Carnival Of Souls

Carnival Of Souls is a 1962 movie created by Herk Harvey and stars Candice Hiligoss. When I first saw the film made a huge impact on me. A huge impression. When I was maybe 11 or 10 years old I had a drowning accident and was as close to death as it gets. The experience was very peaceful and I had no desire to return to my surroundings. Even so, I suddenly felt a huge kick when someone pulled me out of the water. My mouth was gushing out water with terrible coughs in between and choking. That's how Carnival Of Souls starts, but the "accident" involves a car race over a bridge in Salt Lake City where the car dives into the water. The only survivor is Candice Hiligoss. Incidentally, Hiligoss appears to me to be a typical Hitchcock girl. Very attractive, classy and polite What's fascinating is the way the movie develops. Hiligoss's character works as a professional organist but her problem is she can't emotionally contact other people or connect to the world around her. She moves into "a rooming.house" where a male lodger tries his best to score with the attractive newcomer. The other two imposing roles are filled by the Church Pastor and the psychiatrist Dr Samuels. Everybody tries to help Candice but she is fated to be disconnected with the world around her. At times she simply cannot be seen by others and all connection is momentarily lost. This is a very deep film which gained a small cult following. On release at drive-ins around 1962 it performed very badly and was too psychologically deep for early sixties movie goers. However I found it to be a superb movie in the Alfred Hitchcock pattern. In some ways it reminded me of The Birds Carnival Of Souls is easy to watch on YouTube and dated 1962.