2009 SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for October 3

"Carnival Of Souls" (1962)

Phobia: Athazogoraphobia (Fear of being ignored)

Quote: “This is the shocking story of a girl who crawled from the river to race through a nightmare, walking a tightrope between heaven and hell. From the unreal, she crashes through to reality.” - From the trailer for “Carnival of Souls.”

Synopsis: A car full of guys challenges a car full of girls to an innocent drag race that takes a horrifying turn when the girls' car plunges off a bridge and disappears into the deep river below. The river is dragged without success, but one of the girls, Mary Henry, emerges from its murky depths. Eager to leave town, Mary accepts a job in Utah as a church organist. But she can't escape the ghostly apparitions that follow her at night or the eerie organ music that haunts her every move. Whatever is happening to her, the answers reside in an old, deserted pavilion where an otherworldly carnival is taking place in her honor. It is here that Mary will learn what nightmare awaits within.

Fear creeps in at 00:34:30: As Mary has been trying to renew her life since the car accident that killed her friends, she moved to a new town and acquired a job as a church organist. All is going well, but as she begins to put the details of that horrible day behind her, she finds herself facing signs that something might not be right. Despite the man who stalks her, be he real or an apparition, she stumbles upon a plane of existence outside of that which she knows. While shopping for clothes, she becomes acutely aware of a sudden, icy silence. As she tries to seek help, her pleas are ignored; the people around her overlook her, ignore her, as if she doesn’t exist. It’s as if she isn’t even alive.

See also: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956); Ghost (Swayze represent!); Office Space