Carnival of Souls (1962)
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 31
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 8,909
Movie Info
A drag race turns to tragedy when one car, with three young women inside, topples over a bridge and into the muddy river below. The authorities drag the river, but the search is fruitless and the girls are presumed dead until a single survivor stumbles out of the water with no recollection of how she escaped. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) decides to forget her strange experience and carry on with her plan to move to Utah to accept a job as a church organist. She rejects the notion that because
Sep 26, 1962 Limited
May 16, 2000
Herts-Lion International Corp.
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Candace Hilligoss
Mary Henry -
Frances Feist
Landlady -
Sidney Berger
John Linden -
Art Ellison
Minister -
Herk Harvey
The Man -
-
-
-
-
-
Stan Levitt
Doctor -
-
-
-
-
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (31) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (5) | DVD (23)
Occasionally a feature film emerges from the midwest, although this is the first ever out of Lawrence, Kans, where a group of commercial film pros veered off into a try at producing theatrical entertainment.
There isn't very much here to sustain interest.
The mesmerising power of the carnival and dance-hall sequences far outweighs the corniness of the awkward intimate scenes.
Top CriticCarnival of Souls works well enough as chill-up-the-spine cinema.
It depends on crisp black-and-white photography, atmosphere and surprisingly effective acting.
What is amazing about the film CARNIVAL OF SOULS is that the cheap budget works so much in its favor. There is little unreal to get between the actors and the viewer.
There is a nightmare quality to its best scenes, but the film is essentially a great half-hour Twilight Zone padded out to feature length.
Harvey leaves enough questions unanswered in this twilight zone to ensure that Carnival Of Souls enjoys a haunting afterlife in the viewer's mind.
A haunting ghost story.
This is one of the most original and unsettling horror movies to come out of America during its B-movie saturated, drive-in friendly period.
It retains an atmosphere of melancholic, surreal dread.
A chilling ghost story with artistic pretensions.
The film's subdued black and white photography contributes considerably to its poetic deathly palate of physical and emotional coldness.
For a flick with a non-existent budget (well, $30,000) and relative amateurs in front of the camera, everybody's lines are practically howler-free.
Com seu roteiro óbvio e as péssimas atuações, é incrivelmente inferior às numerosas produções que supostamente inspirou.
Much overrated horror, not even minor classic in this corner
An influential little horror gem
A genuinely creepy thriller, humble in scope and lacking some polish, but executed with ghoulish intuition.
All atmosphere and very little else.
A cult classic that would have subtle yet meaningful influences on the horror genre for decades to come.
The visuals of this film make it worth watching.
demonstrates that the quality of scary filmmaking is not directly proportional to the size of the budget
Audience Reviews for Carnival of Souls
Super Reviewer
Released in the early 1960s, this is a low budget indie before that concept really became what it is today. It might a horror film with a bunch of no names and little funds, but it makes the msot of what it has, and the result is a surprisingly fun and creepy atmospheric chiller that has become quite successful in the nearly 50 years since its release.
The cinematogrpahy is surprisingly quite good, with the visuals being reminiscent of European arthouse fare as well as a bit of film noir. The acting is a bit stiff and wooden, and some of the makeup looks a bit cheesy in hindsight, but comared to a lot of stuff that came out after it did, these could have been far more terrible.
The key to this film's success is in its atmosphere, which is quite excellent, and really strengthened thanks in large part to the film's organ score which is really hypnotic, creepy, and mesmerizing. The film has a heavy Twilight Zone vibe to it, and the increasing moodiness and bizarreness of events make for a fun little horror yarn.
All in all, this is a strong effort given the circumstances, and I really liked it. I get the impression that I should love this, but even though as of now I merely just really, really enjoyed it, I think I could see myself eventually falling in love with it. If you want an entertaining and eerie film that helped set a certain standard for future similar films, then you need to give this one a watch.
Super Reviewer
-
- Landlady: Take all the hot baths you want. I'm not one to fuss about a thing like that.
-
- Mary Henry: To me a church is just a place of business.
-
- Mary Henry: It's funny, the world is so different in the daylight. In the dark, your fantasies get so out of hand. But in the daylight everything falls back into place again.
-
- John Linden: That's just what I need! Get mixed up with some girl who's off her rocker!
-
- Landlady: You just let your imagination run away with you.
-
- John Linden: You're gonna need me in the evening; you just don't know it yet.
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
The Hangover 3, The Purge, and More
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Primetime Preview: Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge, and More 11
- Primetime Preview: Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow and More 0
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 2
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 80
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 4
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 37
Top Headlines
-
Fox Animated Series, ABC Comedies Tumble in Sunday Ratings
0
-
Bong Joon-ho Reportedly "Furious" About Snowpiercer Cuts
0
-
Record-Setting Number of Films Competing in Foreign-Language Oscar Race
0
-
Woody Allen Cancels Blue Jasmine's India Premiere
1
-
Lionsgate Wants Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence's Burial Rites
1
-
ABC Plans Kevin Hart-Inspired Series
0
-
The Shining's Danny Torrance Is All Grown Up
1
Foreign Titles
- Carnival of Souls (UK)
- Carnival of Souls (1962) (CA)
