Carnival of Souls- Dancing Through Saltair

Carnival of Souls, a 1962 horror cult flick, instilled my mind with respect to it's director(Herk Harvey) and staff for producing one of the finest small suspense/horror films of the past century. Made in only three weeks with a extremely small budget ( the biggest expense was a bridge scene that cost $17), COS allowed Harvey to flaunt his ability of budget. This film being his directorial debut in Holloywood, it was also his last. Before COS, Harvey worked at Centron, an educational film company in Kansas, but was struck with an idea after visitng an old skeleton of a carnival in Salt Lake City (named Saltair). He teamed up with writer John Clifford to produce a story about a woman who suvives a car crash (while two girls perished) and finds that she is haunted by a collection of souls after moving to secure an organist job. At times, the woman, played by Candace Hilligoss, is distant, cold and without any need to interact with people. The scenes of absolute silence in COS, allows the viewer to experience this coldness and distance that Mary Henry (Candace) solidifies on all who partake in her presence. While some editing and medicore acting are slight blemishes on COS, Harvey's creative directing and love of angle shots allow the film to be more enjoyable than originally thought. The natural beauty of the eerie carnival backdrop of Saltair is quite stunning. The use of makeup is minimal and special effects are at a low (budget didn't allow, but none is needed). The finals scenes with ghostly extras is quite effective in pursuing the viewer of Mary's terror. The effect I am most grealty affected by as a viewer (the use of speeding up individuals to a non-natural state) caused anxiety that I was looking for in such a film. This film is a cult that has inspired many more recent suspense films, but none will be mentioned in order not to give details away. The artistic talent of the writer and mainly the director allowed this film to become one of my top horror/suspense films. If I were to rate it, it would be a 7.5/10, a 3.75/5 or a B.