Christmas Horror Marathon #23
 

Messiah of Evil (1973)

Whilst searching for her father, an artist who was last seen in a small Californian seaside town, a young woman discovers a whole new level of weird shit.

One of the strangest films i've seen for a while, Messiah of Evil really doesn't know what it is. I found parts dull and incoherent and other bits supremely atmospheric and chilling and extremely memorable, such as the visit to the cinema where it slowly fills up with the undead (Sorry, but they weren't zombies) with the shop and petrol station set pieces also indelible.

The film makes great use of the coastal locations and reminded me of the Richard Burton / Elizabeth Taylor film The Sandpiper at times. That's where the film seems so disjointed. No horror film should remind the viewer of a Taylor / Burton romantic movie, yet Messiah of Evil did. However it also reminded me of an ethereal take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers so make of that what you will.

A little like Venom (1971) which i watched a couple of nights ago, Messiah of Evil is a bizarre hotch potch of ideas some which work and others don't, yet is all the same a quite memorable and often haunting viewing experience.

Definitely one to watch a second time.

I'm glad you found it memorable Dem, despite not being completely sold on it.

I absolutely love it. The disjointed nature just adds to the weird, unsettling, dream-like nature.

I loved it personally. I'm also glad they scrapped the idea of having Anakin appear as a Force Ghost. Would've totally ruined it for me to have him appear, especially if he looked like the crazed sexual predator he appeared to be at the end of Jedi.

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Must admit while i do like Star Wars I'm not really a massive fan. I didn't actually see the original trilogy til quite late in the game. 1997,98 maybe. Just always seems that what Star Wars fans want was just more of what they actually liked.

We watched Return of the Jedi the night before Force Awakens and even though i knew it was coming it still seemed silly having Hayden Whatshisface replace the original actor at the end with Alec Guiness and Yoda. Luke would have had no idea what Anakin looked like when he was younger so what was the point?

Very true. Wonder if Lucas thought of cgi'ing a confused expression on Luke's face.

Lucas made the films he wanted to make regardless of what the audience thought. I think he got very lucky with A New Hope. Thing is for some directors sticking to your vision no matter what would be a good thing.

I feel like I haven’t posted in this thread for too long, I’ve been watching things that you all know far too well so it didn’t seem reasonable to post my two pence. Until now.

Over Christmas I watched a bunch of anthology horror movies because I really enjoy ‘Vaults of horror’ and the first 2 Creepshow movies. It’s a mixed bag I’m afraid and any recommendations from you lot wouldn’t go a miss if you think I’ve missed anything special.

The Torture Garden (1967)
This movie is well worth your time if you like this style of storytelling. Very much like ‘Vaults of Horror’ this movie has a series of characters that each have their own film/story. Burgess Meredith does a great job playing a carnival freak show crier – he lures people into his tent for a whipping £5 to be shown how evil they become in the future in an effort to help them change their ways before they live the moments told in the short films. Some mange it and a few don’t. Out of all the movies I think I enjoyed this one the most, the actors are great, the sets are all decorated well enough to keep the pace and style of the themes going and the stories are enjoyable enough that you won’t try and guess the twist.

Scream and Scream Again… (1970)
Lee, Cushing and Price star in this giant mess of a film, the story climaxes to reveal a plot twist that doesn’t make much sense until you research the source material and find out the film was edited to remove the details that reveal the truth about our three main characters…. I want to love these three actors and I do enjoy movies they are in but this film is a good example of big named actors not making great movies. Avoid this at all costs unless you like random unexplained and rather dull movies.

Tales that Witness Madness (1973)
Well I loved this move but not because it was good but because it reminded me of one of my favourite science fiction anthologies ‘Ray Bradbury’s: The Illustrated Man’. Once again we return back to the style of storytelling that I feel lends its self better to anthology horror and that is every character getting their own little film. Thus movie has a nice little twist at the end and also explores some odd subjects indeed. This one is quite sexual but nothing explicit, it’s entertaining and quite worth your time.

Ghost story (1981)
Well this move is like Scream and Scream again in that it has a few different story arcs that do and also don’t flow together which all culminate to a plot reveal that leaves you thinking… why did I just watch that lengthy b*ll*cks?
I will remind you that you watched that toss because the group of well-seasoned actors all lead by Fred Astaire himself do such a fantastic job in this movie that it’s worth your time. Join the guys as they drink and tell horror stories and try very hard to forget what they all did to that woman they knew many years ago. Well worth your time.

That’s my Christmas anthology horror film viewing, again guys and ladies, if you know of any more that I might enjoy let me know.

Dead of Night (1945) and Kwaidan (1964) are two of my favourite horror anthologies.

I've ranked all the ones I've seen here.

I watched Dead of Night and i think i enjoyed it, i haven;t seen Kwaidan so i will check that out Biz, thank you mate.