Dir. Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck | Now Streaming On: Shudder | Rating: 4/5

I streamed Messiah of Evil on a whim and was pleasantly surprised by this gem of old school trippy arthouse storytelling. The surrealism and political commentary falls in line with the other greats from this era, like Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls.

Nothing about this movie feels quite right, which is what allows its topsy turvy storyline to make sense. We follow Arletty as she scours this derelict artist colony for her father. The town is basically deserted and the only people around seem to want very little to do with her. Along the way, she meets three traveling weirdos – a wannabe aristocrat and his groupies, who begin to unravel the stories from Arletty’s father’s diary.

Regardless of all the psychedelic weirdness happening in the story, the film is gorgeous and almost trancelike to watch. It is clear to see how Messiah of Evil played a role in paving the way for future dream-like, psychedelic horror, especially Suspira. It also makes subtle commentary relevant to the era, like the death of classical art, consumerism, and nihilism.

The deaths in this film are so uncut and unedited, utilizing little to no special effects, it invokes our primal fear of the “other.” We are innately afraid of humans, or humanlike creatures, who are just a little bit “off,” especially if we can’t quite put our fingers on what it is that is off. Messiah plays with what the viewer sees as the other or the outsider, since our main cast is a band of strange characters being pursued by the normal townsfolk, it pokes fun at who we should really be weary of.

At its core, this film is so truly Romero-esque which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. Setting the stage for arthouse of the 21st century, Messiah leaves much of its storyline unanswered, has an interesting start-stop type of pacing, and is stunning to look at. This will definitely not be to everyone’s taste, but I felt obligated to share this hidden gem,

Know Before You Watch: Features blood, death.