Carnival of Souls
Ambiguous places, halfway between euphoria and terror, haunted by visions of the past and the future alike, amusement parks are a common backdrop in many films. Their shimmering lights, joyful crowds, and exhilarating rides often serve as a stage for contrast, where they reflect, in turn, a desire for illusion, breathless consumerism, melancholic solitude, and buried anxieties.
After a car accident, an organist named Mary is haunted by visions and obsessed by an abandoned dance pavilion. The film explores alienation and psychological disorientation in a dark, unsettling atmosphere.
Herk Harvey
Harold Arnold "Herk" Harvey was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and film producer, perhaps best known for his 1962 horror film Carnival of Souls. Harvey developed the idea for the film after driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hiring an unknown New York actress, Candace Hilligoss, trained by Lee Strasberg, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, Harvey shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks using a script penned by Centron associate John Clifford. Originally marketed as a B film and released by an upstart distribution company that quickly went bankrupt, Carnival of Souls never gained widespread public attention upon its original release but has become hailed as a cult classic.
