In 1998, someone had the bright idea to remake Carnival of Souls, the 1962 cult horror classic that was unsettling, eerie, and atmospheric on a shoestring budget. What we got instead was a hot mess of MTV-era editing, soap opera acting, and plot holes big enough to drive a haunted clown car through.
But hey—Bobbi Phillips looks great, so… there’s that.
A Freakshow Without the Freaks
The original Carnival of Souls was a moody black-and-white fever dream. The 1998 version is like if Baywatch Nightstried to do David Lynch and slipped on a banana peel made of body oil and mid-’90s angst. It follows Alex Grant (Bobbi Phillips), a woman haunted by a traumatic childhood memory involving a creepy carnival, her dead twin sister, and a greasy carny with a taste for murder.
If that sounds promising, rest assured—it isn’t.
This movie has the nerve to call itself Carnival of Souls and yet features very few souls and a carnival that looks like it was put together by four hungover interns from a traveling meth convention. Most of the movie is a confused blur of flashbacks, dream sequences, and Bobbi Phillips staring into mirrors looking sweaty and confused. Honestly, same.
Bobbi Phillips: The One Bright Spot in a Sideshow of Suck
Let’s just say it—Bobbi Phillips is the only reason to sit through this. She spends a good chunk of the movie in various states of undress, as if the director knew the script was a flaming garbage bag and figured some strategically-lit shower scenes might salvage the experience.
To be fair, she brings what she can to a role that was clearly written on the back of a Chili’s napkin. Her Alex is alternately haunted, horny, and hostile, and while the script gives her nothing to work with, she at least tries. She gives a performance that says, “I know this movie is trash, but I’m still going to hit my mark and look good doing it.”
If you’re looking for nuanced acting, keep walking. If you’re looking for sultry glances and slow-motion running through fog in a slip dress, bingo.
The Script: A Graveyard of Dumb Ideas
This movie’s dialogue feels like it was written by a Ouija board. Everyone talks in weird half-sentences or overly dramatic monologues, like they’re auditioning for Twin Peaks but ended up on Goosebumps. The plot tries to be psychological horror, but lands somewhere between “bad Lifetime movie” and “lost Marilyn Manson music video.”
There are hallucinations. There are murders. There are creepy old men who pop up and deliver cryptic one-liners, possibly because they wandered onto set and no one told them to leave. The twist ending is both predictable and dumb, like the filmmakers saw Jacob’s Ladder and thought, “Let’s do that, but with less talent and more boobs.”
Direction and Cinematography: A Lesson in How Not to Make a Horror Movie
The film tries to be stylish. It ends up looking like one long Calvin Klein ad with a body count. Lots of jump cuts, weird Dutch angles, and fog machines on full blast. It’s as if someone handed a music video director a horror script and said, “Make it spooky.” Instead, they made it smoky.
The carnival itself—supposed to be the centerpiece of the terror—is about as scary as a Chuck E. Cheese on a Tuesday afternoon. There’s no sense of place, no dread, just a bunch of flickering lights and guys in dusty trench coats who look like they got lost on the way to a Nine Inch Nails concert.
Missed Opportunities: The Real Horror
This Carnival of Souls could’ve done something interesting. It had the framework—a traumatized heroine, a mysterious past, a creepy carnival—but instead it blows its load on style over substance. It’s all neon lights, groaning sound effects, and feverish dream logic, but no actual tension. You can’t just throw fog at the screen and hope people get scared.
The original had heart. This one has… abs and leather jackets.
Final Thoughts: Hot Lead, Cold Plot
If you’re here for horror, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re here for character development, you’ll be furious. But if you’re here to watch Bobbi Phillips strut through a low-budget psychological mess like she’s in a Skinemax reboot of Silent Hill, well… you might leave slightly less mad.
Carnival of Souls (1998) is a film best watched with the remote in hand and expectations buried six feet under. It’s not scary. It’s not smart. But it is accidentally hilarious at times, especially if you pretend the villain is just a metaphor for the director’s career imploding in real time.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 sweaty hallucinations. Bonus half-point awarded for Bobbi Phillips being hotter than a fresh funnel cake on the Fourth of July.
