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Watch free Carnival of Souls 1962
The full film, free and legal: public domain in the United States.
After surviving a car that plunges off a bridge, a church organist moves to a new town in Utah and finds she can't fit back into ordinary life. A pale, grinning man keeps appearing to her, and an abandoned lakeside pavilion seems to be calling her back. Made by an industrial-film director from Kansas with a few thousand dollars, it plays more like a bad dream than a monster movie: long silences, an eerie organ score and faces that look subtly wrong. It flopped on release, then became a cult favourite that directors still name as an influence on everything from Night of the Living Dead to modern indie horror.
Watch it if you like slow, dreamlike horror over jump scares, or you're a fan of The Twilight Zone.
Why is it free?
Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain.
Last checked 2026-11-01; re-checked every week. Own rights in this film or this copy? Email hello@movietrailer.channel and we'll take it down while we look into it.
Questions
Is it legal to watch Carnival of Souls for free?
Yes, in the United States. Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain. We only play it to visitors in the US because copyright rules differ from country to country.
Where does this copy come from?
It plays from the Internet Archive, a non-profit library that hosts public domain films. We embed the plain original, never a restored, colourised or re-scored version, because those can carry new copyright.
How long is Carnival of Souls?
1h 23m.
- Released
- 1962
- Runtime
- 1h 23m
- Directed by
- Herk Harvey
- Starring
- Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Herk Harvey
- Genre
- Horror
- Sound
- Original soundtrack
