DAC Movie Night: Carnival of Souls (1962)

Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American psychological horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival where a ghoulish stranger stalks her. The film is set to an organ score by Gene Moore.

Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, Carnival of Souls employs various guerrilla filmmaking techniques. The film is loosely based on the French short An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961), an adaptation of the 1890 story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce. The film has been noted by critics and film scholars for its cinematography and foreboding atmosphere and has a large cult following.