Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on rockin’ flatscreen.
There are some stories that keep coming back. These iconic stories work when they are done well because they speak to something inside us or bring up the demons that we try to push back into the lizard part of our brain. Carnival of Souls is a film that taps into the same place as a story like “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” or a movie like Jacob’s Ladder. If you’re familiar with either of those stories, where Carnival of Souls goes won’t be a surprise. With this particular story, though, it’s not about the destination but the journey.
I figured I was in for a rough ride (no pun intended) at the start of the film when we begin with a drag race featuring one car of men and one car of women. To suggest that this sequence was poorly filmed and edited is to be very generous. In addition to the “drag race” happening at a sedate pace, there’s no cohesion between the shots. Regardless of this, the drag race ends with the car of women going over the side of a bridge and landing upside down in a river.
