TALES FROM THE CRITERION CRYPT
Oct 30, 2009In the spirit of the season, we asked a select coven of horror mavens (including a couple of our own) to write about their favorite Criterion scarefests. 445...
Synopsis
Herk Harvey’s macabre masterpiece gained a cult following through late night television and has been bootlegged for years. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, Carnival of Souls was intended to have the “look of a Bergman” and “feel of a Cocteau,” and succeeds with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) survives a drag race in a rural Kansas town, then takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Criterion is proud to present the ultimate special edition of this eerily effective B-movie classic that continues to inspire filmmakers today.
Cast
| Mary Henry | Candace Hilligoss |
| Mrs. Thomas | Frances Feiss |
| John Linden | Sidney Berger |
| Minister | Art Ellison |
| Dr. Samuels | Stan Levitt |
| The man | Herk Harvey |
Credits
| Director | Herk Harvey |
| Producer | Herk Harvey |
| Screenplay | John Clifford |
| Music | Gene Moore |
| Production manager | Larry Sneegas |
| Assistant director | Raza Badiyi |
| Titles | Dan Fitzgerald |
| Editing | Dan Palmquist and Bill de Jarnette |
| Sound | Ed Down and Don Jessup |
| Director of photography | Maurice Prather |
Disc Features
- DISC ONE: THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION
- New digital transfer of the original theatrical version
- The Movie That Wouldn’t Die! The Story of Carnival of Souls: a documentary on the 1989 reunion of the cast and crew
- More than 45 minutes of rare outtakes accompanied by Gene Moore’s organ score
- Theatrical trailer
- An illustrated history of the Saltair resort in Salt Lake City
- The Carnival Tour: a video update on the film’s locations
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
- DISC TWO: THE EXTENDED DIRECTOR’S CUT
- Selected audio commentary by screenwriter John Clifford and late director Herk Harvey
- One hour of excerpts from films made by the Centron Corporation, an industrial film company based in Lawrence, Kansas that employed Harvey and Clifford for over thirty years
- An essay on the history of Centron from Ken Smith’s Mental Hygiene
- Printed interviews with Harvey, Clifford, and star Candace Hilligoss, illustrated with vintage photos and memorabilia
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
From the Current
Carnival of Souls
by May 15, 2000Horror movies take place in their own territory. The trick is to get us there. It doesn’t matter whether they start with fantastic premises and gothic settings, or with ordinary neighborhoods and daily experience, because the places and assumptions change when they enter and are redefined as horror...
Introduction to Carnival of Souls
by May 15, 2000Introduction by screenwriter John CliffordHerk Harvey described to me a strange outdoor ballroom he had seen rotting on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. . . and said he’d like to make a film about creatures rising from the lake and doing a dance of death in this pavilion. That...
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