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Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls is a 1998 American horror film, "based on" Herk Harvey's 1962 horror film Carnival of Souls, although it has very little in common with the story of the original. It stars Bobbie Phillips and comedian Larry Miller, and was directed by Adam Grossman and Anthony Hickox. It was produced by Michael Meltzer, Peter Soby and Lisa Harrison and executive produced by Wes Craven. The film received generally negative reviews.[1]
The film centers on Alex Grant who witnesses a carnival clown named Louis Seagram murdering her mother on January 24, 1977. Twenty years later, Seagram returns after being released from prison and confronts Alex in her car. Knowing that this moment was inevitable for the last 20 years, she decides the only way to get rid of him is to sacrifice herself along with him and she speeds up and drives her car off the dock into the ocean. She ends up surviving and struggles back to shore and tries to continue life and protect her younger sister, Sandra. She runs in Oceanside bar with her younger sister, but things take a turn for the worse when she start having hallucinations of Seagram and evil, ghoulish figures. Alex doesn't know what is real or not real anymore but all she knows is she wants to protect her younger sister and escape this evil cycle what is the evil clown Seagram.
Peter Soby was Director of Development at an independent production company, Shoreline Pictures, when a script came across his desk entitled, "Carnival Souls II" written by the star of the original film, Candace Hilligoss. A big fan of the original 1962 film, Peter was excited by the prospect of doing a remake, however Candace's script was basically the titular character from the original film, Mary Henry, coming back 35 years later as a ghost and engaging in a love story much like the storyline of the very popular Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze film, "Ghost". Peter approached the original filmmakers, Herk Harvey and John Clifford who were still living in Lawrence, Kansas where they filmed most of the original film. They explained that they gave Candace permission to write her script, but she had no official rights to the original film whatsoever. Peter then negotiated with Harvey and Clifford the rights to create a "based on" film which eventually became known as "Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls"[2]. This was a proud moment for Peter because this was actually the first time that Herk and John made money on the film. They had been cheated out of royalties time and again throughout the original film's history. Peter wanted to be sure that TriMark Pictures couldn't use the original title because he was partnered with investor Matthew Irvine shortly thereafter negotiating with Harvey and Clifford to purchase the entire original film, negative and all the rights including remake rights[3]. To this day, there hasn't been an official remake yet. Peter also wanted original star Candace Hilligoss involved as a producer and have a role in the "based on" film, but she wanted nothing to do with it if it wasn't her script, so they unfortunately had to part ways. Peter's first move was to approach Wes Craven to direct the film and Craven was very interested, however he was heavy into development of a script entitled "Scary Movie" which later became the first "Scream". Craven agreed to grandfather the project as an executive producer and TriMark Pictures eventually paid him to put his name in the title of the film.
Release
Carnival of Souls was released on August 21, 1998, on a limited theatrical run, and eventually came direct-to-video in the United States and other territories.[4]
The film was released on DVD by Lions Gate on February 23, 1999. It was later released by VCI on January 15, 2001, and by Cinema Club on December 31 that same year.[5]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 20% based on five reviews, with a weighted average rating of 4.1/10.[1]
Shawn Handling from HorrorNews.net stated that, although the film was "a decent little fright picture" and its style made up for its lack of originality, Handling criticized the film's "run-of the-mill" performances, writing, predictable story, lack of scares, and choice of music.[6]TV Guide awarded the film 1/5 stars, calling the film "dismal", writing, "Though filled with modern-day horror contrivances, Grossman's film evokes none of the haunting atmosphere that distinguished Herk Harvey's eerily timeless original."[7]
