It’s rare the day that I see a new horror film, particularly an older one, that I fall in love with, but such is the case with a very low-budget, very strange, very surreal little movie called Carnival of Souls. Directed by Herk Harvey (who had previously only made industrial short films), the movie tells of a young woman who apparently survives a car crash, then starts to have visions of a ghost as she moves on with her life in a now town where she takes a job as a church organist. Time and space seem to spiral out of control at moments when people start to ignore that she exists and she becomes drawn to an isolated, abandoned carnival. I knew about ten minutes into the movie that I had stumbled upon something special, and I knew by the end that I had just witnessed an instant classic. A much more famous horror film from the 1960’s is the black-and-white ultra-low-budget Night of the Living Dead, directed by George A. Romero and released in 1968, but Carnival of Souls has a ton of the same qualities (in terms of the tone, look, and, yes, mediocre acting) and was released a whopping six years earlier! Candace Hilligoss, playing the lead role of Mary Henry, isn’t the best actor in the world, but she has a warm and endearing presence on the screen. Most memorable is director Herk Henry appearing as “The Man” (aka the ghostly presence) in several bits and pieces of the movie. Lil’ creepy, lil’ creepy! Made for just $17,000 and running a mere 75 minutes, the movie’s power comes from the not showing. Little bits of horror are suggested, but we don’t know exactly what is happening in this woman’s world and mind and she becomes extremely vulnerable in the eyes of the audience. By the end we have a feeling of where this is going, but we’re terrified to find out. The makers of the movie had to cut corners in every way they could, but probably the best find of all, and the one that inspired Harvey to make the movie, was the desolate and haunting location of Saltair, outside Salt Lake City, a place that the lead character of Mary continues to be drawn to throughout the film. It’s a massive and somewhat terrifying place (particularly in the nighttime!), and the location allows for Harvey to really experiment with great shots and startling moments. The finale which takes place in a giant darkly lit dance hall of Saltair is one of the most disturbing, and at the same time, lovely scenes I’ve ever witnessed in a horror film. All in all, I absolutely loved Carnival of Souls and look forward to taking a look at it again. This was a great, great find.