This director has made only one film and it is a masterpiece that remained undiscovered for a long time.

Marie Henry should not have agreed to an impromptu car race. His car goes into the river. Two of his passengers drowned, and he managed to escape only by a miracle. But from that moment, strange elements follow each other. They become increasingly concerned when Mary takes a job at a church in Salt Lake City…

A masterpiece of macabre poetry, Herc Harvey’s Carnival of Souls earned its cult status on late-night American television. Undetected for years, it has been circulating secretly in pirated copies for a long time. It should also be said that the genesis of this litter is quite unique.

The film’s director and screenwriter, John Clifford White, had never directed a feature film. Both worked in the so-called company Centron CorporationBased in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas, it specializes in corporate and institutional films.

One day on a trip to the Salt Lake City area (Saltair to be exact), Harvey discovers the remains of a huge, long-abandoned amusement park, believed to have been built in the 1930s, in advanced condition and located on a lake. Haunted park, scary, which works his imagination: then he thinks that the living dead come out of the water to go and have fun in the park…

“Bergman style mix with Cocteau influence”

Made for barely $30,000 and shot in three weeks, the film was to be, in the words of Herc Harvey, “Bergman style mix with Cocteau influence”. Thanks to its meticulous production, haunting and haunting music composed entirely of organs (yes!), the film not only nurtured an entire generation of moviegoers, but also influenced a number of directors, from George A. Romero.

It is not entirely coincidental that his Night of the Living Dead heroine recalls the star actress of the Harvey film, Candice Hilligos, who would have only one career, very ephemeral in cinema and above all very irregular.

Don’t waste time watching its 1998 remake. Choose the original work that remains the only achievement of the director who died in 1996. It is available on VOD as well as DVD. We’d like a Blu-ray release to be fair to this film, but it doesn’t appear in any of the schedules. If an editor could happen to look at this question…