DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Hark Hervey
Starring Candace Hilligoss
Release date Out now

Student Mary (Hilligoss) is involved in an accident when her car plunges into a river during a race. Emerging from the river, Mary carries on with her life but things take a turn for the weird…

The twist that concludes the 1962 quickie B-movie Carnival of Souls is easily guessable in this day and age, but may have been less obvious to audiences lucky enough to catch this minor gem on its initial release in the early 1960s.

Made in three weeks on a shoestring budget by a group of industrial filmmakers (they made dry as dust documentaries in Lawrence, Kansas), Carnival of Souls is effective precisely because of the limitations these restrictions imposed on the would-be filmmakers. Much of it was shot in and around an abandoned holiday resort in Salt Lake City, Utah, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the piece. Director Harvey recruited his colleague, writer John Clifford, to create a movie around the location, using a limited budget of just $30,000 and a group of friends and amateurs as the cast.

It’s quite a slow movie (even at only 78 minutes) as it takes a while for Mary’s predicament to progress to the point where she seems to be invisible to others. It’s a creepy and atmospheric movie that achieves a lot more subtle scares than current blockbuster horror flicks. The black and white photography helps immensely, and a lot of the chills are helped by the industrial soundtrack. Organ music has never sounded so sinister while being quite innocent.

Seen for years in bootleg VHS copies of variable quality, this UK DVD release is welcome, even if the UK version is very light on extras compared to the 2000 US Criterion release. There’s a trailer and a chatty commentary from film critics Kim Newman and Stephen Jones who enthusiastically discuss the movie and supply a potted history of its creation. That’s it. The US got a double-disc set about a decade ago, complete with documentaries, outtakes, locations tours, a commentary with Harvey and Clifford and a heck of a lot more… Brian J. Robb

VERDICT: 7/10
This is a wonderfully creepy, low-budget B-movie that rewards the patient viewer. Loses a point for the extras that the US got but the UK didn’t.