Messiah of Evil
Jul 13 - Jul 14, 2016
(William Huyck, US, 1973, 35mm, 90 min)
35mm print!
Lovecraftian in tone, this ultra eerie and obscure film takes an idyllic California beach town as its setting for what may (or may not be) a Cannibal or Vampire film. When Arletty arrives looking for her reclusive artist father, she quickly discovers that the town of Point Dune holds a dark secret. The strange and guarded townsfolk speak of the Blood Moon and the coming of their sea-dwelling Messiah. Through her father’s written accounts and her strange encounters with the locals, Arletty witnesses the horrific effects of a spreading plague that is causing its victims to develop a taste for raw meat. Penned by screenwriters Gloria Katz and William Huyck (American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) the story is ripe with allusions to hippie/religious-cult panic, the Vietnam war and the dystopian politics of the day.
"... a brilliant movie which exceeds every other Gothic horror film since the war in terms of narrative ingenuity.” – David Pirie, The Vampire Cinema