Carnival of Souls

A low-budget horror film, discovered years after it was made. Mary is the only person to come out of a car that goes into a river after a road race. She does not know how she survived. She moves to another city and starts playing the organ in a church, but something is wrong: at certain moments nobody can see her and nobody hears her. And an abandoned amusement park keeps coming into her mind. The film's strength comes from how it was made. The director, Herk Harvey, made educational and promotional films in Kansas. He shot this, his only fiction feature, on a very small budget, with his own crew, in about two weeks. Most of the cast are not professionals; Harvey plays one of the figures himself. The amusement park scenes were shot at an abandoned pavilion on the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the location carries the whole effect. It drew no attention on release. Years later it circulated in late-night television slots, became known, and reached cult standing; its influence on later horror is often cited. One of the foundational films of its kind for anyone who likes atmospheric horror and low-budget cinema. For a viewer wanting fast horror, this is built entirely on unease and there is almost no violence.