Is It Possible To Obtain A Soul?

I have never heard of Carnival Of Souls, but watching the movie it felt like I have watched it before. I knew how the movie was going to end and it just felt like I had watched the movie before. Other than that, I enjoyed the movie as a whole and for its budget, the movie was really good. The one thing that really caught my attention was the soul aspect of the film because it reminded me a bit of a horror movie that came out in 2019. I was expecting this to be a mediocre or a bad horror film, but was surprised by how good it actually was.

In one of the readings that we read this week, a section from the Welch Everman really caught my attention and that section was about how a cult horror film cannot be a classic and I completely disagree with that statement. There are many classic horror films that have a cult following. A few that come to the top of my head are The Shining, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and there are so many more that I could continue to mention. Some of the horror movies I have mentioned I have watched, but others I haven’t watched but I have heard so many good things about it from people and how much they love that film and that I should watch it. Now I know these aren’t the horror movies that were mentioned in the reading, but these are considered classic horror movies now and definitely have a cult following of some sort.

Now, I mentioned how the soul aspect of the film reminded me of a horror movie that came out in 2019 and that film is Jordan Peele’s Us. The reason I am reminded of Us is because in Carnival Of Souls the main character, Mary, was supposed to die in the river, but she comes crawling out of the river and acts differently afterwards. I figured that the reasoning for this was because she no longer has a soul and a human body without a soul isn’t even human, hence why she doesn’t like to interact with people and also why she fades in and out of existence.

In order for me to discuss why I thought of Us when I was watching this movie, I will have to discuss some major spoilers for the film, you have been warned.

So a main part of Us is that the United States government decided to clone the U.S. population, but they weren’t exactly the same as the regular population because they lacked a soul. We later learn that the main character of the film is one of these clones that forcibly replaced herself with the real version at a younger age. Now this makes the audience wonder if it is possible to obtain a soul during the course of a life or if you are born with a soul.

This scene describes the soul aspect of the clones.

Both films play with the idea of a soul differently, one says that if you cheat death, then you cannot have a soul. While the other film states that you can obtain a soul as you grow older and that you don’t have to be born with a soul, or in this case, created with a soul. I really enjoyed this film and after watching this film, I love Us even more because of what both films did with the idea of a soul. So, to answer the question I had, I believe it is possible to obtain a soul as you grow older, but you can also lose that soul as well.

5 thoughts on “Is It Possible To Obtain A Soul?”

Yassa t February 16, 2020 at 5:02 am

As I was watching carnivals of souls I also thought of the movie US and wanted to know what would happen at the end. I find it so crazy that you though of the same movie as me. both films involve a carnival and both of the man characters enter the deserted carnival area and are seeing things. The build-up of both movies was similar but had different messages and there was a creepy man in both films. When you said, “I believe it is possible to obtain a soul as you grow older, but you can also lose that soul as well.” I agree with you because through life you love and you learn ways to cope with things that happen in your life and things that are happening.

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jaylincard February 17, 2020 at 1:48 am

I agree with what you said in the beginning, about how you knew what was going to happen. I feel that what makes this a cult classic is the fact that it was one of the first films to have a plot like this. So when you think about it, the reason it’s so familiar is not because it’s a cliched idea necessarily, but because so many movies now follow the basic horror film formula. It just goes to prove Everman’s point about how filmmakers take what they know works and copy it in order to profit. I also really like the connection that you made to Us – interesting concept!

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spencerwickert February 17, 2020 at 2:06 am

Same as you, I never heard of this movie or ever thought of seeing this film. It is one of the best reasons to take this class. I was caught off guard to the twist ending and found it could be related to other film ideas such as it was all a dream, or someone caught in a coma. I don’t know if I would call this a horror film because it had more of a creep factor than a horror factor. I viewed it and found I could relate it to more of Silence of the Lambs. That one did not scare me, but it just had you glued to the screen wondering what was coming next.
I am not a huge horror fan, but the readings listed a bunch of good horror movie that are classics by todays standards. For me, the biggest take away from a horror movie is the soundtrack. Due to the idea that you heard the sinister song come on and you wonder what is going to happen next or where is the killer lurking.

