On Monday, we screened “Carnival of Souls” from 1962 which was our first taste of a cult horror. Our readings talked about the idea behind a cult horror and how they are not a typical horror like we expect.  The book speaks about how these films can attempt so hard to be frightening that it comes off as comical. I felt as if “Carnival of Souls” doesn’t relate to that idea. I found it to be more like a Goosebumps or a Twilight Zone type film. It was not scary, but more fascinating. With the transitions from being in the real world to then being in limbo. I can see how this relates to many films or television shows today. Whenever the screen got a wave or water effect, it made me feel like she was heading into the “Upside Down” (Stranger Things reference). Everything seem to be the same, except no one could hear or see her.

Before viewing, we were warned that the film could come off as slow and how this was an intentional. I didn’t think that the film was slow but was interesting. There was a feeling that the film was building to a bigger reveal. Then the ending was amazing twist. We never got an explanation to how she got out of the car and it was because she never did. I was left speechless after seeing that. What was it that continued living after the crash? That was a twist I never saw, during the film I figured the people she was seeing was due to a near death experience and not because she was dead. Who were these other figures? Are they restless soul that bring lost souls to their after life? I don’t think we will get and answer, but it is fun to speculate on them.

Just like last week, I really enjoyed the camera work. With Detour we show how they used lighting to focus in on his eyes and this week we got a screen effect to show how she transfers into this world where she no longer exists. Was this water effect used as an idea of the one soul who is seen under the water? Many different points of this film relate to water like the girls crash in the water and the souls emerge from the water. I just wasn’t sure what the bird had to do with her. Whenever the movie went silent, it was this bird chirping that brought her back. Another was then Mary looks down the stair to see the mystery man sitting in the chair and it zooms in on their eyes. This shows his intentions and the fear you can see in her eyes.

This week’s presentation into what we need to do for our cult movie set the bar. Starting with The Princess Bride was a film that I have never see fully. I thought that I did not know it until we started to see different picture of the movie. I know that I have seen many of the memes and some of the popular scenes before. I guess now I need to take some time to see it. With all the strange things that people do to celebrate the film like yoga and wine. It shows the cult following it has.

The other film was Saw, this one I would not have seen as a cult movie due to how successful it had been as a franchise. The movie has had many sequels and so much back story that it was hard to see as a cult movie. After hearing Meg explain why and what it took to get the film to production, I can understand why. I always have seen and though of them as being too well know to be considered a cult, especially in parody culture. My favorite thing from Saw is the use in many of the Scary Movie franchise. Using Dr. Phil and Shaquille O’Neil or the use of Billy.