Jackson Cooper

The Movie That Wouldn't Die Jackson Cooper

A mixture of B-Movie camp and arthouse cinema, Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls has emerged as a cult sleeper film that still influences filmmakers today. Though it's production values are B-movie status, it has gained notoriety and respect for its atmosphere of dread and surrealist imagery, even being imitated by filmmakers such as James Wan, George Romero, and M. Night Shyamalan. Author Jackson Cooper argues that, while Carnival has the shortcomings due to its production values, it is an incredibly mature film that mixes post-Psycho horror film paranoia with supernatural imagery. Cooper also argues that Harvey's film continues to influence modern horror films while riffing on the horror films of World War Two as well as Harvey's own educational films. This is the first book-length study of the film.