bad moon rising.

Thought I'd better have at least one certified classic in this years 31 Days of Horror and you can do much worse than this beauty.

Enjoy.

 

 

Messiah of Evil (AKA Dead People, 1973).

Dir: Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz.

Cast:  Michael Greer, Marianna Hill, Joy Bang, Anitra Ford, Royal Dano, Elisha Cook Jr., Charles Dierkop, Bennie Robinson and Walter Hill.

"They're coming here. They're waiting at the edge of the city. They're peering around buildings at night, and they're waiting. They waiting for you! And they'll take you one by one and no-one will hear you scream. No-one will hear you SCREAM!"

Our tale of terror opens with Walter Hill - director of The Warriors (no, really) sweatily running thru the narrow backstreets of Anytown USA in the dead of night, pursued by an unseen assailant before reaching a deserted corner and collapsing in a heap.

He probably had a vision from the future of the critical reaction he'd get for Geronimo: An American Legend which, to be fair would floor anyone.

Suddenly the gate of a nearby yard opens and a young horse-faced girl pops out and takes Walter's hand leading him into the yard and to the swimming pool where he splashes his face in an attempt to calm himself.

As he turns to thank the girl she pulls out a cut-throat razor and - yes - cuts his throat. 

Ouch.

"Howdy neigh-bour!"

And with that we jump (cinematically not literally mind) to the local insane asylum, where we find Arletty (Hill from Blood Beach, The Baby and High Plains Drifter among other classics), a young woman who was found wandering the highway after she'd gone missing searching for her estranged father.

And so begins our story good and proper (via wibbly wobbly flashback effects) with Arletty traveling to the beach-side town of Point Dune before stopping for directions at a local gas station where broken nosed attendant Bob (Dierkop from Star Trek) nervously fills her tank (ooeerr) before warning her away.

As she drives off a blood red pick up arrives, driven by a scary albino bloke (Robinson, father of Anne) and filled with corpses.

It'll come as no surprise to find that Bob soon joins them.

Arriving in town Arletty soon settlles in to her dad's frankly fantastically decorated beachfront house - filled as it is with wall to wall murals of people, streets scenes and even a painting of an escalator with the whole thing set off with a floating bed (on chains) in the middle of the main room.

Seriously the house is literally a character in it's own right, kudos to art director (and brother-in-law of David Lynch) Jack Fisk, he of Phantom of The Paradise, Mulholland Drive and Playstation 2: The Third Place fame (among others) - probably one of the most incredible production designers ever AND he's married to Sissy Spacek.

No I'm not jealous at all.

Anyway, back to the film where, after speaking with a local (blind) art dealer and her camp/creepy son, Arletty is told that a visiting art collector and suave man about town named Thom (Greer from The Gay Deceivers and the Don Johnson starrer The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart) has also been inquiring into the whereabouts of her father in order to not only buy some of his work but learn more about the towns dark past and legends.

Seems legit.

And with that she heads to the local motel to pay him a visit, where she finds Thom sprawled across a bed with his two female 'companions', Toni and Laura (Unwell favourite, star of Night of The Cobra Woman and Peggy Lee Brennan alike Bang alongside Invasion of The Bee Girls star Ford) who are busying themselves drinking and smoking as the local homeless man Charlie (screen stalwart Cook Jr. who) recounts the horrible history of Point Dune.

 

Those parties your mum and dad used to have when they sent you to bed early.

Overpowered by the combine stench of Thom's aftershave and Charlie's piss-stained trousers Arletty makes her excuses and leaves only to be cornered by Charlie in the stairwell where he informs her that her father is still alive, but that he has changed and that that if she loves him, she must kill him and burn his body. 

Which is nice.

And with that Arletty goes to do a wee bit of shopping leaving poor Charlie to be butchered (to death) offscreen.

 

Thom: He's got something to put in you.

 

Returning to her dads house later that afternoon and with a huge baguette under her arm Arletty is surprised to find not just Thom but also his lady friends laid out on the sofa and scoffing all her biscuits.

This odd turn of events gives Thom ample opportunity to attempt to persuade Arletty to let him have a fiddle in her pants which in turn gives Laura a reason to jealously storm out of the house and hitch a ride into town with Mr albino eventually ending up in an empty supermarket where she's stalked around the shelves before being overpowered by and eaten by the townsfolk in the fabric conditioner section.

"Are you local?"

Back at the house Thom and Arletty are busy reading her dads diaries for more information on the blood moon, whilst Toni sits about complaining smoking and flashing her arse at anyone who cares to notice.

But all this bum baiting and book reading is cut short when the local police turn up to inform Arletty that her dads body has been found on the beach, crushed under the collapsed remains of a childrens climbing frame.

 

Joy Bang: Arse.

 

Aretty is not convinced tho' as her dad had well manicured hands and the corpse has big fat sausage fingers and with that her and Thom decide to search for him down the back of the sofa whilst Toni decides to go into town to watch a movie.

In this case the 1974 western Gone with the West.

Sitting alone in the cinema Toni fails to notice as the townfolk - all bleeding from one eye - slowly and silently take their seats around her, waiting for the film to end before circling her and eating her whole.*

 

As night falls the blood moon rises and the remaining town's residents transform into flesh hungry ghouls, Arletty and Thom listen intently to a recording of Charlie retelling the story of a literal Messiah of Evil who visited the town a century before - a former minister and a Donner Party survivor who arrived to proclaim a new religion as the moon turned blood red and the townsfolk began hungering for human flesh before walking into the ocean vowing to return this very night to lead his flock to freedom.

And with that Thom realises that Toni is missing and heads out to save her, soon finding himself dodging cannibalistic townies and riot police as the whole town is quickly engulfed by carnage and bri-nylon slacked ghouls.  

 A wee bit like Dudley town centre on a Saturday night.

Back at the house Arletty is (finally) visited by her father, who begs her to leave and warn the world about Point Dune's curse before attempting to kill her as his cannibalistic urges take control.

Arletty responds by stabbings him with a pair of rusty garden shears before setting fire to him just as Thom returns. 

But it appears to be too late for Arletty, as she's already bleeding from her eye,  complaining about being unable to feel pain or the cold and puking up worms but Thom is convinced he can save her so the pair head out toward the coast in the hope of evading the townsfolk and finding help.... 

 

Most famous for appearing on a marquee in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz's classic Messiah of Evil is, alongside Carnival of Souls, one of the greatest low budget horror shockers of all time.

Mixing the haunting feel of Edgar Allan Poe with the cosmic horrors of HP Lovecraft and undead vibes of George A Romero the pair deliver a film that is as surreal and disturbing as it is scarily unsettling.

Even some of the 'non'-performances from certain members of the cast seem to suit the whole wild endeavor and the set design, lighting and art direction rival Mario Bava at his best at times.

Seriously it's that good.

Supermarket Sweep.

Playing out like some drug induced fever dream, the films lack of logic and reason only adds to it's impact and its influence can be found in everything from Twin Peaks to The League of Gentlemen with its 'special stuff' obsessed face bleeding towns folk and stilted almost stage performances and the aforementioned cinema scene, alongside Laura's stalking thru' the supermarket are two of the most effective and unnerving scenes in horror history.

What more can I say?

If you've not seen it, go watch it now and thank me later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*No they don't spit that bit out.