In regards to Horror movies, one can often fall victim to clever artwork and an engaging title. The name reels you in, the artwork gets you excited, and then the movie (often) fails to deliver(I'm looking at you, "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things".). "Carnival of Souls" is no different. While the movie does still boast a bit of visual flair and, if you make yourself look very hard, an interesting idea, its a far departure from what one would expect at first glance.
The movie kicks right in with no introductions to anyone, just a car full of guys challenging a car full of girls to a race, which of course leads to a sketchy looking bridge that the girls, after a slight nudge, drive right off of and into the murky lake. What seems like the entire town shows up as the police search the lake for the car with what literally appears to be nothing more than lasso's. After what we are told is three hours of searching, one of the girls in the car emerges from the water, all muddy and distraught.
We come to discover this girl's name is Mary Henry(Candace Hiligoss), a local accomplished organist that has a very harsh, cold way about her. This is where I wish the movie had given some previous background, as this seems to be a trait that Mary has only just now exhibiting since the accident, but with no real character background, she could have just as well been this way her entire life. She makes a quick stop by the bridge where the accident took place, and then makes her way for Utah, where she is to become an organist for a local church. On her way, she passes by a run-down area that seems a bit carnival-like, which seems to stir something in Mary and also might as well come with a big sign that says "Foreshadowing!". It's also about this time that she starts seeing the face of a ghoulish man in place of her own reflection, played to moderately creepy effect if not edited so poorly.
Mary arrives to her new home,a multi-tenant abode complete with a sweet-hearted landlady and the sleaziest guy a movie can provide. This guy over the course of the movie seriously uses every ploy ever to try and bed Mary, which starts off as off-putting but just gets over-worn after a while. Upon her arrival,though, Mary begins seeing the ghoulish face in place of hers more and more, taking somewhat of an emotional toll on the already cold and detached Mary. We also witness Mary, while shopping for a new dress, go through a sort of disorientation, resulting in her inability to hear any sound and everyone around her not being able to notice her, as if she isn't even there.
Between shunning the advances of the male tenant, dealing with the haunting ghoul's face at every turn, and now the possibility of not existing/being crazy, the movie begins to set up a bit of a bleak atmosphere, but in the long run fails to really deliver on. This build up culminates in a scene where Mary goes to the church she works for to practice her organ and while playing she is overwhelmed by an other-wordly feeling. Her hands are instantly out of her control and her simple church hymn becomes a sort of devilish interlude, invoking visions of the dead rising up from water and populating the carnival-like building she had seen earlier. Mary is interrupted by the church's priest, firing her on the spot for playing her evil tunes within the church, but immediately offering the church as an answer to her problems. Isn't that always the way?
The movie begins fleeing towards an ending, with more haunting faces, another scene of Mary "disappearing" from those around her, an odd insinuation that she's been dreaming the whole thing, and then, since science (a local doctor) and faith (the local church) have seemingly failed her, Mary makes a last ditch effort to save herself: she takes on the "carnival" head on. Mary arrives and scours what feels like the ENTIRE area of the run-down "carnival". Once she gets to a point of feeling satisfied, a giant group of ghouls emerge from the nearby lake and begin to take chase, leading to one of the most visually impressive aspects of the movie, but ends up making the movie make even less sense. The ghouls get Mary down to the banks of the lake and surround her. The next scene we see a cop explaining to the priest and the doctor that all there is are footprints in the sand leading to a point. It's as if Mary just disappeared. Huh?
The movie concludes with us back in the town Mary was from and they have finally drug the lake enough to find the car that fell in at the beginning. The discovery and removal of the car reveals this astonishing twist; Mary originally died in the car. This leaves me with several questions. Since Mary died, who is this person we've been following the entire time? Was it a wandering spirit that somehow took on the look of Mary and tried to live again? Did Mary's soul somehow escape and become corporeal? It's all confusing and does make the mind think, but sadly the movie itself isn't compelling enough to make one truly care.
"Carnival of Souls" isn't a terrible film. It definitely has its place in the land of B-movies and enjoys a rather large and loyal cult following. It has also, in recent years, become a staple of discount DVD bins and horror movie collections. I do somewhat question its place in the Criterion Collection, but I believe its place is mostly due to its visual aspects, which at times are rather impressive and do their best to establish a creepy atmosphere. There just isn't a compelling story to go along with it.
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