RetroClips

Carnival of Souls was made on a shoestring budget by an industrial-film director, Herk Harvey, who financed it himself and shot it in three weeks using a cast of mostly local actors. It flopped on release and was barely seen again until it turned up on late-night television in the 1970s, where its dreamlike dread found the cult audience the theatrical run never did. Directors from George Romero to David Lynch have cited it as a direct influence, and the film's copyright lapsed into the public domain almost immediately after release when the required renewal was never filed.