CARNIVAL OF SOULS

US, 1962, 75 minutes, Black and White.
Candace Hilligloss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Herk Harvey (as the Man).
Directed by Herk Harvey.

Carnival of Souls is a small budget, locally made feature (Lawrence, Kansas) which is quite successful within its limits and has been bought for television screening. A victim of a car accident emerges from the river after some hours. She resumes her ordinary life as a Church organist, but is haunted by hallucinations and fear. Fascinated by an abandoned fun-pier, she finally goes there at night, is involved in a carnival of dead souls who chase her. The film has overtones of the occult, or, on the level of symbolism, Mary Henry, the heroine. has lived through a purgatorial experience before finally dying. There are a number of bizarre touches about the film, especially Mary's organ-playing and the pier; there are also a number of well used horror techniques to create an atmosphere of terror in the audience. This succeeds because the location photography and most of the daylight sequences have a normality about them which brings some relief to the night sequences. A minor film, but quite good.

1. What does the title mean?

2. The film started realistically. How long was it before you began to think in different terms?

3. Had Mary Henry died?

4. Mary's experience during the main part of the film could be called a purgatorial experience. Do you agree? Why?

5. What elements of the horror film were used? Were they effective? Why?

6. How was the atmosphere of the film helped by the fact that Mary was an organist, a church organist?

7. Why did she keep seeing the face of the mysterious man? Do you think the man was meant to be symbolic of death?

8. Why was Mary fascinated by the empty and deserted fun-pier?

9. How did Mary contrast with the landlady, the lodger, the minister, the man at the bubbler, the doctor? Did they show there was something wrong with her? Why did she become deaf and invisible? Do you think these sequences were meant to be premonitions of death?

10. Who were the people dancing at the pier?

11. Can you give a coherent explanation of the plot of the film?

12. The theme of the film was life and death. What insights did you obtain from it about these themes?