It can be argued that the movie ‘Carnival of Souls‘ (1962), directed by Herk Harvey, is mostly remembered for being a supernatural horror flick with eerie imagery, deserted carnivals, and scary ghosts. However, looking deeper into the plot, one will be surprised to find out that the movie has many elements of psychological horror, including alienation, emotional breakdowns, and existential isolation.
Indeed, what terrifies the viewer about this movie is not its supernatural elements. The true horror is seen when the viewer watches a human being slowly drifting away from humanity itself.
Trauma And Emotional Numbness
The story revolves around Mary Henry, played by Candace Hilligoss, who survived a deadly car accident in which two women died. Some time after the event, Mary moved to another city to become an organist at the local church.
In fact, the setup of the movie is quite typical. However, there is something emotionally wrong about it. First of all, Mary seems to move around as a detached observer, failing to establish meaningful connections with others.
Conversations become uncomfortable for her, romantic relationships repulse her, and human interactions become too exhausting.
As opposed to many horror movies, where the characters react with fright and despair in the face of supernatural entities, in this movie, Mary already looks emotionally numb before the supernatural horror intensifies. And then the director transforms this numbness into horror.
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Harvey creates a sense of fear by making Mary feel as if she is disconnected not only from other people, but from reality itself. Throughout the movie, she undergoes some weird episodes when people stop seeing her, the sound disappears, and she becomes lost in the spaces as if she were no longer alive.
This is a very frightening experience since it triggers our primordial fear: the fear of being erased from society.
Thus, the horror in ‘Carnival of Souls’ here is not in death, but rather in the idea of becoming invisible and emotionally detached from reality. The movie is a great example of how a psychological horror film can become terrifying even though it was released decades ago.
A Reflection Of Mary’s Emotional State
Another disturbing feature of the movie is the presence of an abandoned carnival pavilion, which becomes the central element of the plot. Mary feels attracted to the deserted pavilion throughout the whole film, although she does not understand why. The pavilion appears in different scenes as if it were a nightmare Mary could not get rid of.
The horror behind this abandoned carnival is the contrast between the two concepts: traditionally, carnivals mean fun, music, and dancing. In this case, however, the environment is empty, dead, and lifeless.
The dance halls become abandoned, the corridors silent, and everything in the building is stuck between life and death.
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Harvey uses the deserted locations to reflect Mary’s emotional state. Just like the carnival, Mary seems to be emotionally disconnected from reality. She moves around physically, yet is emotionally absent, struggling to communicate with other people and enjoy ordinary things.
The deserted carnival plays an important role in creating a dreamy atmosphere in the movie. Unlike other directors, who use jump scares and horror elements to create fear, Herk Harvey chooses to use silence and emptiness to create fear in the hearts of the viewers.
Have you watched ‘Carnival of Souls’? What is your interpretation of what the film tried to convey about isolation? Let us know in the comments section below.
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