If you love John Jarratt in Wolf Creek, love monster movies, practical monster effects and love Australian horror movies then you might be interested in this one.
Good cast with Bill Moseley, Roger Ward, Nathan Jones and even Ernie Dingo.


I had bought the Mill Creek Chilling Classics 50 movie pack a few years ago and I had noticed that Messiah of Evil (1973) was included in it but for one reason or another I never wanted to watch it. Fast forward to last years October Challenge and I was running out options to watch - so I half-heartedly decided to watch it. Well, needless to say, I didn't regret it, and even tho the copy wasn't the best in the world - it didn't damper my enjoyment of it, far from it. It was a great find and if I were to compile a Top 10 of my favorite horror films of the top of my head, then this would undoubtedly make the cut.
Messiah of Evil is about a young woman who searches for her missing father after he abruptly and unexpectedly stops communication with her. When she arrives at a picturesque seaside home, where her father lived, she finds that the residents of the town are bizarre. She arrived with a hippie couple who are curiously attracted to the strange town. Together, the soon find out that the town is crawling with a flesh-eating cult.
There are a few unforgettable scenes that are genuinely scary that leave an expression: like the supermarket scene and, of course, who can forget the movie theatre scene, both outstanding. The director, Willard Huyck, I have to say does a really splendid job in creating this almost dream-like vibe for the film and it doesn't let up. It is psychedelic. The story kinda reminded me of an old H.P. Lovecraft tale. The atmosphere is unrelentingly grim and I can only describe it as intense and an nightmarish dread. It is creepy as hell and it is full of very strange and memorable characters.
What I like most about it - is it's ambiguity. We're never terribly sure if the "creatures" are zombies, ghouls, vampires or just cannibals or something else and no loose ends are tied by the end of the film either. It is shamefully still obscure among the numerous bad low-budget drive-in horror flicks of the 70's, it doesn't deserve it. I seen it late at night and I was pretty tired but I will never forget it. Messiah of EviL is one of a few horror movies that I truly found scary and I seen a lot. A masterclass in lingering dread. I rate it a 9.
By the mid-2000's, Chris Seaver's movie career was not only going strong, but it was actually evolving into something more. By this point, he had gained a healthy fanbase, created his own Kevin Smith/Troma-esque universe, and of course, upgraded to something more resembling film. Still far from "making it", Chris Seaver had still managed to survive the dark ages of SOV and went on from there. I think it's safe to say Seaver's peak was in the late 2000's, when movies like Terror At Blood Fart Lake and Deathbone came to be. As much as he improved his craft and moved up in the Z-movie world, the pressures of dealing with studios and the disappointments of certain films not turning out how he envisioned, got to Seaver, leading to the end of his long-running Low Budget Pictures Company, which everyone had seen as synonymous with Chris and his recurring characters. After filming one final epic, Low Budget Pictures was no more. The end of an era, but not the end.
Seaver wasn't about to throw in the towel, as he already had plans for something new to rise from the LBP ashes. Well, maybe "new" isn't the right way of putting it. In 2012, a new company was formed. Warlock Home Video was to be the successor to LBP. While Seaver didn't all together quit what he had been doing, Warlock was to offer something new. Warlock movies were to be 80's SOV throwbacks. Not only that, but they were to be portrayed as "lost" SOV classics, while Warlock itself being portrayed as a long-defunct company, now enjoying a second life. He may have survived the dark ages, and flourished in the 2000's, but Chris Seaver more or less bailed on the current decade, traveling back to a happier time, when movies like this were appreciated. Call it "devolving" if you want, but if Chris Seaver is happier in the 1980's, then, good for him!
Today, we're going to talk about one of the dumbest, one of the most pointless, one of the most 80's flicks that nobody has ever heard of. The perfect example of what Chris Seaver was going for at the time: More fun and less pressure. Clearly, that's what Stoinky Beach was all about. The root of its existence, I mean. The actual movie is one big hard-on for the 80's. Story be damned. Stoinky Beach insists that "It's the 80's and we're having fun!". The man who once played Teenape, Casey Bowker, stars as the recently-dumped Rick, whose girlfriend has up and decided she's done taking a backseat to Rick's friends. It's hard to not sympathize with Ariel, as Rick does only seem to care about drinking beer and eating Bratwurst with the same three guys. Though, they are good friends, I'll admit. The bros are immediately there to pick up the pieces by insisting they spend the day at Stoinky Beach. This beach is made out to be like Muslim-Heaven with the 72 virgins and whatnot. Except the virgins are replaced by sluts who are all drunk and down to fuck. That's what Rick needs. That's what they all need. Luckily, they all totally have each other's backs to the max.
In true 80's movie fashion, the bros meet an alien named Blumpy, played by LBP legend, Josh Suire. Blumpy has traveled to Earth in order to spread the message of love, or something like that. After making fast friends with Rick and the bros, Blumpy decides his mission is to reunite Rick and Ariel. Easier said than done as Ariel also has a group of friends who thinks Stoinky Beach is the answer. Ariel's friends insist that finding a hard, throbbing cock to choke, on will get her over Rick in no time. As Ariel gets cozy with some Solar Shade wearing beefcake with VD, Blumpy has a few tricks up his sleeve to shift things in Rick's favor. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say this: When it's all said and done, all the bros will have eaten shit straight out of Blumpy's ass. A twist which sums up this movie as good as anything else.
Sure. Such a movie was not exactly expected at this point in Chris Seaver's career. Stoinky Beach may be considered low brow even compared to his "Mulva days", but I can dig it. I can dig the 80's love and I can dig this clever attempt Seaver made at getting back to his roots. Hell, I can even dig how they didn't so much as attempt to make it out like there were people at this "happenin' beach". Say what you will about the abysmal quality and questionable story, you won't find a more authentic throwback. Stoinky Beach captures everything it's attempting to capture.
I want to see The Strangers: Prey at Night, not because I liked the first one at all, but simply because it's white trash horror in a mainstream cinema. We had to have this standee removed because of a single complaint. ๐
I just started watching Jean-Claude Van Johnson this afternoon. Two episodes in and I'm already hooked. In the show, Jean-Claude Van Damme portrays a fictional version of himself who's both an actor and a spy. Because he's egotistical and kind of a dumbass, he's not very good at either job, frequently screwing over himself and others.