About 17 years ago I was trying to redefine myself in many ways, including my taste in movies. I was heavily into the art film thing back then; drowning hopelessly in a sea of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Gus Van Zant, and David Cronenberg. Back then I was still looking in magazines for leads on what to watch, completely abandoning my experimental phase which led me to such cult classics as Toxic Avenger (read our Charlie Brown’s current anniversary review when you get a chance), the bloody and beautiful Santa Sagre and The Reflecting Skin. I don’t know what happened, but after awhile I just stopped picking up movies that I knew nothing about. While trying to revive my interest in things that I had no familiarity with, I picked up a copy of Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls off the rack at my former local stomping grounds in New Orleans – Video Alternatives on Magazine Street. Simply said, I was blown away by this simple quiet movie, and I watched it 3 times back to back.

This year is the 45th anniversary of Carnival of Souls, and there still hasn’t been a Zombie or Undead movie that comes even close to portraying a feeling of dread in the way this film does. For those of you that don’t know, supposedly this is the film that inspired a young George Romero to make Dawn of the Dead. Even though Dawn of the Dead is on the gory side, it also has that silence to it that gives a sense of hopelessness and despair. Carnival of Souls is my absolute favorite Zombie movie, if you can call it one.

The film opens with three young ladies crashing their car off of a bridge, only to drown in the river below. Hours later when the car is being retrieved by police, one of the women arises from the water, long after she should have been dead, to the dismay of onlookers (and herself). Next begins the journey of Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), the dead walking with the living. She tries to live a normal life, but she just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. Mary moves on, and finds herself a job in a small church as an organist. Some of the scenes during this section of the movie were priceless! The Priest and a Church lady are smiling as Mary whips out some religious standards to impress them with her abilities, while all along the rest of us in the viewing audience are aware that she might actually be dead. Eventually, Mary loses her job. She gets into playing one of her church standards with the priest around, and her tune descends into demonic madness – the priest is appalled and fires her. This further adds to Mary’s dismay with her current situation, and she soon finds herself driving around with a purpose she isn’t exactly aware of. Next she is seeing images of a ghoulish character as she nears the ghostly carnival pavilion towards the film’s conclusion, where many other nightmarish spooky dancing zombies/undead are already waiting for her. What are their motives? Are they escorts to the other side, or a menaces in waiting?

I will stop short of spoiling the film for you, but there are plenty of demonically delightful moments that will satisfy most viewers – like Candace’s ever increasing moments of crossing over to the other side, and returning. They generally give the feeling that she is going insane, for all of a sudden she is just not there to those surrounding her. There are some good supporting cast members - John Linden (Sidney Berger) as the sleazy yet likeable guy always trying to mac on Mary, and Herk Harvey's uncredited role as "The Man" (the face that keeps appearing in the window of Mary's car)
I am not trying to convince you that this is anything else than a B movie from the drive in days, because that is what it is. The thing about this film is that it stands out from the rest of the period, and that it sparked the young minds of Romero and Lynch to bring us the great masterpieces when their careers got off the ground. It just proves that you don’t need gore in every Zombie movie ( I know this point will be argued over ).

I just want you readers to know, that I rate movies within the context of what they are. This movie cannot be fairly compared to another 5 star movie like A Clockwork Orange, but it is a 5 star movie in the B movie world.

Extra Features:
There are plenty of interviews, catch ups, and history that merit buying this particular version of the film, along with an extended director’s cut. If you like it enough, maybe you can also give the recently colorized version a chance – it is also available at amazon.com and other online stores.