Carnival of Souls: Genre and Themes

A Haunted Heroine drawn to an Amusement Park of Doom, while being pursued by what appears to be The Grim Reaper?  Can Carnival of Souls be anything but horror?

Every story ever created, no matter how unconventional, has to fall into at least one category of something we call genre.  Put simply, genre is the sum of similarly themed parts that come together to tell a story.  It’s shorthand, giving the audience a clue as to what kind of story they are about to see.  And in almost every case, it’s never as simple as it seems.

Characters, storylines, settings, and even themes often correspond to different genres.  As we’re seeing in our science-fiction study, a common theme is man’s relationship with technology, his own creations.  With fantasy stories typically comes the central idea of ‘good vs. evil’.  It’s actually rather helpful to evaluate the categorization of stories, in this case, film, as it not only sets up our own expectations of the story, it also helps us expand the boundaries of genres as their limits are tested.

All of this is to say that today, we’re looking at the elements of Carnival of Souls to decide, very simply, what genres it is, and what genres it is not, and more importantly, why.  Let’s take a look.  (Spoilers below!)

To start, let’s see how Carnival of Souls fits in with the genre most people seem to put it in: horror.

The story of Carnival of Souls is one of surreal horror.  Our protagonist, Mary Henry, finds herself narrowly escaping death (she hasn’t, of course, but she doesn’t know that), and spending the rest of the film pursued by a haunted amusement park, creepy organ music, and visions of ghouls determined to chase her down.  Stalked by a Silent Antagonist with a Slasher Smile, Mary is overwhelmed by nonsensical encounters.  She doesn’t know what’s going on, and as a result, the audience is on edge too.

The horror element also has a lot to do with the ending.  The Dead All Along trope is typically seen in horror films, occasionally in horror-comedies such as Beetlejuice or Topper.  Traditionally used as one final, horrifying twist, this plot point is most effective in storylines that have kept up a sense of unease, which Carnival of Souls excels at.  The entire story feels uncanny, the protagonist (and all the other characters) just a little bit off, rendering the mystery just that much more intriguing.

The protagonist, the creepy setting, the ghoulish antagonist all certainly render Carnival of Souls a horror film, but a horror film alone it is not.  Remember that ‘mystery’ I mentioned earlier?  That plays a part here too.

Throughout the film, there is a definite feeling of aforementioned unease as various unexplained things happen that draw the audience’s curiosity.  Mary survives the car wreck alone and unharmed, with no sign of the car or the other passengers.  She can’t remember what happened, and never seems to want to, but that doesn’t mean that there is no mystery.  Mary’s storyline serves as clues to the audience, for them to piece together what has happened and why.  How did Mary survive?  Why is The Man after her?  Why does she keep popping in and out of reality?

As the ending explains to those who had not already figured it out, the answer to the mystery is that Mary is already dead, again, despite the fact that neither Mary, nor any other character in the film are concerned with solving it.  The puzzle is never addressed in the narrative itself except once in passing by the doctor Mary goes to see, it is there for the benefit of the audience, a rather curious styling for a mystery, but a mystery nonetheless.

The two genres, horror and mystery, blend together seamlessly, with the horror feeding the mystery and vice versa throughout the entire plot.  This would be enough for categorization in and of itself, and indeed, Carnival of Souls is typically classified as a horror/mystery, but there’s a little more to it than that: for example, the genre that best bridges horror and mystery: Thriller.

The thriller’s purpose is simple: to get a reaction out of the audience.  As such, many horror films also fall into the category of ‘thriller’, as do many mysteries.  Their goal is to surprise, to startle, to intrigue, to build anticipation and anxiety.  All of this, Carnival of Souls does well.  Extremely well, in fact.

Whether it’s the slow, subtle sense that something isn’t right that extends through Mary’s organ practice or the jump-scare sudden appearance of The Man, or the edge-of-your-seat terror that comes with the horde of Undead chasing Mary from the Carnival, Carnival of Souls keeps the reactions coming.  Through clever camerawork, music, and overall mood, the film keeps the audience jumping, even though the actual violence and scares within are fairly tame.  The ‘thrills’ are not of a visual nature, they are mostly psychological, the uncertainty of Mary’s fate.  Even if you are not outright frightened by the film, the tension is still there.

All of these genres are fairly obviously displayed within the film itself, and weave together perfectly.  However, there is one more genre, one that Carnival of Souls could technically fall into, that doesn’t seem to fit at all: fantasy.

When we think fantasy, we tend to think of films closer to Ladyhawke, or The Wizard of Oz (both of which have already appeared on this blog!).  Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Labyrinth all seem much more like fantasy stories than the grim, real-world Carnival of Souls.

However, fantasy does not automatically mean sword-and-sorcery style stories (say that five times fast!).  As a matter of fact, boiled down to basics, fantasy is merely a story with an element of the extraordinary, and in that, Carnival of Souls seems to fit.

Right alongside with that ‘surrealist horror’ angle of before, there is an almost mystical element to Mary’s haunting.  Unlike examples of science fiction, the haunting is never explained.  Only the audience’s inference gives meaning to the pursuit of Death.  It is never stated why The Man chases Mary, or why she sees him at all, it is our own interpretation that explains that it is because she has died, and no longer belongs in the world of the living.

All the same, does that make this film a fantasy movie?

Well, sort of.  To be honest, this film is rather hard to figure out.

In many of the other genre articles on this blog, we discuss how to determine the genre of a film with elements of several.  Usually, it boils down to two questions:

Question 1: What type of story is this?

Question 2: What type of hero/protagonist is this?

With that in mind, Carnival of Souls is…..hard to pin down.  As I mentioned earlier, the basic story elements would make this film a Horror/Mystery/Thriller, but as for character?  Mary is very hard to pin down.

Like I said in a previous article, Mary has very little personality to speak of.  She is a loner, taken in bouts of hysteria due to the fear of being pursued by The Man.  She has no drive, no motivation, and we know very little about her personality because her story has already ended.  She is already dead.

She is alternatively cold and hot, intense or distant, as she fades in and out of reality.  As such, we as an audience never get a good handle on her character.  However, due to the way she is played, and the way she is framed within the narrative, it’s a little easier to tell her place in the story and how it affects the genre.

Her part in the story is to be haunted, to run, to be frightened, to be drawn to the carnival.  Her part in the story is passive, reacting to the horror of her situation.

All of that is to say, Carnival of Souls is an effective horror/mystery/thriller, with a dash of fantasy, unique and memorable enough that this film stands out as something different nearly sixty years later.

Thank you all so much for reading!  Stay tuned for next time, when we’ll be discussing the character(s) of Carnival of Souls.  I hope to see you all in the next article!