Not to be confused with the unpopular 1998 remake, this is one of those flicks that bombed upon release but saw "vindication" on TV. It had a small budget and a short run time, so it must have made for easy distribution. According to the commentary, it stands out from others of its ilk by not really trying to copy anything within the genre. The makers had in mind shades of Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau, who, while prone to dark eccentricity, are not exactly horror/thriller staples.
Mary is the lone survivor among three young women whose car got submerged in a lake, and no one is sure how she made it. Understandably, she moves away afterward, to the vicinity of Salt Lake City, not far from some abandoned buildings that once housed a carnival. Whatever trauma she left behind gets replaced with eerie events, especially the repeated appearance of a ghoulish man whom nobody else notices.
It's worth noting that Mary is a church organist, because organ music features heavily herein, and not just as background. You can probably imagine the ominous sound it takes on, which seems a bit creepier when an expertly played hymn segues into it. Mary can hardly explain that, of course.
The same sort of music overlays a couple of scenes in which Mary hears almost nothing but her own voice. A visual ripple followed by a slight tint signifies a sort of realm shift that ushers in not only selective deafness but the phenomenon of being completely ignored by everyone. At least, everyone ordinary.
What's the situation? Even the interviewed writer refuses to give a definite answer. We eventually learn what the prime stalker and other (rather tastefully) undead-looking figures want with Mary, and it's not hard to guess why. What's not clear is how to designate her status for most of the story.
Mary's personality is pretty unusual, insofar as she shuns social contact most of the time, views her church job as just a job, and insists that she's as unimaginative as they come (tho her doctor doesn't buy it). I first thought that her accident had catalyzed a mysterious change in her behavior, but apparently she'd been like that long before. As rare traits go, they're not very interesting in themselves. They come into play mainly when her apartment neighbor, John, somewhat aggressively courts her. You know she's afraid of her other pursuer when she urges John to stick with her.
The shoestring budget is most conspicuous in the editing. Some of the sound is way out of sync, and not to an enhancing effect like in Village of the Damned. A body that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be truly dead, not undead, moves a little too much. The pacing is unsteady. Also, I can see why neither the director nor the actors gained fame for much else. On the other hand, I can't fault the photography.
CoS may have pioneered psychological horror, but it looks mighty old hat to me now. I could have done with a more involved plotline. At the very least, I would have welcomed more variety to the scares. It doesn't have to be like A Nightmare on Elm Street, never doing the same thing twice, but how many times can we see that one guy's face all of a sudden and get the chills? It might have helped to give us a better idea early on of what kind of threat he posed.
If you decide to rent the Criterion DVD nevertheless, I recommend the commentary, perhaps after you've watched the whole thing once. Just be aware that it's not constant, nor does it pertain much to what's happening at the moment on screen. In fact, an index can point you to each subject's segment and warn you of where some long "silent" stretches are.
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