Carnival of Souls

Director: Herk Harvey
Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Herk Harvey
Runtime: 78'
Year of Production: 1962
Language: English
Subtitles: Greek

One of the most famous and unforgettable one-hit wonders of cinema, this mysterious b-movie appeared like a meteorite almost out of nowhere, was shot for only 33 thousand dollars and was the personal vision and unique film of an amateur filmmaker who claimed to have been inspired by Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau. In its time, the «Carnival of Souls» was squeezed into the double feature schedules of quite a few drive-in theaters in the United States, was treated from the start as an ordiary cheap horror film and disappeared in the same quiet way it had appeared, without its uniqueness being noticed. A few years later, the film is deified by a large number of viewers who discover it late at night on television or from a screening on a midnight theatre circuit. And that's when Herk Harvey's dreamy and morbid masterpiece is recognized, an atmospheric and bizare ancestor to David Lynch's film nightmares and all of modern horror cinema, with one of the most memorable finale we have ever seen. Harvey is also the gruesome figure we see in the film terrorizing the heroine - a young instrumentalist who miraculously survives a car accident only to meet very soon her gloomy destiny in a small country town. Drawing from a thoroughly sublime ambiance, expressionistic photography and an otherwordly instrument on the soundtrack, Harvey leads his audience like sleepwalkers to an unforgettable finale that comes not exactly as a surprise or trick but as an mournful explosion that lifts this haunted film straight into the realm of genuine poetry. Loukas Katsikas

It is recommended that guests be equipped with insect repellant, as well as a mat or a blanket to lay on the lawn.