The remake of the classic horror film Carnival Of Souls (1962), produced by Wes Craven, is due to be released as HORROR-WOOD goes to press. For those who recall the original nightmarish chiller, the ultimate low-budget, one-shot wonder, we felt the following news item, culled from the University Of Houston's Internet newsletter, would be of interest. It seems at least one member of the original film's cast will be in the remake. That makes him a...
FROM UHCN ON-LINE
Sidney Berger University of Houston School of Theatre Director
Sidney Berger moved from behind the scenes and into the spotlight
as he made a cameo appearance as a police officer in 
the remake of the 1962 cult classic Carnival
of Souls.
Film producer Peter Soby asked Berger, who played the role of John Linden in the original movie, to take a small part in the new Hollywood version. The film's executive producer is Wes Craven of the famed Nightmare on Elm Street, and Adam Grossman is director. The set was located in San Pedro, Calif.
Berger said this was his second time to revisit Carnival of Souls. Several years ago People magazine documented the rescreening of the film, and Berger was a part of that endeavor as well. "The film itself is spooky, and looking at my character from a distance would be even spookier," Berger said.
Berger came to UH 27 years ago to head its then drama department. Over the years, he transformed the drama department into a nationally known school of theatre and helped make Houston one of the nation's leading Shakespearean festival capitals.
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Carnival Of Souls is generally
acknowledged as a horror classic, one that generates genuine
chills without blood, gore, or elaborate special effects. Indeed,
this was 
amature auteur
Harvey (Herk) Harvey's only film, which he produced and directed
on a shoestring, shooting much of it in a pavilion near Salt Lake
City. Yet, its simple story of a young woman hovering between
life and death, wandering through a nightmarish landscape (whose
very ordinary nature only adds to its eerieness), is enhanced by
the lack of Hollywood gloss. The woman, the apparent survivor of
a car accident (Candace Hilligoss), is lost in a land that
appears normal, yet is devoid of all feeling, all compassion, all
warmth--a world of the dead. In this context, the low budget and
stiff acting of the cast actually helps to carry across the
unnatural mood that Harvey wanted to convey. Will Wes Craven,
once a low-budget film enfant terrible
but now a Hollywood mini-mogul, produce a worthy sequel? We
cannot be optimistic, frankly, even though the producers are
showing enough interest in the original to bring back at least
one of the original actors. However, there is the original film,
with the once "lost" footage recovered by Harvey, to
watch. If you haven't seen it, you're in for a spooky treat. If
you have, watch it again...and make up your own mind about the
sequel.
EXTRA: In an exclusive story, genre writer Tom Weaver has revealed how actress Candace Hilligoss, after spending years promoting the original Carnival Of Souls and then promoting a remake (even writing a film treatment), was froze out of the sequel. Read all about it at The Astounding B-Monster. The sequel might well be dubbed Carnival Of The Souless...
