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Messiah of Evil, 1973
Arletty (Marianna Hill) hasn't heard from her father Joseph (Royal Dano), and so decides to track him down in the small seaside town where he's been residing. Aided only by the content of his letters and diaries, Arletty ends up teaming up with Thom (Michael Greer) and his two groupie/companions, Laura (Anitra Ford) and Toni (Joy Bang). It soon becomes clear that things are not right in this town, where the residents go down to the beach each night and stare into the dark ocean, waiting . . .
Yeah, another great recommendation, ya'll!
Honestly, this film made me think of the kind of stuff that I love about films like Phantasm, where just an eerie shot of an empty street, some spooky color design, and a sound effect of a whistling wind builds a shocking amount of atmosphere. I also loved the touches of the uncanny murals in Arletty's father's home.
In fact, the whole film has a low-key vibe that I really enjoyed. The local eccentric, Charlie (Elisha Cook Jr), tells a story of the "Dark Stranger" and his effect on the town years earlier. The movie trades mostly in a mounting, slow-burn sense of doom and anticipation. Just as the town's residents practice a ritual called "The Waiting", we the audience wait for the entire truth to be revealed.
The characters themselves also seem beset by this feeling of creeping doom and a negative feeling about the ultimate outcome. "We're never leaving this place, are we?" Toni asks at one point, sitting on a bed and playing a game of cards. She says it not as a complaint, but rather as a statement of fact. Arletty narrates her father's journals as the days go by, aware that she is following in his experiences, and yet unable to break herself free from the pattern.
I can see what some folks here said about the ending feeling a bit cobbled together. When you're looking for it, you can feel the way that there's a bit of choppiness to it all. I actually thought it was ending at a certain point, only for there to be about 5 more minutes of epilogue. Yet despite knowing that it was a bit slipshod, I found it haunting and effective. Oddly enough, it gave me similar vibes to the ending of The Beyond.
I didn't really have many complaints here. The film has a slow pace, which I enjoyed but could see others disliking or not having patience for. The horror mainly comes from atmosphere and anticipation, and not so much from grit and gore. There are a few effective sequences of horror, though, even if they are a bit spread out.
Great recommendation!
Messiah of Evil, 1973
Arletty (Marianna Hill) hasn't heard from her father Joseph (Royal Dano), and so decides to track him down in the small seaside town where he's been residing. Aided only by the content of his letters and diaries, Arletty ends up teaming up with Thom (Michael Greer) and his two groupie/companions, Laura (Anitra Ford) and Toni (Joy Bang). It soon becomes clear that things are not right in this town, where the residents go down to the beach each night and stare into the dark ocean, waiting . . .
Yeah, another great recommendation, ya'll!
Honestly, this film made me think of the kind of stuff that I love about films like Phantasm, where just an eerie shot of an empty street, some spooky color design, and a sound effect of a whistling wind builds a shocking amount of atmosphere. I also loved the touches of the uncanny murals in Arletty's father's home.
In fact, the whole film has a low-key vibe that I really enjoyed. The local eccentric, Charlie (Elisha Cook Jr), tells a story of the "Dark Stranger" and his effect on the town years earlier. The movie trades mostly in a mounting, slow-burn sense of doom and anticipation. Just as the town's residents practice a ritual called "The Waiting", we the audience wait for the entire truth to be revealed.
The characters themselves also seem beset by this feeling of creeping doom and a negative feeling about the ultimate outcome. "We're never leaving this place, are we?" Toni asks at one point, sitting on a bed and playing a game of cards. She says it not as a complaint, but rather as a statement of fact. Arletty narrates her father's journals as the days go by, aware that she is following in his experiences, and yet unable to break herself free from the pattern.
I can see what some folks here said about the ending feeling a bit cobbled together. When you're looking for it, you can feel the way that there's a bit of choppiness to it all. I actually thought it was ending at a certain point, only for there to be about 5 more minutes of epilogue. Yet despite knowing that it was a bit slipshod, I found it haunting and effective. Oddly enough, it gave me similar vibes to the ending of The Beyond.
I didn't really have many complaints here. The film has a slow pace, which I enjoyed but could see others disliking or not having patience for. The horror mainly comes from atmosphere and anticipation, and not so much from grit and gore. There are a few effective sequences of horror, though, even if they are a bit spread out.
Great recommendation!