Directed by Herk Harvey • 1962 • United States
Starring Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger
A young woman (Candace Hilligoss) in a small Kansas town survives a drag race accident, then agrees to take a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she is haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her toward an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Made by industrial filmmakers on a small budget, the eerily effective B-movie classic CARNIVAL OF SOULS was intended to have “the look of a Bergman and the feel of a Cocteau”—and, with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score, it succeeds. Herk Harvey’s macabre masterpiece gained a cult following on late-night television and continues to inspire filmmakers today.
Up Next in Microbudget Movies
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Chafed Elbows
Directed by Robert Downey Sr. • 1966 • United States
This riot of bad taste was a breakthrough for Robert Downey Sr., thanks to rave notices. Visualized largely in still 35 mm photographs, it follows a shiftless downtown Manhattanite having his “annual November breakdown” as he wanders from on...
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The Shooting
Directed by Monte Hellman • 1966 • United States
Starring Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Jack NicholsonIn this eerie, existential western directed by Monte Hellman and written by Carole Eastman (FIVE EASY PIECES), Warren Oates and Will Hutchins play a bounty hunter and his sidekick who are talke...
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Night of the Living Dead
Directed by George A. Romero • 1968 • United States
Starring Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl HardmanShot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is a great story of...