mnewton-787-9458 Reviews

Messiah of Evil (1974)

Messiah Overlooked for a Reason

[3/10 · 18 July 2015]

If you overlook the first 40-minutes of the dragging foot of crippled dialogue, narration and senseless jabbering, you may find an entertaining lost episode of Scooby Doo. Correction. Scooby Doo has a more convincing creepy atmosphere. This is a dull, bus ride of underplayed overly dramatic characters. It has the dream-like quality of a bad movie nightmare. One where you're having pee dreams and can't wake up. By the time you finally escape the nightmare, you have wet your bed. Messiah of Evil, a.k.a. Dead People obviously tried to capitalize on the success of Night of the Living Dead, but forgot the most important element...terror. Its attempts at terrifying moments just seem to lie there like the Dead as a Doornail Not-so Living Dead. It has the pacing of a sloth.

The Peace Killers (1971)

Peace Killers is a Cultural Experience of the Past

[7/10 · 17 July 2015]

It's not Easy Rider, but it's an excellent example of a late 60s/early 70s youth culture drive-in movie experience. Terrifying and disturbing with a message of peace that makes the violence even more distressing. The conflict between a life of mindless violence and a life of intellectual peace is not wasted in a thin story. There is a thoughtful intent in the script and the film's direction. The fight scenes were a bit soft, but pacifists don't have that much butt-kicking training. The uses of original songs to convey the inner life or lack of an inner life of certain characters seems corny by today's standards, but the songs themselves are nice. For what it is, it's well done.