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Messiah of Evil

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Messiah of Evil

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Summary

A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father, and her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult. Horror, starring Michael Greer and Marianna Hill

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IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Sean McGeady

Influenced as much by Night of the Living Dead as the works of HP Lovecraft, this early-70s grindhouse flick is an American gothic oddity told with the hazy elegance of its era's lurid Euro-horror. In the coastal town of Point Dune, California, where everything is strange and sour and the reddening moon heralds the coming of the "Dark Stranger", the locals are turning feral. By the time Arletty (Mariana Hill) arrives in search of her estranged artist father, everyone is hungry for flesh. Written, produced and directed by husband-and-wife duo Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the film was left incomplete due to investors pulling their funds before principal photography had finished. But the oblique plot and elliptical editing, necessary to salvage the picture, work in its favour, fostering a nightmare logic that poisons its atmosphere. With standout sequences set in a supermarket and a cinema, this is a lo-fi feast of doomed vibes and nasty violence - one of the under-seen gems of the 1970s.

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6.3/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameArlettyMarianna HillThomMichael GreerLauraAnitra FordToniJoy BangJoseph LangRoyal DanoCharlieElisha Cook Jr

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Crew

rolenameDirectorWillard HuyckDirectorGloria Katz

Details

Languages

English

Guidance

Violence, sexual references

Formats

Colour

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