Carnival of Souls

Updated 4/16/2008.

the story behind carnival of souls

The late director Herk Harvey's horror shocker was shot largely in Lawrence, Kansas, on a budget of roughly $30,000 (some sources claim the budget was about $18,000). Harvey, a producer of more than 400 educational and industrial films for Centron Productions, never completed another film for theatrical release. Carnival of Souls was originally released in April 1962 by Herts-Lion International.

LEFT: The ghouls emerge from the water in Carnival of Souls. Herk Harvey is second from the left. RIGHT: Poster from the original 1962 release of Carnival of Souls

If you're a fan of the now-defunct Mystery Science Theater 3000 series, episode 313 with Earth vs. The Spider features a short on public speaking made by Harvey in 1950; Frances Feist, who portrays the owner of the boarding house in Carnival of Souls makes an appearance in the short.

Playing mostly to the drive-in circuit, Carnival of Souls didn't generate a great deal of interest in its initial release; nevetheless, the film proved to be groundbreaking and influential. Note the similarities in the zombies in George Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead when compared with the ghouls from Carnival of Souls.

Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) emerges from the accident site

Harvey shot this film on 16 mm stock, which was then blown up to 35 mm for theatrical exhibition. Harvey's film went underground after its release, and did not reemerge again until the 1980s. Upon the film's rediscovery, it was re-released theatrically in 1989. Harvey even appears in the film as one of the lost souls; he's the very first ghoul that Candace Hilligoss sees as she's driving at night. Harvey lived long enough to see his film become rediscovered by a new generation of horror fans. Harvey passed away on April 3, 1996, after a long bout with pancreatic cancer.

Carnival of Souls was released to DVD in March 2000, and the Criterion Collection edition really is the copy to own. Carnival Of Souls (The Criterion Collection) DVD (1962) The Crierion Collection version also features a number of the educational films Harvey directed, including an early 1950s promotional film on Kansas that Herk Harvey acts in.

According to information sent to me by Hunter Jones, Herk Harvey had an unrealized second film project titled Flanagan's Smoke. Jones researched the background, writing to Ruth Harvey, Candace Hilligoss, and Sidney Berger, and here's what he came up with:
[Sidney] Berger could not remember too many details since the project was aborted (was it tongue-in-cheek or serious horror?) but it concerned an escaped gas from a chemist's lab and the effect of the gas on townsfolk. Still, sounds interesting and certainly psychotronic.

Few of the cast members from Carnival of Souls were professional actors, but the real stars here are Harvey's direction and the film's mood and atmosphere. Screenwriter John Clifford's premise of Carnival of Souls, about a woman caught between life and death, was pretty heady stuff for a low-budget early 1960s movie.

Candace Hilligoss

The beautiful star of the film, Candace Hilligoss, made just one other picture, the cult classic The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964), for low-rent horror director Del Tenney.

LEFT: Gorgeous Candace Hilligoss in a shot from Del Tenney's The Curse of the Living Corpse. CENTER A: Mary Henry (Hilligoss) drives at night and sees the ghoul. CENTER B: Hilligoss fends off the advances of Sidney Berger in Carnival of Souls. RIGHT: Promotional photo of Candace Hilligoss

Born in Huron, South Dakota, in 1935, Candace Hilligoss was bitten by the acting bug at an early age. After spending several semesters at the University of Iowa, Hilligoss headed for New York to try her hand at acting. Among other things, she was a dancer at the famed Copacabana. Doing summer stock and off-Broadway plays prepared her for her all-too-short film career. After appearing in Carnival, she went back to New York and did some television work and married character actor Nicholas Coster. Hilligoss retired after making The Curse of the Living Corpse to raise her two daughters. But after her retirement, she did a few commercials and bits of television work. Hilligoss and Coster divorced in 1981. In the late 1980s, Hilligoss contacted Herk Harvey about making a sequel to Carnival of Souls. She worked up a draft for the sequel and managed to put together a deal, but her attempts were thwarted.

Sidney Berger

In an interview conducted by Horror-Wood Webzine, we find that Sidney Berger, who plays John Linton in the original film and a cop in the remake (titled Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls), has been at the University of Houston (UH) since 1970. Berger is currently the School of Theater director at UH.

carnival of souls available from movies unlimited

Carnival Of Souls (1962) VHS
A car plunges off a bridge, and a young woman emerges, apparently unscathed. Wandering off, her odyssey takes her to a strange small town and a carnival pavilion whose patrons walk the line between the living and the dead. Director Herk Harvey's atmospheric low-budget chiller has achieved a cult following; Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger star. 87 min.
Carnival Of Souls (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] (1962) DVD
A car plunges off a bridge, and a young woman emerges, apparently unscathed. Wandering off, her odyssey takes her to a strange small town and a carnival pavilion whose patrons walk the line between the living and the dead. Director Herk Harvey's atmospheric low-budget chiller has achieved a cult following; Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger star. 87 min. Disc One: Standard 78-minute theatrical version; Soundtrack: English mono; Subtitles: English; documentary; outtakes; video update of the film's locations; Disc Two: Standard 83-minute director's cut; audio commentary by Harvey and screenwriter John Clifford; printed interviews; theatrical trailer; scene access.
Carnival Of Souls [DVD] (1962) DVD
Standard; Soundtrack: English mono; scene access.
Carnival Of Souls: European Version (1962) VHS
The horror cult fave is also available in a restored print, made for European release, that features scenes shot in the tinted "Super-Psychorama" process.

carnival of souls links

The Astounding B Monster: Stolen Souls
B-movie guru Tom Weaver conducts an interview with Candace Hilligoss about the 1998 remake of Carnival of Souls.

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