355 - Carnival of Souls, United States, 1962. Dir. Herk Harvey.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

355 - Carnival of Souls, United States, 1962.  Dir. Herk Harvey.

She sees this face.

It haunts her.

It appears in glass panes.  Her car window.  Her bedroom mirror.

It appears in bodily form.  The sanctuary where she plays organ.  The boarding house where she is staying.  The water fountain.  The shrink's chair.

And then it appears under water.  Out at that pavilion.  Sometimes alone.  Sometimes with others.

That water thing haunts her too.

She herself came up out of the water.  After the boys pushed the girls' car off the bridge.  While drag
racing.

She was supposed to be dead.  Drowned.  But she emerged like a baby born.  Like Beloved.  Covered in amniotic river sludge.

When Mary Henry came up out of the water, she moved out of town.  Out of Lawrence.  Out of Kansas.  Bleeding Kansas.  Take note when someone in the movies leaves her Kansas home.

I shall see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.

Being run off the bridge has been traumatic for her.  She was underwater for awhile.  Her two girlfriends died.  They are still missing inside the car somewhere at the bottom of the river.  How did Lawrence become Chappaquiddick?

She quits her job as an organist at the local church.  She drives to Utah.  Out into the salt.  The Great Salt.  Gets another job at another church.  Moves into a boarding house.

The man across the hall, John Linden, comes on to her.  Wants to get inside her pants.  Wants to get inside her.

But he is the least of her worries.  He does not scare her.  In fact, he comforts her.  She wants to be near him.  To feel safe.

Because of this face.  This face that keeps following her.  And the body that comes with it.

There is an abandoned pavilion outside of town.  A closed amusement park.  With rides.  And games.  And snacks.  And a ballroom.

That ballroom.

Do not go in there.

You might be asked to dance.

By . . . people.  Or maybe they are not quite people.

Something inside her compels her to go.

She cannot stay away.  She cannot find peace.  She has to go.

Uh oh.

And when she goes she sees the bodies walking across the salt.

The great salt.

They approach her.

They ask her to dance.

If only she could.

If only she could click her heels together.  And go home.

After all, there is no place like home.

Back in Lawrence.

Inside the car.

At the bottom of the river.