Herk Harvey (1924–1996)

Henk Harvey was a maker of educational films who got the opportunity to make a feature film in 1961 after raising some $30,000 from backers in Lawrence, Kansas. He shot his film over a three-week holiday period, using the abandoned Saltair Amusement Park at Magna, Utah as his key location and utilising a pick-up crew and a set of amateur actors. Despite his limited resources, the film he came up with, “Carnival of Souls” is a hugely haunting and existential masterpiece, that has outgrown its humble origins to become a cult film, much feted by horror aficionados. The plot of the film is fairly meagre – young church organist Mary (Candace Hilligoss) survives an accident, which sees her car plunge off a bridge and into the cold river waters below. Shaken, she moves away to a new job and ends up staying in a small lodging house, where she finds herself the centre of unwanted attention from an amorous neighbour. Despite his attentions Mary begins to feel increasingly isolated from all those around her and is haunted by glimpses of a ghastly looking man that she sees in windows and mirrors. She begins to suffer from strange episodes where she feels she’s invisible to those around her. At other times it appears as if the world around her is falling mute. While this is going on she becomes increasing fascinated by the decaying amusement park on the edge of town and feels herself strangely drawn to it. The story is pretty thin, but it is sufficiently strong to enable an atmosphere of genuine eeriness and dread to be built at the very outset, with that atmosphere escalating incrementally throughout the film, all the way to the incredible and bleakly haunting conclusion. Henk Harvey’s construction of the film is superbly handled, with the pacing and some of his shots and angles adding immeasurably to the off-kilter feel of the film. He uses dream sequences and techniques such as dropped-out sound and sped-up film to amazing effect, heightening then dampening reality repeatedly. Harvey brilliantly makes the best use of what he has, particularly Mary’s visits to the amusement park, which are a master-class in angles and the use of light – Mary walking through strange tunnels, walking through vast geometric patterns cast by the sun shining and strobing through wooden slates, Mary fading to black as she walks towards the light. All of these marvellous shots are set against the sad, lonely collapse and decay of the park and make for fascinating and deeply symbolic cinema. The camera work by Maurice Prather is also excellent, adding to the overall tone by delivering a hugely bleak and a chillingly ethereal feel. Candace Hilligoss is perfect in the lead role – passive and detached, she perfectly essays someone isolated and alone as the world goes on around her. Her non-verbal communication is extraordinary and manages to portray a real feeling of existential alienation. The other characters in the film (perhaps because of their amateur status) deliver oddly wooden performances, which on this occasion, whether by luck or design, actually work for the film by adding to the strange, distorted reality of the whole work. Sadly “Carnival of Souls” was Henk Harvey’s one and only feature, but with it he created a hugely lyrical horror film out of next to nothing. “Carnival of Souls” has been hugely influential over the years and even today it remains a highly original, fascinating and enduring work.… (mere)