Review: Messiah of Evil (1973)

[Ubiquitous]

You might not know this if you don’t follow me on Twitter but horror is my
favorite genre of film, especially those by Italian directors like Argento,
Bava, and Fulci. Prior to this entry, I think I’ve only highlighted one
horror film, Fade to Black, and that was the first entry in this column. This
week, I thought about another horror film that I don’t see people talking
about too much, Messiah of Evil.

I first watched Messiah of Evil about a dozen years ago. I had just met my
(now) husband and he told me I need to see this film. The copy we watched
looked like a 13th generation video tape dub but that didn’t matter, I was in
love. Over the years, every once in awhile, we revisit the movie. It’s gone
from a totally obscure '70s horror film to one that is now actually available
on Blu-ray through CodeRed.

Arletty (Marianna Hill) is worried about her dad (Royal Dano). He’s an artist
who lives in a seaside town called Point Dune. She hasn’t heard from him in a
while, so she drives down to check on him. She doesn’t find him in his house;
the place looks abandoned. She makes the decision to stay there and check
around the town to find out what’s up.

From the minute she gets into Point Dune, some weird shit goes down. The
streets are empty. At one encounter at a gas station, Arletty witnesses the
attendant shooting his rifle into the darkness. She asks what is happening
and he tells her that it’s only coyotes. She shrugs it off, as you do in a
horror film, and continues on her way.

Arletty begins to ask around town if anyone knows her father or if any has
seen him. She’s sent to this seedy motel to meet someone who might know him.
There she meets the strangest foursome that feels straight out of a Lynch
film. Among the group are Charlie (Elisha Cook, Jr.), Thom (Michael Greer),
Laura (Anitra Ford), and Toni (Joy Bang). Thom will eventually try to help
Arletty find her father, as well as try to get in her pants. Charlie starts
telling the group about all sorts of nutty things, like "there is a blood
moon a’ comin’" and to "beware the dark stranger." Yeah, yeah, yeah, old man,
keep spouting your mumbo jumbo, we aren’t listening to your warnings. Anyway,
at some point the group are thrown out of the trashy place and Arletty
invites them to stay with her at her dad’s joint.

Speaking of her dad’s joint, his place is interior design heaven as far as
I’m concerned. Murals all over the walls, strange furniture, etc. One of the
oddest things, and most impractical, is the bed. It’s hung in the middle of
this giant room from chains on each corner of the bed. The platform itself is
about the same size as a king mattress but it’s only about three inches
thick. The platform has books and plants as well as some sort of padding as
the mattress. What looks cool at first seems like a logistical nightmare. I
mean, imagine trying to have sex on that thing! You’ll know what I mean when
you watch the movie.

Things start going awry for Arletty and the gang. What the hell is going on
here? Why is there is a group of people meeting on the beach staring out into
the sea. What or who are they waiting for? Why are the streets empty at
night? What is killing the people in Point Dune? This movie will make you
think twice about going into a Ralph’s grocery store, that’s for sure.

Without going into too much detail, Messiah of Evil seems to be one of those
films ahead of its time. There are elements in this film that some modern
directors are credited for “innovating”. There are creatures here that don’t
behave like one would expect them to behave. I’m not suggesting that
directors like Zack Snyder or Danny Boyle copied this movie, I’m merely
stating that after watching this movie, it is clear they weren’t the first to
switch-up the way the “infected” behave.

Messiah of Evil is straight-up weird. There are parts of the story that don’t
make sense or aren’t explained completely but that doesn’t matter. Push
beyond that and enjoy this hidden gem from the '70s. If the names of the two
directors sound familiar, that’s because they are the husband and wife team
behind Howard the Duck as well as the screenplays of both Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom AND American Graffiti.

We watched Messiah of Evil via Amazon Prime streaming. Be warned though, this
copy is not remastered in any way. It almost looks like the print we
originally watched back in 2004. It’s available on DVD and Blu-ray as
previously mentioned.

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Let's go Brandon!