BEST AND WORST REMAKES: WORST #6 – WES CRAVEN’S CARNIVAL OF SOULS
Have you ever seen the original Carnival of Souls? It’s moody and ethereal, the granddaddy of the art-house horror film. On the surface, it’s pretty threadbare. It’s undeniably low-budget and low-concept: we follow an unremarkable woman as she’s stalked by hallucinations of an enigmatic ghoul. I swear to you I’m a huge fan of it, but it always seems one moment away from flatlining. But movies — the movies that stick with us, that speak to us — have souls between their frames, and Carnival of Souls is teeming with them. There’s a dreamlike atmosphere to it; it has some kind of a mystery to it that’s spellbound me, the same way I’m magnetized to The Shining’s unknown quantities. It’s direct influence can be seen in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, David Lynch’s Lost Highway and Adrian Lynne’s Jacob’s Ladder.
The only thing the remake influenced was an intense mistrust for any film labeled “Wes Craven Presents”. I usually have no judgment call when it comes to filmmakers cashing in on their brand, especially ones that work in the horror field. It’s a tough life, usually not as lucrative as some of their mainstream peers. If they can pay their mortgage that month because they lent their name out, good for them. But good lord, the 1998 remake is an affront to even bad taste.
The film trades its predecessors dread and atmosphere for rape/murder, cheap jump scares, student-film level dialogue and the most unconvincing threat in horror-clown history (played by Larry Miller, the doorman from hell in Seinfeld). It’s like one of those unsanctioned Marvel Super Hero movies from the Philippines, where it’s obvious no one involved has any clue who or what Spider-Man is. You find yourself watching a little person shooting electricity out of his fingers, then enjoying a poolside massage from bikini-clad “models”. And you know what? The Adventures of Filipino Spidey is a hell of a lot more emotionally satisfying then Carnival of Souls 1998.
