MESSIAH OF EVIL a/k/a DEAD PEOPLE (1973)

The population of the seaside town of Point Dune has turned into zombie-like beings who bleed from the eyes. (Watching 90 minutes of this thing damned near made me do the same.) The plot also involves something called a Blood Moon, which signals the return of a Dark Stranger from 100 years ago. Each night, the townspeople gather on the beach to await his return. The rest of the time, they're at the supermarket, eating raw meat, or else killing the few people who haven't succumbed to the zombie sickness.

The film also has a running theme of dreams and nightmares. This leads to such dialogue as, “I've been told that nightmares are dreams perverted,” “You're about to awaken, when you dream that you're dreaming,” and, “We sleep, and we dream, each of us dying slowly in the prison of our minds.” The dream references are pointless and only bog down what should have been a simple horror film. I can just hear director Willard Huyck saying, “Scary? Hell no! I want my zombie film artsy, pretentious, and dull.”

Item: At the beginning of the film, a zombie kills the owner of service station. For some reason, his doing so knocks out the building's electricity.

Item: The worst violence takes place off-camera, which makes even the murder scenes come across as weak.

Item: The film attempts irony in the form of a blind art dealer.

Item: Though Point Dune has been zombified for weeks, the supermarket's meat and produce are still fresh.

Item: The whole “Dark Messiah” thing comes off as an afterthought.

Item: The film could have been titled Point Dune or Blood Moon. Either would have been much better than the two feeble names under which it did come out.