Carnival of Souls (1962 Herk Harvey)

Ultra low-budget film amusingly has most of the cast also behind the camera! (Also hilariously bad pretend organ playing hands.) I like a low budget film though because you get some innovation, and as no Hollywood producer is telling you what you can and can't do, fresh stuff emerges.

Admittedly you could tell this story (by John Clifford) in half an hour, but it has engaging and effective scenes - for example where heroine Candace Hilligoss 'ceases to exist' and the sound goes (apart from very badly done Foley footsteps), and the ghostly high-speed dead souls dancing. This contrasted against a quite realistic portrayal of small town America, featuring homely landlady, overly zealous priest and randy neighbour. It gives it a welcome off kilter, like a fried egg on a plate without the plate (to borrow Dali).

I would say it clearly appeared in the wake of Psycho, and the constant strange organ music had me thinking more than once of Marienbad.

Why do people say 'a not unengaging film'? In theory it's the same as 'engaging' but it isn't - it has an air of  'could do better' - a negative connotation.