Messiah of Evil

(1973) ***

A young woman, Arletty returns home and is searching for her father who missing in a town called Point Dune near the seaside. He sent strange letters to his daughter and she became concerned with his wellbeing. When she arrives in the village, she finds that the people are all weird. They all seem to be walking around in a daze and no one is of any help to her in her search. She finally finds an ultra-cool leisure suit wearing 70’s hipster and his two chickies who are also trying to get away from the zombies and they hold up at her father’s house. They eventually realize they need to get out of town but at this point it’s not such a simple task.

This movie was originally released with the title “Dead People” which doesn’t sound as flashy but really was more true to the film. A nice 70's horror classic, with some original zombie scenes that I can hardly believe have not been duplicated over the years. It's not a Romero type zombie film, the dead are more like an annoyance that the living are trying to avoid. Oh they are flesh eaters, but different, I’m not sure how to describe them, they’re just different.

The plot is weak and confusing, I don’t think we were ever really sure why the whole town turned into zombies. It’s also painfully slow-moving at times, actually most of the first half of the film. However, there are these unique zombie moments I referred to that really stand out.

One woman walks into a grocery store and observes a pack of zombies just casually digging in to the raw meat at the butcher counter. They seem content until they spot something fresher, great scene.

The other is a girl who decides to go to the movies and she’s sitting there alone in the dark theater watching the film. Soon after zombies begin filing into the theater one by one filling up the seats behind her as she cluelessly munches away at her popcorn. By the time she realizes it they are blocking the exits and she is doomed. The last few scenes are the pay off for sitting through the boring beginning segments. Not a bad film when all is said and done.