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I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for photobooths in cinema for ten years now, and most sequences I’ve come across focus on the photobooth, or at least feature the booth prominently. Carnival of Souls is a film of a different sort, in many ways. It’s a terrifically moody, evocative, singular film (check out the excellent Criterion release on DVD), and for our interest, wins the award for most oblique, obscure photobooth appearance in a film. In one brief shot that lasts just a few seconds, one edge of the end of a photobooth can be seen behind a Williams Titan shooting game. I thought I spotted something when I saw the film screened, and confirmed my suspicions with the DVD.

From the sign on the end of the booth that reads “Take your own miniature portraits / Photos in 2 1/2 minutes,” the “N” of “OWN,” the “S” of “PORTRAITS,” and the “S” of “MINUTES” are barely visible. If you look even more closely, you can see the drying slot at the right edge of the booth.