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Chronogrl's entry -

For this challenge, I looked back to horror movies that, to my personal horror history, I consider “classics.” Ultimately, I wanted to think of a movie that scared me when I was younger and revamp it so that the remake would scare me now as an adult.

The movie that I choose to remake is Carnival of Souls (1962). I was in elementary school when I watched this movie with my parents, and it absolutely horrified me. What stands out about this movie and why it scared me was the corporeal nature of the ghouls in the movie – I was so scared that I would turn around and see The Man staring back and reaching out to me… These types of corporeal ghosts are something that I still find creepy in the ghost/supernatural horror that I enjoy watching today. I find corporeal ghost significantly more horrifying than the non-corporeal – There’s more of an immediate threat.

And the masters of the corporeal ghost, in my opinion, are the Japanese.

Takashi Shimizu’s The Grudge and Reincarnation are two of the creepier supernatural movies that I’ve seen in recent years, so I am proposing that I would like to see Takashi Shimizu remake Carnival of Souls. The Grudge legitimately scared me as an adult, just as Carnival of Souls scared me as a child, so I would like to marry Shimizu and my first horror experience to create a genuinely horrifying, atmospheric, supernatural movie.

Another reason why I’d like to go with a more Eastern take on this film is that I find Eastern ghosts more horrifying than their American counterparts. The concept that the monsters of The Grudge will keep killing every single person who enters the house is utterly horrifying and leaves the viewer feeling hopeless. Same with The Ring – Our apparition kills for killing sake… Eastern ghosts have a purpose, and the purpose in Carnival of Souls is to bring Mary to the afterlife.

NOTE: I do realize that there is an existing Carnival of Souls remake, but this movie has very little to do with the original other than the twist ending. My proposed movie will be significantly more faithful to the original.

Key Plot Changes from the Original

For those of you not familiar with the original Carnival of Souls, you can find a detailed plot outline here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Souls

• [1]In the original movie, Mary and her friends go off the bridge because they are drag racing. I’d like to make the remake a bit more modern – Instead of Mary and her friends drag racing, they are travelling over a bridge at night when a Japanese girl (long black hair, naturally), runs in front of their car. They swerve to avoid her, and as a result, careen off the bridge. There are two reasons why I don’t want them drag racing: First, the only people who still drag race in movies are part of The Fast and the Furious. ;) Secondly, (and more importantly), I want to use the girl on the bridge as a way to introduce them to the main antagonist (plus Mary is less implicated in the deaths of her and her friends).
  
  [2]Instead of being haunted by the omnipresent “Man,” Mary is haunted by Aimi Hayashi, the girl who caused the crash in the opening scene. Aimi is the classic Onryō, thin, long black hair, who serves not only as a nod to Eastern spirits but also a red herring. As Mary is being haunted by Aimi, she researches the girl on the bridge and finds out that the death was a suicide attempt and that Aimi was always viewed by her family and friends as “troubled.” Mary believes, through her research, that Aimi is haunting Mary because she hit her with her car. Of course, the actual reason why Aimi is there is to bring Mary into the afterlife since she did, indeed, die in the car crash. The “twist” isn’t that Mary is being haunted because she killed Aimi; Mary is haunted because she is dead and doesn’t know it.
  
  Another note about Aimi is that I would like to employ the same type emphasis on haunting foley work that is typical of Shimizu’s work when Aimi is present. Instead of the creepy throaty rattling of The Grudge, the creepy sound effect that will accompany Aimi is the scratching of metal, like a rusted door being pried open (because – REVEAL! – The final scene where the spirits are closing in on Mary, the metal screeching sound almost becomes unbearable as they close in on her, fade to black, and then fade up on the car being fished out of the water and the door being pried open, making the same sound, and revealing Mary within it).
  
  [3]In the original Carnival of Souls, Mary works at a church playing the organ. In the remake I still want to use music as a vehicle for mood, but I want to get her out of the church and instead working in a private retirement home. She plays the piano at the retirement home. Conveniently, Mary finds out that Aimi’s grandmother is in the home, so Mary can find out about Aimi’s history through speaking with her grandmother. I also think that a retirement home is a good backdrop for a supernatural horror movie since death is always present there – It would provide a good backdrop because at no point is Mary certain whether or not she is in the presence of live inhabitants or ghosts.
  
  [4]The Original takes place in Utah but I would like to place the remake in Coney Island, making the amusement park the location of the climactic scene at the end.

Plot Outline


The movie opens with Mary and her friends at the Amusement Park Dreamland on Coney Island – It is night and the Carnival lights up the sky with signs, noise, and laughter. They ride the Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, and go through a cheesy Dark Ride/haunted house, complete with fake ghouls popping up at them (there is a nod to the original where one of the fake ghouls looks exactly like The Man, who reaches out toward Mary in the car).

When it’s time to go home, Mary Henry takes the wheel of her car with one of her friends in the front and one in the back. As the pass over a bridge, she sees a girl run out in front of her. She swerves to miss the girl, and accidentally careens off the bridge. The following morning, police spend hours trying to drag the water for the car without success. Then, Mary miraculously comes out of the water. She cannot remember how she survived the crash or where the car is.

Mary goes home to rest. She lives at a private retirement home, where she also works playing the piano and conducting music therapy for the inhabitants. Almost immediately, Mary starts to see Aimi, first in the back of the room where she plays piano for all of the residents. Upon seeing Aimi, Mary almost immediately starts to go into a trance, her music becoming eerie and haunting until Madame Louise, owner of the home, stops her and tells her to leave and get some air.

Mary goes to the bus stop and decides to take the bus to the boardwalk. On the bus, the music is similar to the haunting tune that she was playing in the retirement home. She sways back and forth almost in a trance. Across the seat from her is a human blockhead. He looks at her, smiles, and then drives a nail into his nose with a hammer. Mary looks away in horror, out the window, and she is horrified with Aimi suddenly staring back at her. The music turns into the screeching sound of rusted metal on rusted metal as Aimi opens her mouth. Mary leaves the bus in horror.

After a few more appearances from Aimi, Mary decides to research recent obituaries on Coney Island. She discovers that the day after her crash, Aimi Hayashi was found dead. Interviews with police and family assume that she committed suicide. One of the interviews is with Aimi’s grandmother, Maiko Hayashi and Mary realizes that Maiko is a resident at the retirement home. Mary pays a visit to Maiko and pays her respects and asks about Aimi. Maiko says that Aimi was always a troubled girl who had a tough childhood and then also tells Aimi about the Japanese Onryō, who died violent deaths who haunt the world and she hopes that Aimi found peace in her last hours. Maiko also says that not all Onryos realize that they are dead and that their anger and desperation overshadows this reality.

At this point Mary thinks that Aimi is seeking vengeance on her for killing her when she starts to see other corporeal apparitions. First, she sees her friends who were in the car with her. Then, when an old man dies at the retirement home, she sees him playing the piano one night, the same haunting tune that had entranced her.

Finally, Mary comes into the common room one day and to her horror, she is invisible and inaudible to everyone in the room. She screams and plays the piano but no one reacts to her presence.

(TBC...)