Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 9, 1990 TAG: 9005090277
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Made in 1962 on a minuscule budget, the movie ran a quick lap or two around the drive-in circuit before being relegated to the late show on television.
But with the interest in film restoration and rediscovery that has come from the video revolution, "Carnival of Souls" is getting another chance. It's been a hit at festivals, including the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville last year, and next week it arrives on home video.
The story is simple. In the opening sequence, a car runs off a bridge and into a deep river. A young woman (Candace Hilligoss) walks out of the water, apparently unharmed. She tries to resume her life as if nothing had happened, taking a job as a church organist.
At first, everything appears to be normal and dull, but then she begins to have visions of a pale figure with dark eyes. Over the course of the film, her sense of reality steadily erodes as a dreamlike atmosphere of eeriness grows stronger.
Without resorting to any of the overt tricks that have become the common currency of horror films since, writer/producer/director/actor Herk Harvey delivers the same kind of chills found in a really good episode of "The Twilight Zone." It's easy to read deeper meanings into the plot - alienation, a descent into madness, the role of young women in a changing society - but that's not really Harvey's point. He wanted to tell a good scary story and did.
Perhaps because he was working with such a limited budget, he couldn't explain everything about the enigmatic story. It begins and ends as a mystery, without explanations for the striking black and white images.
Harvey couldn't afford fancy soundstages and sets either, so much of the film was made on location. Because of that, "Carnival of Souls" presents a surprisingly realistic and detailed portrait of everyday life in this country in the early '60s.
Even though "Carnival of Souls" had very brief exposure when it was made, it has been influential. George Romero has said that he had it in mind when he made "Night of the Living Dead." And some of the spacier perfume commercials that run on TV these days might be traced back to it, too.
Harvey's work stands on its own. It has aged well and now that it's finally available, the film will have the audience it has deserved for almost 30 years.
Unfortunately, the news is not so good for the most recent cult sequel,\ "Basket Case 2." Fans know that the original "Basket Case" is one of the most bizarre exercises in excess ever committed to film or videotape. It was made in 1982 and not widely released. But word got out that the film was something different, and when it made the move to home video it found a large following.
The first film told the story of a disturbed young man, Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and his monstrously deformed twin, Belial. The tale of their gruesome revenge on the adults who had tried to separate them was highlighted by the sordid Times Square hotel where they lived. The film had a low-budget, grainy look, relatively restrained special effects and a bizarre sense of black humor.
The sequel has none of those. This one is an expensive production. Most of it takes place on clean well-lighted sets with a glossy "Hollywood" look. The plot ignores key aspects of the original. Instead, it's concerned with a nosy tabloid reporter and a group of physically deformed people who take Duane and Belial in. These guys look like refuges from the cantina bar sequence in "Star Wars" and are neither frightening nor believable. They're just silly characters in silly masks.
Until the conclusion, when writer/director Frank Henenlotter does manage a few twists, the plot ambles along without focus. It lacks the spirit and raw craziness that drove the original. In the end, "Basket Case 2" proves that more really can be less. That's a shame. Perhaps cult-horror fans will fare better in a few months when "Bride of Re-animator" is released.
New release this week
`Dad' MCA. Starring Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis. Directed by Gary David Goldberg. 115 min. Rated PG for profanity.
"Dad" is a well-intentioned, sugar-coated, sentimental drama about adult children dealing with the problems of their aging parents. At least, the first part of the film is about that. The second part moves from a realistic approach to an unusual psychological disorder called "successful schizophrenia," which is shown as a series of Norman Rockwell-type images. The acting is excellent throughout, and the made-for-TV quality that was so apparent in the theatrical release may not be as bothersome on home video.
Anyone who has experienced this situation will recognize the truth of the painful choices that have to be made. Those same viewers will also see the false notes, the places where the filmmakers didn't trust the material and tried to drive their emotional points with a sledgehammer. THE ESSENTIALS: \ `Carnival of Souls' 1/2 VidAmerica. 84 min. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
\ `Basket Case 2' 1/2 Shapiro Glickenhaus. 90 min. Rated R for violence, sexual content.
by CNB