CARNIVAL OF SOULS

Alex Grant suffered a harsh trauma as a child: she saw her mother die, brutally killed by the madman Louis Seagram. Now, twenty years have passed, and Alex works, along with her sister Sandra, in the old inn that her mother managed years ago. Although many years have passed, Alex has not yet been able to overcome that harsh blow that troubled her childhood, and now that the anniversary of her mother's death is approaching, Alex begins to sink into a whirlwind of madness and horrifying visions that remind her of her mother's killer, Louis Seagram. For all those who claim that during the 1990s there was no decline in quality regarding the horror genre, here is "Carnival of Souls," a vile film released at the end of the 1990s (we are in 1998 to be exact) that could alone serve as an emblem for all medium-to-low-quality productions (which were the most numerous) that dominated this decade. The film belongs to that series of movies labeled with "Wes Craven Presents" (and that, in addition to "presenting" it, also serves as executive producer), which testifies that Craven will also be a respected director (always remember that he is responsible for today's masterpieces of the genre such as "Nightmare – From the Deep" or "Scream") but as a producer leaves much to be desired. Always for the "Wes Craven Presents" series, we have had, in fact, valid films like "They – Nightmare from the Shadow World" or "Wishmaster" but also films on the verge of decency like "Vertigo" and "Dracula's Legacy." Unfortunately, the film in question is much more similar to this second group of products. Despite being a film that received regular distribution (born, therefore, to be released in theaters), it is evident that this "Carnival of Souls" boasts a style and technique that are purely television-like, to the point that, at first glance, the viewer will surely be invaded by the thought that the film under observation is a TV movie. Perhaps this particular sensation is due to a particularly clean and clear photography in the style of a TV show and to the direction, entrusted to Adam Grossman and Ian Kessner (it took two people to make a film like this?!), which has no style and is too flat, passive, and also in perfect TV show style. But what really leaves much to be desired is the disastrous plot (assuming there is a plot) because, strangely enough, for 84 minutes the film does not deal with anything; there is no actual story capable of linking the various events together, but everything is resolved only with a handful of visions and nightmares, which alternate too frequently between reality and fiction, assembled in a illogical and nonsensical manner. Consequently, the screenplay will not be able to make great strides, offering only a series of identical sequences and will, therefore, be terribly repetitive and redundant, capable only of inducing yawns in the viewer who will not be able to easily keep their eyes open (but from sleep, not from fear!). In short, with "Carnival of Souls," one really gets the impression of seeing a film whose screenplay was written in a very disordered and confused manner, directly on the set, day after day, before the "action" was given. But it is evident to notice that the film's senselessness is intentional because in anticipation of the final twist (which could, if you want, be quite obvious), a twist that however does not work at all because, instead of surprising the viewer, it will make them swear due to a completely wrong setup that makes it: unclear, intrusive, ridiculous (the phone call that precedes the credits could be hilarious) and poorly inserted because, instead of shedding light on an hour and twenty minutes of total void, it only makes things worse because nothing matches perfectly. The characterization of the characters (which should play a relevant role in this type of film) would deserve a separate discussion because all of them have received a psychological development written with invisible ink. Among them, the one who received the most crude treatment is the killer Louis, played by the completely wrong Larry Miller, an actor too clumsy and funny for the part, who does absolutely nothing to be a threatening figure but seems almost to want to parody Pennywise from "It" by leaving his beautiful red balloon everywhere. Among the other actors are Bobbie Phillips (mainly involved in TV series) and here in the role of the protagonist, Alex Grant, who does not offer a great performance but still superior to the rest of the cast; alongside her are Shawnee Smith (who will have the opportunity to introduce herself to the public with the recent "Saw" saga playing the character of Amanda) in the role of Sandra the sister and a certain Paul Johansson (also seen in the contemporary "Wishmaster 2") dealing with a completely useless character who, at the moment when he seems destined to do something, exits the scene without a trace. The only positive aspect of the film is the good makeup used for the monsters' makeup, halfway between the cenobites and Yuzna's creatures in "Society," which appear uselessly in some visions only to remind that the film in question is a horror and to offer some unsettling touch (in the style of "Perversion Allucinazione") that can catch the viewer's attention. In conclusion, "Carnival of Souls" is a film without ideas and without a story, only a collection of repetitive and prolix sequences that culminate in a botched and somewhat meaningless ending. Nominal remake of the 1962 film. To be avoided.