Messiah of Evil (1974)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Dume Patrol

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Beautiful young Arletty (Marianna Hill) travels to Point Dume (yes, just like it sounds) to find her missing artist father. She finds his house abandoned and a diary warning her of dire things to come. She meets a well-dressed hippie, Thom (Michael Greer) and his two sexy girlfriends, Toni (Joy Bang) and Laura (Anitra Ford), who help themselves and move into Arletty's father's house. Characters eventually turn into zombies and/or vampires, and there's a "messiah" who returns after 100 years to lead his people into, I guess, the future? Messiah of Evil was written, directed, and produced by married couple Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who went on to write American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and to direct Best Defense and Howard the Duck. (Like the Coen brothers, they shared duties, but only Huyck took a director's credit and only Katz took a producer's credit.) The movie has a great look, like an old Italian giallo, but it's pretty dull. The best thing about it is the father's creepy artwork, consisting of full-sized figures in suits and dark, staring eyes, as well as forced-perspective images of things like bridges and escalators.

Radiance Films has released the restored movie on a new 2023 Blu-ray, including bonuses like a commentary track by critics and horror experts Kim Newman and Stephen Thrower, a 37-minute podcast interview with Huyck by Mike White, a new 57-minute documentary, "What the Blood Moon Brings," and a 22-minute visual essay by critic Kat Ellinger, plus new English subtitles. I was sent only a "check disc," but apparently the official packaging includes all kinds of other goodies.