For this year’s 31 Nights of Horror Challenge, the Night 24 prompt is Trashy Terror. We watched the movie Mssiah of Evil (1974) on Netflix.
Storyline
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.
‘Messiah of Evil’ excels through its deeply moody atmosphere, mysterious narrative about a woman searching for her missing father, and unforgettable set pieces—particularly the movie theater and supermarket scenes. The dreamlike, surreal quality and suspenseful elements create genuinely frightening moments. However, the film suffers from painfully slow pacing, especially in the first half, and a muddled script with narrative holes. Engagement proves divisive, appealing primarily to cult horror enthusiasts who appreciate atmospheric storytelling over conventional plotting.
Our thoughts on Messiah of Evil (1974)
There were some pretty decent low-budget horror/thriller that came out in the 1960s and 70s.
This isn’t one of them.
The use of extensive voice-over narration by the female lead seems like a way of hiding the lack of quality sound. The acting by most of the supporting characters ranges from bad to embarrassingly bad, as in “If I was one of the cast I’d leave this off my resume”. The first half of the movie is absolutely dreadful in its writing, acting, lighting, sound; you name an aspect of film-making and that would have been bad as well.
3 out of 10 stars
Trivia
The murals in the artist father’s home were painted by Gloria Katz former UCLA roommate Joan Mocine.
As posted on her blog in 2011, actress Anitra Ford writes: “Shot in 1971, this movie was originally titled ‘The Second Coming’. Towards the end of the filming, investors pulled their money out, and the film was never finished. A Frenchman bought the unedited footage, edited it and released the movie under the title of ‘Messiah of Evil’. In 2003, in the horror film genre, The British Film Institute hailed ‘Messiah of Evil’ as ‘a rare work of cinematic genius.'”
Bennie Robinson was unaware that he mispronounced composer Richard Wagner’s name, but director Willard Huyck found the mistake amusing and allowed it to remain in the production.
So what do you think? How many of these scary movies have you seen? Do you have any others to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section and please consider joining our Facebook page, Scary Movies at the Fort. Each October we host the 31 Nights of Horror. Check us out.
Also, be sure to check out our Complete List of Dracula, Frankenstien, Wolfman, and The Mummy, and Universal Monster Movies.
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