OVERALL:
BLOOD:
BEASTS
BREASTS
Original title: Dead People. Aka:
Revenge of the Screaming Dead,
The Second Coming
Director: Willard Huyck
Writers: Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz
Cast---
Michael Greer ...  Thom
Marianna Hill ...  Arletty (as Mariana Hill)
Joy Bang ...  Toni
Anitra Ford ...  Laura
Royal Dano ...  Joseph Long
Elisha Cook Jr. ...  Charlie
Charles Dierkop  
Bennie Robinson   
Morgan Fisher

Runtime: 90 min
MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973)
  
  This is sort of a zombie movie, written and directed by the people behind "AMERICAN GRAFFITI" and
"HOWARD THE DUCK". I say 'sort-of', because it's not the kind of zombie movie you'd expect. In fact, it's
not even really a zombie movie, but people persist in calling it that, so for the sake of continuity I will
continue to keep the lie going. Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you why this really isn't a
zombie movie. It's not a bad movie (it's not good, either), but it's not a zombie film.

  Arletty, a young woman who seems not only ditzy but out of touch with reality somehow, heads to Point
Dune, a seaside town in California that her artist father has decided to retire to. She received a letter
from him warning her to stay away and in horror movie rules that means hurry on over! So she arrives at
his beachfront condo and finds him missing. She does some investigating and finds out that slick
lothario Thom (played by female impersonator Michael Greer, noticeably unfeminine her) and his two
tagalong groupie sluts (if you can get'em, why not bring them along) have also asked around about her
father. They hook up and decide to move in to her father's home together until they can find out what
happened to dear old dad.

  The two girls (one hot and one not) do not like Arletty and rightly so because Thom wants to put the
moves on her and airhead Arletty (there is something wrong with that girl, she has to be on
anti-depressants or something) is willing and able. This leads the girls to mutiny. The hot one leaves in
the middle of the night, only to be attacked, and presumably killed, by old folks in their Sunday best
because she followed them to the nearest Ralph's supermarket and saw them eating raw meat in the
frozen section. The not hot one goes to see a movie while Thom and Arletty get to know one another
better. There she is surrounded by more creepy-looking old folks and again we can only guess she was
murdered because we only see her get tackled.

  Anyway, Thom disappears to look for the girls and Arletty's dad arrives (played by Royal Dano who
was Gramps in "HOUSE 2") and we soon find out that the town is under some kind of curse because a
man in a black hat walked into town one day and did some crazy shit, then cursed the town and
promised that whenever the moon would turn blood red he would return. That's not word for word, but
that's basically the reason for everyone acting weird (and not like zombies...or dead people, as the
alternate title floating around out there would have you believe). In any case, Thom comes back to find
that Arletty has killed her father because he wanted to eat her (or smack her in her expressionless
face), and the town swarms the condo. She is captured and tied to a post for the man in the black hat,
but manages to escape and heads to the nearest town for help, but they don't believe her and lock her
up in a mental hospital! Hooray!

  The film begins with director Walter Hill (maker of fine films like "THE WARRIORS" and "SOUTHERN
COMFORT") playing a guy running through the streets then being slashed to death by a creepy girl, this
nothing to do with the plot, and feels as if it was added in when the studio saw how slow and boring the
movie was. I appreciate director Willard Huyck employing foreign film techniques to tell his crazy cult
story, but I think the film suffers terrible from a lack of energy. For most of the film the characters sit
around with nothing to do. There is no narrative drive here or any emotional one until the end. And what
the hell was up with that origin story? Some guy on a horse cursed the town and disappeared into the
sea? Why would they worship him? Why would they eat raw meat? This makes no sense, and the
ending doesn't even try to explain it to you. And I know for a fact that shitty love ballad theme song was
forced on them, so I won't hold that against them. It's a good try but, and I hate to say it, this film is a lazy
example of people TRYING to make a horror film.

                                                                                                                    - Jose Prendes
Messiah of Evil (1973)
Seen it too? Let us know what you thought.