carnival of souls.

October begins! Yea! Despite the sweltering 100+ degree temps, I ventured out this weekend to kick off the festivities with a new release of "Carnival of Souls." I had heard of this movie before, but hadn't seen it, and somebody recommended it to me last week. He said it was an inspiration for "Night of the Living Dead," which I totally love, so when I saw it was playing just down the street, I was in.

I walk by the Mary Pickford Center on Vine on my to lunch quite a bit, but haven't had an occasion to visit. I was intrigued by the Oscar series this summer, but they weren't showing any movies that inspired me to go. Sorry, The Goonies.

 
The Center and the Theater are beautiful--I want to go again! The seats were so comfortable. But the security check was crazy. You'd think you were boarding an international flight.

As for the movie, I loved it. Lots of spooks and no gore, which is just how I like my horror movies.

The plot basically plays out like an extended Twilight Zone episode--not particularly inspiring. You can see the ending coming from the opening scene.

But what made the movie special was the visuals and the sound design. The phantoms, or the spooks--they're never identified--are done up in pretty basic black and white face paint. But set against the backdrop of the abandoned carnival, waltzing and slinking around, they are somewhat terrifying. Somewhat.

And you're not going to believe this, but I loved all the organ music. Does anyone love organ music besides churches and organists? I don't think so. But in Carnival of Souls, it did what great movie music does--it became a character in the story.

I also really got a kick out of the lead actress, who jogged through the whole movie in kitten heels. I've never understood the point of kitten heels. Either wear flats or rock a 3-4" heel. Pick a team. Plus, what in God's name could be more uncomfortable than running in kitten heels? I could feel my own ankles twisting just watching it.

The thing was, while she was running, the sound effect of the kitten heels clicking on the pavement was totally off. It sounded like a chihuahua was sprinting in them. But it added to the otherworldliness of the movie. I doubt that's a legit word, but I can't think of another one right now. Anyway, it seemed like a mistake, but was very effective.

I really liked the lead actress, too. Her name is Candace Hilligoss, and it looks like she remained pretty unknown after the movie (although I'm going to have to check her out in The Curse of the Living Corpse). It's not easy to carry an entire film and make a lot stilted dialog convincing, but I thought she did a good job.

She was like a Poor Man's Hitchcock Heroine--icy, brittle, blond and sexually repressed. My kind of gal. She's not Grace Kelly or Kim Novak or even Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, but she is of the ilk. Sometimes I'm curious as to the relationship between that kind of woman and ghost stories/horror movies. I guess it goes back to Turn of the Screw. Like if I were in college, it would be an interesting term paper to write. And then I think whatever, it's probably just some construct of the male imagination. End of term paper.

Great movie. Fun night. I very much want to check out the Criterion edition of Carnival of Souls. And I plan to watch lots more rare horror gems for the month of "Shocktober." That's right--I just used the word "Shocktober."