Messiah of Evil is a 1973 American horror film written and directed by the screenwriting team of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (American Graffiti, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).
After Arletty's estranged artist father, Joseph (Royal Dano), goes missing—leaving behind a cryptic letter asking her not to follow him—Arletty (Marianna Hill) goes against his wishes, visiting the mysterious seaside town of Point Dune to search for him. There, she meets a group of strangers who were all familiar with her father's paintings. But beneath Point Dune's seemingly mundane exterior resides a strange, zombie-like cult.
Elisha Cook Jr. plays a wino who makes cryptic comments to Arletty about how she will have to kill her father with fire.
Tropes featured in this work:
- Bad Moon Rising: The prelude to the hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the 'Dark Stranger', a former minister and Donner Party survivor turned evil being, concerns the maturation of the 'Blood Moon', being a red ring that slowly eclipses the moon as the people of Point Dune, California below turn slowly into insensible, live flesh-eating, cannibalistic, sadistic zombies who bleed from the eyes, ears and mouth as they lose all morality. "Like they were being dragged closer to Hell itself."
- Body Horror: As people transform into some sort of flesh-eating zombie. Arlett's father wrote in his journal about how his body temperature fell to 85 degrees. Arletty starts losing her sense of feeling, and in one scene, vomits up a mess of live lizards, roaches, and worms.
- Bloody Horror: Whenever someone's infected, blood tends to seep out of their pores, be it from their neck or their eyes.
- The Cameo: Walter Hill, who would go on to an illustrious career as a director, plays the man who gets his throat cut by a swimming pool in the opening scene (which has absolutely nothing at all to do with the rest of the movie).
- Cosmic Horror Story: The blood moon heralds the arrival of the plague and the spreading of the dark man's cult, which Arletty speculates he will continue to spread across the country and possibly even the world. And there's nothing that can be done to stop it.
- Cruel Mercy: The "dark man" spares Arletty instead of sacrificing her, knowing that nobody will believe her story and that she'll be institutionalized.
- Dark Messiah: The title character, also referred to as the "dark man". He apparently came to spread his newfound faith after escaping the Donner Party. Said "faith" turns people into slightly more functional zombies at the rising of the blood moon.
- Downer Ending: Well, at the very best, it's certainly not a happy ending. Arletty is forced to kill her own father, Thom just disappears and is presumably murdered by the cult, Arletty herself is spared but institutionalized, driven insane by the events of the film, and the dark man is allowed to continue spreading his flesh-eating cult across the country.
- Horror Hunger: Cultists are ravenous for raw flesh, and will eat it in any form, be it rats they picked up at the beach, meat they find at the supermarket, or any human that crosses their path.
- Kill It with Fire: This is the only way Arletty is able to fend off her crazed, bloodthirsty father. The old wino Charlie appears to have predicted this.
- Lovecraft Country: Point Dune most certainly fits the bill, despite being in California and not New England. Town with a Dark Secret? Check. Weird residents under the influence of an eldritch power? Check. Hell, even the title character comes across as a dead ringer for Nyarlathotep.
- Our Zombies Are Different: It's not clear if the cult are actually zombies, but they seem to be undead and clearly have a taste for raw meat. They do act and look the part, gathering and devouring victims in hordes, but seem to have a degree of sapience, like when they all sit down in the movie theater. Apparently, it entails being infested by another entity, and the transformation isn't complete until after one eats flesh.
- Polyamory: Thom, Toni, and Laura are a throuple. The possibility of expanding the group to four, after Thom obviously takes a fancy to gorgeous Arletty, causes Laura to leave.
- Scenery Porn: The house where Arletty is staying is absolutely gorgeous, whether the lights are on or not. When they are, it's highlighted by a blue light, and when it's not, her father's paintings can be seen in their full glory.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Laura walks out after Thom becomes infatuated with Arletty. She's swarmed by a mob of hungry cultists in the supermarket.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: Arletty wears a very snug sweater in the first part of the film.
- Slashed Throat: The movie opens on a man being lured to a park by a young woman, who cuts his throat with a straight razor. This is totally irrelevant to the rest of the movie.
- Tears of Blood: A telltale sign that someone is becoming one of the dark man's zombies.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When Thom and Arletty swim out to the middle of the ocean, Tom just disappears. Considering that the cult ended up taking Arletty back to shore, it doesn't look good for him.
- Womanchild: Toni acts and dresses rather childishly for her age. She sleeps with a Raggedy Ann doll. Thom lampshades this.Thom: Toni, you're half woman, half child, half wit.
- Zip Me Up: Gender-flipped, as Thom asks Arletty to unzip his vest. It's transparently obvious and she is not fooled, but she does it anyway, and it nearly works.Thom: You don't just unzip a man and say goodnight.
- Zombie Infectee: Late in the film, Arletty starts showing telltale symptoms of... whatever it is that affected the townspeople, but tries to stave it off and avoid eating flesh.
