Sure, Night of the Living Dead is the masterpiece, the one they all fawn over.. But you know what else it is? Wasteful. Did it shock the world, invent a lasting pop cultural icon, and inspire hundreds of low-budget copycats the world over? Certainly. But it also cost 90,000 dollars. Which means, if I do my math correctly (and what is art if not the result of math), George Romero could have taken that same $90,000 and made THREE Carnival of Soulses.
Yes Carnival of Souls (1962), Kansas' greatest gift to the world, the je-ne-sais-quoi incarnate on celluloid. In the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, Patrick and author/podcaster Christopher Olson of The Pop Culture Lens podcast dive into the weird combination of industrial film ingenuity, otherworldly organ music and rusted out halls of 1920's Americana decadence that is Carnival of Souls, the greatest (the GREATEST) American horror film of the 1960's.
In addition to tracing the roots of copy-cats and the value of a good location, Patrick and Chris also talk about the lasting legacy of the Exorcist and take apart the meaning of the phrase "overrated". Also, Patrick says that a movie you probably think is among the greatest horror flicks of all-time isn't actually that great. He's very very sorry.
0:00 - 10:07 - Intro
10:08 - 1:28:27 - Commentary
1:28:28 - 1:43:35 - Questions
1:43:36 - 1:45:56 - Outro