DVD Collectors Online

Messiah of Evil, a review by Jimmy

Title: Messiah of Evil (1972)

Genre: Horror
Director: Willard Huyck           
Rating: R
Length: 1h29
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Michael Greer
Marianna Hill
Joy Bang
Anitra Ford
Royal Dano

Plot:
A young woman travels to a small California seaside town to visit her father, an artist. When she arrives at his home, she finds him missing and his home filled with numerous paintings of his creation. The woman decides to explore the town to find out what happened to her father and discovers some strange happenings involving the local populous.

I've decided to watch the rest of the movie that are in the 50 movie pack that I've bought in october for the horror marathon, so here we go with the first one. This movie is really confusing at the end I was not sure if it was a cannibal movie or a zombie movie or a possesion movie or a werewolf movie (without the werewolf) or a weird wtf movie. Not that I've not appreciated it, but this is really a strange adventure to follow. The acting is so-so, but many of the actors are familliar  even if the name doesn't ring a bell : Marianna Hill (The Baby), Anitra Ford (Invasion of the Bee Girls), Royal Dano (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), Elisha Cook Jr. (Salem's Lot) and Charles Dierkop (Silent Night, Deadly Night). One albinos actor playing a corpse collector is really frightening, I have no idea of who he is but he had certainly appeared in some other horror movies. One of the killing scene that happens in a movie theatre is perfect : very suspensefull and creepy, in fact this is the best moment in the movie.

Not a great movie (maybe because of the not so great print that I own), but if you don't try to understand what happens you will like it. Finally, don't count on the end to understand what you have just watched this is even more confusing.

Rating :

edit : Does the director name sound familliar to you? He is the director of the infamous "Howard the Duck" 

(From The little known movie review depot on January 22nd, 2009)

The 39 Steps, a review by Rich

39 Steps





Fairly uncomplex Hitchcock thriller in comparison to later efforts, this has all the ingredients of action, dark comedy and suspense to make it work. It is clearly filmed too much within a studio, and you would be disappointed having read the book to see how far this strays from the original storyline, but the interesting camera angles, lighting, lead acting and direction keep this films head above water.
 

(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on April 14th, 2009)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

3.11 Asylum (1997-11-16)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Paul Quarrington (Writer)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), Callum Keith Rennie (Stanley "Ray" Kowalski), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Camilla Scott (Inspector Margaret Thatcher), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Tom Melissis (Detective Dewey), Ramona Milano (Francesca Vecchio), Gordon Pinsent (Fraser Sr.), Dean McDermott (Constable Turnbull), Wayne Robson (Damon Cahill), John Evans (Gus Fillion), Kurt Reis (Eddy Herndorff), Joe Pingue (Sandor), Scott Wickware (Brian Kilrea), Jennifer Dean (Officer Tibbet), Ravinder Toor (Andreas Volpe), Catherine Swing (Shelley Byron)

I like how Ray and Turnbull have to interact with each other.

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on January 3rd, 2010)