Carnival Of Souls (1962)

One of my favorite films is Herk Harvey's tragically under-appreciated Carnival Of Souls. It's surprisingly beautiful and innovative for a cheap "B" horror flick, though that very low-budget quality gives it an authentic oddness no expensive Hollywood production could ever approach. Shot in grainy black-and-white, it presents a stark and frightening version of midcentury Americana. Permeated by an unsettling atmosphere of strangeness and loneliness, and the most haunting organ score, the film is so profoundly eerie. Indeed, despite all the spine-tingling suspense, I've found it lends itself well to rewatching, just for the dreamlike spookiness it evokes. And I am simply fascinated by the decadent wreck of an amusement park that haunts the heroine.


Here are some [blurry] screenshots I've snapped......

Apparently the pavilion scenes were shot on location; it's a real place, called the Saltair Pavilion!

{ Source }

Unfortunately, the building we see in the film burned down in the '70s, and although replaced by a new one, it does not seem to be quite so charming:

"In 2005 several investors from the music industry pooled together to purchase the building and are now holding regular concerts there.... On February 18, 2011, Ke$ha performed to a sold out crowd on her Get Sleazy Tour." (Wikipedia)

What a shame, I'd have loved to visit it in its glory days (or in its state of glorious decay).


Have you seen Carnival of Souls? Isn't it marvelously creepy? 
If you haven't yet, it is available in public domain and  can be found for free just about everywhere (Netflix, YouTube, Archive.org). I throughly recommend giving it a watch this weekend!!

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