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kelsiekoerber February 17, 2020 at 3:30 am

I agree with the statement you made about not beliving a cult horror film cannot also be a classic, yes many classic films are often high budget and obtain this sort of “elite” title like the examples in the book. A film that is a classic horror film but also one id say has cult staus is one you mentioned, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is relatively low budget for the amount of money it made, it was sort of blacklisted at the time for having too much graphic violence in it, although in today’s world I don’t think many people would consider it graphic, and it did develop over the years a cult following. Now it also was one of the first horror films to also follow this Hollywood slasher trope being one of the first that many later horror films would follow. I would also consider it a classic, for this reason, overall it’s a great film, one of my all-time favorites and your point really made me think.

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pathannon74 February 17, 2020 at 4:44 am

Unlike you, I was completely surprised with how “Carnival of Souls” ended. I really thought that Mary was just suffering symptoms of shock and terror from the car accident. The last result I thought this movie was going to bring was to show her dead until the end scene when they are pulling the car out of the river.
I agree with you about cult films having the ability to be classics, and that there are numerous of them out there. That being said, I am glad you talked so in-depth about the readings!

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Yassa t February 16, 2020 at 5:02 am

As I was watching carnivals of souls I also thought of the movie US and wanted to know what would happen at the end. I find it so crazy that you though of the same movie as me. both films involve a carnival and both of the man characters enter the deserted carnival area and are seeing things. The build-up of both movies was similar but had different messages and there was a creepy man in both films. When you said, “I believe it is possible to obtain a soul as you grow older, but you can also lose that soul as well.” I agree with you because through life you love and you learn ways to cope with things that happen in your life and things that are happening.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
jaylincard February 17, 2020 at 1:48 am

I agree with what you said in the beginning, about how you knew what was going to happen. I feel that what makes this a cult classic is the fact that it was one of the first films to have a plot like this. So when you think about it, the reason it’s so familiar is not because it’s a cliched idea necessarily, but because so many movies now follow the basic horror film formula. It just goes to prove Everman’s point about how filmmakers take what they know works and copy it in order to profit. I also really like the connection that you made to Us – interesting concept!

LikeLike

Reply ↓
spencerwickert February 17, 2020 at 2:06 am

Same as you, I never heard of this movie or ever thought of seeing this film. It is one of the best reasons to take this class. I was caught off guard to the twist ending and found it could be related to other film ideas such as it was all a dream, or someone caught in a coma. I don’t know if I would call this a horror film because it had more of a creep factor than a horror factor. I viewed it and found I could relate it to more of Silence of the Lambs. That one did not scare me, but it just had you glued to the screen wondering what was coming next.
I am not a huge horror fan, but the readings listed a bunch of good horror movie that are classics by todays standards. For me, the biggest take away from a horror movie is the soundtrack. Due to the idea that you heard the sinister song come on and you wonder what is going to happen next or where is the killer lurking.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
kelsiekoerber February 17, 2020 at 3:30 am

I agree with the statement you made about not beliving a cult horror film cannot also be a classic, yes many classic films are often high budget and obtain this sort of “elite” title like the examples in the book. A film that is a classic horror film but also one id say has cult staus is one you mentioned, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is relatively low budget for the amount of money it made, it was sort of blacklisted at the time for having too much graphic violence in it, although in today’s world I don’t think many people would consider it graphic, and it did develop over the years a cult following. Now it also was one of the first horror films to also follow this Hollywood slasher trope being one of the first that many later horror films would follow. I would also consider it a classic, for this reason, overall it’s a great film, one of my all-time favorites and your point really made me think.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
pathannon74 February 17, 2020 at 4:44 am

Unlike you, I was completely surprised with how “Carnival of Souls” ended. I really thought that Mary was just suffering symptoms of shock and terror from the car accident. The last result I thought this movie was going to bring was to show her dead until the end scene when they are pulling the car out of the river.
I agree with you about cult films having the ability to be classics, and that there are numerous of them out there. That being said, I am glad you talked so in-depth about the readings!

LikeLike

Reply ↓