Arguably one of the creepiest films of all time, 'Carnival of Souls' relies on a strong sense of atmosphere and a degree of surrealism to succeed. We meet a trio of women who whilst driving are challenged to a race by a group of ne in another vehicle. The women decide to take up the offer but end up speeding over a bridge into a river. The lead role is played by Candace Hilligoss (she plays the role of Mary) who somehow survives the crash, although she surfaces from the murky depths some three hours after the accident. When Mary eventually returns to work strange things begin to occur, resulting in the appearance, as she is driving, of a peculiar pale-faced man (played by the director.) From here on Mary begins to investigate the area where the man has been seen and finds out there used to be a carnival situated on the spot, all the while Mary continues to suffer peculiar bouts involving losing her hearing and even becoming invisible to the rest of the world. Eventually this surreal movie leads us to a very eerie climax, and one can see why masterful director of the surreal, David Lynch, became so influenced by this true oddity of film-making. Hard to believe that this flick was shot for such a low budget and received rather poorly first time round, but the sheer atmosphere alone of this movie means that today it considered a cult classic. It's one of those films that doesn't really on any effects to get its message across, so I suggest you seek it out if you like your films a little weird.
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