Joshua Winning Dec 3, 2018
Dancing Mormon ghosts, dodgy distributors and a barely-there budget couldn't stop Herk Harvey from crafting a creepy modern classic
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
“Anybody that produces a film runs into problems when they come to distribution,” said director Herk Harvey told Timothy De Paepe in 1983, somewhat understating the reality of the trials he endured while making his 1962 directorial debut, Carnival Of Souls. Not just distribution, but budget, filming permissions and location difficulties all contributed to his film's unconventional birth. Perhaps the strangest thing about it, though, is that despite a legendarily problematic production, Harvey succeeded in crafting a horror film with such enduring and haunting power, it inspired the likes of George A. Romero, David Lynch, and M. Night Shyamalan, and continues to earn new fans today.
It all began in 1961. While driving back from Los Angeles to his home in Lawrence, Kansas,...
Dancing Mormon ghosts, dodgy distributors and a barely-there budget couldn't stop Herk Harvey from crafting a creepy modern classic
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
“Anybody that produces a film runs into problems when they come to distribution,” said director Herk Harvey told Timothy De Paepe in 1983, somewhat understating the reality of the trials he endured while making his 1962 directorial debut, Carnival Of Souls. Not just distribution, but budget, filming permissions and location difficulties all contributed to his film's unconventional birth. Perhaps the strangest thing about it, though, is that despite a legendarily problematic production, Harvey succeeded in crafting a horror film with such enduring and haunting power, it inspired the likes of George A. Romero, David Lynch, and M. Night Shyamalan, and continues to earn new fans today.
It all began in 1961. While driving back from Los Angeles to his home in Lawrence, Kansas,...
- 12/3/2018
- Den of Geek
Dislocation is something that everyone has experienced in their life, or at least can relate to; be it from friends, family, or co-workers. Sometimes we feel alone, or conversely wish that we were left that way. No horror film captures a sustained sense of isolation and dread better than Carnival of Souls (1962), Herk Harvey’s only narrative film and a low budget miracle.
Released by Herts-Lion International Corporation stateside in September as part of a double feature with The Devil’s Messenger (1961), Carnival of Souls was lucky to have any distribution at all on a budget of $30,000 (!) and it came and went with nary a notice. Until 1989, that is; a critical reappraisal was in order and the film was rereleased for a new generation to discover it through home video, where it rightly holds a place as one of the finest and influential horror films of the ‘60s. Not a...
Released by Herts-Lion International Corporation stateside in September as part of a double feature with The Devil’s Messenger (1961), Carnival of Souls was lucky to have any distribution at all on a budget of $30,000 (!) and it came and went with nary a notice. Until 1989, that is; a critical reappraisal was in order and the film was rereleased for a new generation to discover it through home video, where it rightly holds a place as one of the finest and influential horror films of the ‘60s. Not a...
- 5/6/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
By Raymond Benson
“We’Re Not In Kansas Anymore”
By Raymond Benson
The Criterion Collection released Herk Harvey’s 1962 cult film classic, Carnival of Souls, sixteen years ago as a two-disk DVD set, but that edition has long been out of print. Now, a new Blu-ray restoration is available from the company, and it is worth upgrading even if you happen to own the original. Note that Carnival of Souls is a public domain film, so it is available on DVD from many inferior manufacturers in bad-to-okay quality versions, but the Criterion’s releases are the ones to grab.
Carnival is indeed an oddity. Harvey worked at Centron Corporation, a maker of educational and industrial short films based in Lawrence, Kansas. It was much like Calvin Films in Kansas City, where Robert Altman cut his teeth making shorts in the 1950s. Needless to say, Lawrence, Kansas is not Hollywood, and...
“We’Re Not In Kansas Anymore”
By Raymond Benson
The Criterion Collection released Herk Harvey’s 1962 cult film classic, Carnival of Souls, sixteen years ago as a two-disk DVD set, but that edition has long been out of print. Now, a new Blu-ray restoration is available from the company, and it is worth upgrading even if you happen to own the original. Note that Carnival of Souls is a public domain film, so it is available on DVD from many inferior manufacturers in bad-to-okay quality versions, but the Criterion’s releases are the ones to grab.
Carnival is indeed an oddity. Harvey worked at Centron Corporation, a maker of educational and industrial short films based in Lawrence, Kansas. It was much like Calvin Films in Kansas City, where Robert Altman cut his teeth making shorts in the 1950s. Needless to say, Lawrence, Kansas is not Hollywood, and...
- 7/14/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Cinema Art from Lawrence, Kansas? Industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey comes through with a classic horror gem for the ages. A haunted church organist begins to suspect that her hallucinations are more than just nerves. And who is that ghoulish man who keeps appearing in reflections, or popping up out of nowhere? Carnival of Souls Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 63 1962 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 78 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 12, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Herk Harvey. Cinematography Maurice Prather Film Editor Dan Palmquist, Bill de Jarnette Original Music Gene Moore Assistant Director Raza (Reza) Badiyi Written by John Clifford Produced and Directed by Herk Harvey
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Herk Harvey's marvelous Carnival of Souls is an anomaly in screen horror, a regional effort that transcends its production limitations to deliver a tingling encounter with the uncanny. Harvey was a prolific producer of industrial films,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Herk Harvey's marvelous Carnival of Souls is an anomaly in screen horror, a regional effort that transcends its production limitations to deliver a tingling encounter with the uncanny. Harvey was a prolific producer of industrial films,...
- 7/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Herk Harvey's $30,000 dollar horror film Carnival of Souls (1962) is a cult-film, a low-budget, black and white shocker that spent years on cable access and in the public domain but still elicits both scares and confused looks. Whenever I mention the film at a cocktail party, I tend to get one of two responses. "Hell yes! I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas (where the flick was lensed). We watched that one all the time!" Or "Never heard of it, sorry!" The film isn't a particularly well-constructed or well-acted yarn. Harvey and John Clifford, who began their careers making industrial films for Centron Films, didn't have the time or resources to iron out the kinks. Yet, Carnival of Souls is a in a different league than Plan 9 from Outer Space (1958). Harvey's film, unlike Ed Wood's, is actually quite chilling and he is able to squeeze aesthetic blood from his low-budget turnip.
- 10/15/2010
- by Drew Morton
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