Messiah of Evil

Part of the special series NACHTBLENDE

Nachtblende: POPCORN PANIC

‘This is literally a nightmare in cinematic format, insanely beautiful’ noen on Letterboxd

When the moon turns blood red, evil comes... and everyday places like supermarkets and cinemas threaten to turn into bloodbaths. With MESSIAH OF EVIL, Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck have made an exceptional film that is carried by its atmosphere and is more reminiscent of European genre cinema than US zombie films.

A sleepy coastal town with a quirky population that exhibits strange behaviour under a red moon: Joseph Lang (Royal Dano) writes letters to his daughter Arletty (Marianna Hill) from this adopted hometown. When this correspondence becomes increasingly confused and eventually stops altogether, she decides to search for her father. She soon realises that the residents share a secret that is life-threatening for her to uncover...


The directing duo Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck are much better known for their screenplays than for their directorial work. With the scripts for INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and AMERICAN GRAFFITI, the pair are jointly responsible for pop-cultural milestones that have become an integral part of film history. Their feature film debut MESSIAH OF EVIL, on the other hand, is a jewel of North American genre cinema that has always been underestimated; a slow and atmospheric film with breathtaking sound and, above all, production design that makes the most of the reduced number of locations. With its splendid colours, neon-like lighting and somnambulistic mood, associations with similar Italian films of the same decade are quickly made. Although the film would be unthinkable without previous US zombie films.

Of course, the fact that the film only became better known thanks to a brief scene in Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL does not do it justice. A look at the cast & crew reveals a list of soon-to-be legends of film history. In the first scene, for example, the throat of none other than Walter Hill is slit. And the feast for the eyes that MESSIAH OF EVIL represents is largely thanks to Jack Fisk, whose production design has enriched countless films from CARRIE to MULHOLLAND DRIVE and KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.