Gifted young organist Mary Henry is riding in a car with friends when the car is forced off the road plunging from a bridge into the river below. Mary's friends die instantly; miraculously she emerges from the water. But Mary is changed. She becomes increasingly detached from everyday life displaying an emotional coldness which those she encounters readily attribute to grief and shock. But the nightmare world that Mary now inhabits is one of transition: she is helplessly caught between the living and the dead. Mary moves to Salt Lake City but is haunted by the spectral presence that lurks in the shadows of its derelict pleasure pavilion. She finds herself drawn inexorably towards the pavilion and its demonic Carnival of Souls' Every inch a cult classic from its iconic opening titles (reminiscent of Hitchcock's Psycho) to its terrifying final sequences Carnival of Souls is cited as an inspiration by among others David Lynch Wes Craven and George A. Romero. The complexity of its themes and eerily atmospheric direction and cinematography with minimal reliance on special effects are widely acknowledged; Carnival of Souls directed by Herk Harvey and first released in 1962 transcends the horror genre to become a unique work of unsettling and enduring power.
Carnival of Souls has gained a strong cult reputation over recent years. Directed and produced by Harold ""Herk"" Harvey it has an intriguing power mixing ordinary people and everyday situations with the extraordinary and the supernatural. Made in Lawrence Kansas in 1962 the film centres on Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) who apparently survives a serious car accident. Shortly after she heads for Utah and a new job as a church organist but is pursued by a cadaverous phantom figure
Carnival Of Souls: Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) apparently survives a serious car accident. Shortly after she heads for Utah and a new job as a church organist but is pursued by a cadaverous phantom figure... The Ape Man: Mad scientist Dr. Brewster long thought dead is working away in his basement laboratory on a serum derived from gorilla spinal fluid. Experimenting on himself Dr. Brewster is dismayed to discover that the injections have given him a bushy beard a
It's difficult sometimes to fathom how compilers think. This Chiller Theatre threesome consists of two classic silent horror films, plus a low-budget B-movie from the early 1960s. The connection? You decide! Yet these are films that belong in any self-respecting collection, and this package is a good way of acquiring them. Of those featuring Lon Chaney, it's the original 1923 The Hunchback of Notre Dame that comes across best. Chaney's grotesquerie is shot-through with pathos, and Patsy Ruth Miller's Esmeralda has enduring freshness. Wallace Worsley handles crowd scenes and cathedral stunts with aplomb, and there's an atmospheric "posthumous" soundtrack, though anyone looking for accuracy in the depiction of medieval French society is in for a shock. 1925's The Phantom of the Opera is slow-moving and uneventful by comparison, with Rupert Julian's direction never escaping the narrow Gothic trappings of the novel. Chaney cranks (or is that camps?) up his range of gestures to the limit, and Mary Philbin is an eye-catching heroine, but the denouement in the Paris sewers seems endless--with looped extracts of Schubert and Brahms as a hardly appropriate soundtrack. Cut to 1962, and The Carnival of Souls--made in Kansas for under $100,000--is an undeniable cult classic. Herk Harvey sustains the increasingly surreal narrative with ease, Candace Hilligoss is striking (if a tad gauche) as the young organist caught on the cusp of this world and the next, and Gene Moore's organ soundtrack is a masterly backdrop for the motley assemblage of ghouls who pursue her around the seaside pier in a memorable closing sequence. On the DVD: Chiller Theatre is very acceptably remastered--with 1.33:1 aspect ratio and 12 chapter headings per film--and decently if minimally packaged. --Richard Whitehouse
Three friends are out for a day's drive when they accept a drag challenge. Their car is forced off a bridge and plunges in to a river. with all three appearing to have drowned. Eventually Mary resurfaces and makes her way into town where she accepts a job as a church organist but a mysterious phantom figure begins to dog her every move.
Carnival Of Souls
Includes: 1. Carnival Of Souls 2. The Ape Man 3. Mesa Of Lost Women 4. Creature From The Haunted Sea 5. The Devil Bat 6. Vampire Bat 7. Dementia 13 8. Shock 9. Black Dragon For more information on individual films please refer to the individual products.
Is there death after life? Carnival of Souls has gained a strong cult reputation over recent years. It is an intriguing power mixing ordinary people and everyday situations with the extraordinary and the supernatural. Made in Lawrence Kansas in 1962 the film centres on Mary Henry who apparently survives a serious car accident. Shortly after she heads for Utah and a new job as a church organist but is pursued by a cadaverous phantom figure . While lots of todays horror fi
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