river, covered in mud, the only female survivor. The other two girls paid the price for giving in to the thrill of the boys' challenge.

Seemingly unaffected (almost in the clinical sense of being without affect), Mary follows her plan to go to another small town where she's been hired as a church organist. She doesn't believe in the church, though; she's a musician and playing the organ is just a job.

Mary's drive to her new town is the scariest bit of filmmaking I've seen in a long time.

Trying to settle into her new life, Mary starts to crack up. Besides seeing an apparition connected to an old ruined carnival, Mary is suddenly unable to hear the people around her.

Three men say they want to help her - - a would-be boyfriend who's only interested in sex and leaves her when she lets her despair show, a doctor who violently shakes her and orders her to his office for his expert help, and the minister she works for who fires her when something possesses her and she "profanes" his church with carnival music. Love, science, and God all fail her.

If Mary had only been able to hang on for five or ten years, maybe she would have found more satisfying work, or support from other women, or been stronger herself. In 1962 Mary felt the nothingness eating her alive, but she couldn't see a way out in time. She lost the race.

Small Cost, Big Atmosphere (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Even being a fan of horror films, I never knew about this great film until the mid-90's. The Sci-Fi Channel was having nightly film festivals in October leading up to Halloween and when I saw the promo for Carnival of Souls, it gave me chills. The next night I watched (and taped) it, and have viewed it many, many times since.

Nothing conveys terror like atmosphere and things barely seen. Director Herk Harvey, whose previous film experience was almost entirely in industrial films, captured these important aspects perfectly. In the supplemental materials on the Criterion DVD, he explains how the sight of the old Salt Lake bath house became the base for this film. When you see the old bath house, it is at a distance at first, in the evening, draped in shadows. You wonder "What is in there? Is it empty? Or could something else be there that shouldn't be?"

In the film, Mary Henry (played by Candace Hilligoss) is the sole survivor of an auto accident. Afterwards she leaves Kansas to take a job in Salt Lake City, Utah. As she nears Salt Lake, she sees, in the distance, the shadowy hulk of an old pavilion on the lakeshore. She begins seeing images of a pale faced man (played by director Harvey) appearing and disappearing outside her car, in her boarding house, outside her window, etc. The film deals with her attempts to come to terms with this vision, her sanity, her brush with death, and what role the old building (a former bath house, carnival, and dance hall) has to do with it all.

The film looks crisp and clear, even in night scenes. No surprise, also, that it has an industrial film feel to it at times. The acting is good, but not great. Then again the occasional stiffness of some characters adds to Mary Henry's feeling of disconnect with the living world. The townspeople have barely more life in them than the pale "zombies" that rise from the lake. Mary's job as a church organist allows for a soundtrack full of pipe organ music that morphs from inspirational to horrific. It is quite effective and adds to the already dreamlike quality that oozes from the film.

The Criterion DVD comes with 2 discs including the original director's cut and the theatrical versions. Extras include a booklet, a photo gallery and history of the bath house, and a panel interview at a convention featuring Herk Harvey (wearing his ghostly make-up no less!), Candace Hilligoss, and Sidney Berger, who played Mary Henry's (...) drunken neighbor.

People spend millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars trying to scare you, and almost always fail. Carnival of Souls succeeds and on a tiny budget. There is a reason that this small film from 1962 is still a cult favorite today. It works. It's scary. It will creep you out. Buy it, rent it, just watch it!

Disturbing and Creepy cult classic comes to DVD!!! (Rating: 4.00)
Review : Carnival of Souls was made on a shoe-string budget by industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey and stars the enigmatic and beautiful Candace Hilligoss as the lead character who manages to be constantly isolated from everyone around her. There are so many excellent transitions and shots in the movie it was obvious that who ever put it together had been an excellent film editior at the very least. As the film has been extensively reviewed here I want to focus on the DVD releases. Aside from the original cut of the film, 82 minutes, there where several prints that had been trimmed down both by the director and perhaps for TV although I have seen the complete film on cable as well as edited versions. The Image "movie-only" release (by the way Image also co-produced the Criterion Collection release) has the complete version of the movie and best print that I have seen. There is an active menu with some of the spooky organ music with icons for chapters and the films trailer. At first I thought the icon for "recommendations" was just a link to a one page marketing promo. However, if you click on the title boxes you get a trailer for each of the other Image releases shown. Quite a nice little "Easter Egg"!
I am glad I have the other versions as well because I think the edited prints are also interesting. The Alpha Video version actually has a slightly higher bit rate than the Image edition and only a tiny amount of pixelization here and there detracts from a very sharp picture, it clocks in at 77 minutes and is a great bargain. The Diamond DVD release has an identical running time, but a lower bit rate and still some pixelization in a couple of scenes. However considering that you get a copy of 1960's "Horror Hotel" with Christopher Lee included it is a great buy for just a few bucks. Curiously, the Diamond edition "Carnival of Souls/"Horror Hotel" is supposedly out of print yet I found a copy in a store recently and got another new copy on-line for my little brother's collection. Goodtimes has released "Carnival of Souls" with a high bit rate and sharp picture but a few more skips and pops. Also, the running time is the shortest, 75 minutes, as it cuts out a couple more scenes such as when Candace Hilligoss stops for gas and directions entering Salt Lake City. However, my Goodtimes edition is a two sided disc with "Carnival" on one side and a decent print of "Night of the Living Dead" on the other. For those of you who don't like two sided discs, Goodtimes has also released both films seperately for just a few bucks each. Criterion Collection has released the utlimate edition with two cuts of the film and loads of extras including a commentary. However, it you are on a budget you do have other options. So make some popcorn and enjoy the show. Thanks, CAL

crap (Rating: 1.00)
Review : It sounds cheap. It looks cheap. There was nothing scary or entertaining about it. The plot doesn't make sense. People talk to her, everything blurs then they don't see or hear her. Dumb. I had to force myself and my friends to watch it. I love old horror films but this one was a dud. I don't understand the reviews saying how great this movie is. Don't waste your money.