Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Carnival of Souls


(1998) **

WARNING: Approach any movie that begins with “Wes Craven Presents” with extreme caution. I've smelled some of Craven's “presents” before and the scent is almost always unsavory. COS '98 is no different. 
To be clear - the '98 adaptation of Carnival of Souls sucks the almighty one and should never have seen the light of day... yet it's still passably entertaining. The similarities between the 1962 version and... this (derisive snort) are few and far between. Both feature a car driving off a bridge, a car wash, a carnival and a similar climax. This '98 version threw a homicidal clown into the mix. (Just when I thought I was through with them they keep finding me!) 
20 years after testifying against the clown that raped and murdered her mother, Alex discovers that the monster (played by Larry Miller i.e. the bastard Dean Richmond in Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor) has been released from prison. Unfortunately for her, 20 years in the slammer was not long enough to rehabilitate the madman.  But is he for real or is he just a figment of her imagination? Why does he sometimes turn into an albino alien with a lizard tongue? Sigh. If I tried to make sense out of nonsense then wouldn't that make me crazier than a clown? 
There is nothing to recommend here though I admit I was drawn to the carnival scenes. 

6 comments:

Catfreeek said...

Clowns will get you when you sleeeeeeeep.

Octopunk said...

I sure do like this clause: "20 years after testifying against the clown that raped and murdered her mother..."

You know, I was just thinking uncharitable thoughts about Wes Craven because the self-aware horror thing was done so sharply and gleefully in Cabin in the Woods that it made the same gimmick in Scream so annoying by comparison. Ah well.

Love your derisive snort.

DKC said...

I was wondering if you had decided to return to the clown genre for a minute, and kind of couldn't believe there could be that many more!

Landshark said...

Points lost for knowing an actor by his Nutty Professor role?

50PageMcGee said...

@DCD - like clowns are ever going to lose their fear-potential...

pants, you've gotta hook yourself up with VLC. when you go dropping comments like "i was drawn to the carnival scenes," it makes me curious as to what you were seeing. having to rely on Bing or Google is limiting to badass geniuses like us.

AC said...

if only they'd cast gary busey....

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...