CARNIVAL OF SOULS: 50 REASONS TO WATCH (IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES!)

Carnival of Souls has become regarded as a classic. Complex magazine named Carnival of Souls as number 39 on its list of the 50 scariest movies ever made. Wes R. from Oh the Horror! praised the film stating, "Carnival of Souls is a film every horror fan must experience. Even if you can’t get into older, black and white films (what kind of horror fan are you?) I implore you to give this one a shot". Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 85%. Herk Harvey was a director and producer of industrial and educational films based in Lawrence, Kansas. While returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California, Harvey developed the idea for Carnival of Souls after driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hiring an unknown actress, Lee Strasberg-trained Candace Hilligoss, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, he shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City with an initial production budget of $17,000. Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, Carnival of Souls relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create a mood of unease and foreboding. It has been cited as an important influence on the films of both David Lynch and George A. Romero. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) is riding in a car with two other young women when some men challenge them to a drag race. As they speed across a bridge, the women's car plunges over the side into the river. The police spend three hours dragging the murky, fast-running water without success. Mary miraculously surfaces, but she cannot remember how she survived. Mary then drives to Utah, where she has been hired as a church organist. At one point, she can get nothing on her car radio but strange organ music. She passes a large, abandoned pavilion sitting all by itself on the shores of the Great Salt Lake; it seems to beckon to her in the twilight. Shortly thereafter, while she is speeding along a deserted stretch of road, a ghoulish, pasty-faced figure replaces her reflection in the passenger window and stares at her. When The Man suddenly appears in front of her, she swerves off the road. In town, Mary rents a room from Mrs. Thomas; John Linden, the only other lodger, wants to become better acquainted with the blonde newcomer, but she is not interested. That night, she becomes upset when she sees The Man downstairs in the large house and retreats to her room. Mrs. Thomas, who brings her some food, says she did not pass anyone. Soon, Mary begins experiencing terrifying interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, as if she simply is not there. When The Man appears briefly in front of her in a park, she flees, right into the arms of a Dr. Samuels. He tries to help her, even as he acknowledges he is not a psychiatrist.