#162 Carnival of Souls
Directed by Herk Harvey
Year 1962
Made on a shoestring budget, but so assured in tone that it becomes one to treasure from nearly everyone that discovers it. The only survivor when a car plunges into a river, Mary emerges on to a sandbank like a sleepwalker. Everywhere Mary goes she sees a cadaverous-looking man who seems to be pursuing her. A series of eerie sequences that call to mind David Lynch and George A. Romero, the cinematography is astonishingly crisp. The cast of unknowns aren’t great actors, but the unworldliness of their stilted words works. This often has the feel of a silent movie, and Mary is such a passive figure you can’t tell if she’s truly among the dead because her personality never comes alive. An organ-based score hangs heavy over it all.
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