My last post, on July 14, talked about the upcoming "Svengoolie" screening of "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken," which was definitely NOT one of 1965's gems, like "The Sound Of Music," or "Doctor Zhivago." It is not even worth talking about, except to say it proved that Don Knotts was very good at being Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," and that was it. When the Fife persona is expanded, as here, into a two-hour film, the stretch is interminable.
Inevitably, "Sventoonie's deconstructed film, 1973's "Messiah Of Evil," was the better part of the evening. It was also--but wait, girls, that is for another post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember the Los Angeles Christmas sequence in 1977's "Annie Hall," seen from a car window, as it drives past a movie theater showing "House Of Exorcism?" "Messiah Of Evil" should have been on a double bill with that.
Of course, nobody in this film went anywhere, career wise. But it has an interesting visual style, and a plethora of stylized color I could see influencing David Lynch. Aside from that, the story is sub-par. A young woman goes to a seaside coast California town, searching for her missing artist father. She happens on a cult of the undead, and the film ends with a plot twist going all the way back to 1919's "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari."
Infinitely better than "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken."
And just who or what is the "Messiah Of Evil?" Find that one out for yourselves, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh perhaps it’s another name for “anti christ”?!!
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. I never
thought of that. But you can be
sure if "Sventoonie" had not featured
it, I still would never have heard of this
film.