Messiah Of Evil
Messiah Of Evil (1973) Rewatch? ✅
It’s been a long time since I last watched Messiah Of Evil, not that it’s a film that especially warrants a long gap between watches but it is one for a very specific mood, I find.
There’s some films that I’ll be happier watching a VHS rip of rather than something lovingly restored (apologies to everyone who did such a wonderful, but wasted on me, job of The Bronx Warriors) and then there’s films like Messiah Of Evil with their luscious surrealism and ‘aiming for artfully’ framed shots that demand the very best showing possible. Weirdly, it’s the ones that fall slightly short of the goal I find demand it more, just to give it that extra kick over the line.
As a story, it really doesn’t make much in the way of sense. Things happen, people don’t act and behave like normal humans, plenty is made of the sea, beaches and the moon and the film nestles awkwardly into a slightly belated post hippy, stoner HP Lovecraft thing at times. It is a film heavy on the vibes, not the disarming and disorienting eeriness of say, Lisa And The Devil but something more hallucinatory and dream(nightmare?)like. A stumble through a self inflicted, you could have just not done that and avoided so much trouble, series of situations and then there’s the rat munching, the ghouls and the meat counter. A nightmare cannibal chase in a supermarket to muzak. Bleeding eyes and cultists awaiting the messiah’s return.
The (mainly) leisurely pace means it’s rarely difficult to follow and a lot of stuff that would feel disjointed or make for a difficult watch in other films rarely does here, mainly through its absolute commitment to the mood. I mean, it doesn’t make any more sense as to why anyone talks or behaves as they do, but you can follow its internal logic all fine.
I enjoyed watching it again and it’s definitely one of those films I appreciate more as time passes, but the densely weird mood it asks the viewer to buy into, the moroseness of it all, means it’s one I’m not in the mood for often. Not a slight in the film, more a comment on how few occasions I have in recent years to go and ride along with this sort of thing.
It’s a great film, I like it a lot and would recommend it for the cinema scene alone which is an overwhelming and strange, largely unforgettable, moment that’s one of the few sly laughs in a film short of giggles. But gosh yes, I find I really have to be in the right brain space or it’s wasted, it’s not the stuff of background or comfort watching.
Tonight, it was just the weirdness I needed.