Carnival of Souls

Inexplicably lost in the shadows for over thirty years, “Carnival of Souls” is a completely enthralling work that despite its scant commercial success, had a wide-ranging impact on the history of horror films. Take the often-copied final plot twist for example, or even the icy makeup of the ghosts, basically identical to what we’ll see in “The Night of the Living Dead” (1968) by George A. Romero (who stated his admiration for this particular film on numerous occasions).

Surreal drama dressed up as a ghost story, Harvey’s film lends itself to psychoanalytic interpretation given the importance conferred to themes such as unconscious processes and the impossibility of peacefully experiencing one’s sexuality.

A pervasive erotic undercurrent ripples through the film, in continuous conflict with the super-ego of a protagonist/victim unaware of the oppressive Catholic milieu that embraces the sex-guilt combination as part of its faith (with this is mind, the barefoot young woman playing the church organ while surrounded by icons depicting lecherous demons is a truly extraordinary scene).

From a formal point of view, the film is imbued with a rarefied atmosphere, a characteristic that exaggerates the dreamlike nature of the events through the skillful use of distortion lenses, oblique camera shots, and muffled acoustics.

Freud would be pleased.