Messiah Of Evil For Your Old School Horror Campaign

Messiah of Evil is a 1973 horror cannibal zombie cult flick that used to grace my VCR on a Saturday evening at about two or three am shift over in Boston at the video store I worked at. 

Its a damn strange flick that has a bit in common with lots of later 80's horror films. It was done by the same folks who did Howard The Duck. Don't let that put you off. There is a hell of a lot to mine in this trashtastic film.

The plot according to wiki:

A young woman named Arletty (Marianna Hill) drives to the beach town of Point Dune, California, to visit her estranged father, an artist. She finds his house, abandoned. He left a diary in which he addresses her specifically. In it he complains about darkness consuming the town, and horrible nightmares he is having, and implores Arletty to never, ever look for him. His letter tells her to talk to the owner of the art gallery, who sells his paintings. The gallery owner says he has none of her father's paintings, does not sell them, no one ever comes in looking to buy his works, and says he doesn't know where he went. He says Point Dune is 'an artist colony', and he only vaguely remembers her father (his paintings are eerie pop art portraits of groups of people in black, white, and gray, standing; the men are always dressed in black suits, white shirts, and black ties, like dead men at a funeral). It is never clear if these are townspeople, or figures from his visions, or both.

By chance, Arletty meets a Portuguese-American aristocrat Thom and his two extremely provocative, groupie-like female companions, Toni and Laura. They are drinking, smoking, and walking around in states of undress, except for the man. He always wears an ivory three piece suit, 24 hours a day. He is fascinated by the town, and the legend that a blood moon rises above it periodically, and darkness then consumes the town. Back at his motel, he is interviewing Charlie (played byElisha Cook, Jr.) a village idiot/'wino'-type character. He tape records his bizarre rants. Charlie speaks at length about 'the blood moon' and 'the dark stranger' and how he has lived through both. He says very soon it will be the 100 year anniversary of the first appearance of the 'dark stranger', he will return, the moon will turn red, and the town will be overrun with evil. He says the stranger's followers do not kill him as they think he is a harmless hobo—they let him sleep on the sidewalk undisturbed every night. Charlie warns Arletty about her father, he says he is 'one of them' now, and must be killed, but with fire, as only fire will do the job. Moments later he is murdered off screen. Thom tells Arletty he also went to the gallery, and saw one of her father's paintings in the window.

The man and his women are kicked out of the motel, supposedly because the police questioned them about the wino, and it bothered the management (all the police in town are 'normal' and clueless about the vampires massing at night). They all move in together, at Arletty's father's house. Each night at the house, strange things happen, shadows crawl about on the skylights, and Arletty reads more of the diary. In it, her father reveals his body temperature is 85 degrees. This proves he is dead, but thinking and moving about, and suggests the local vampires are fully sentient and aware of what they do, and only Arletty's father feels remorse and is actively fighting his 'condition'. Meanwhile, each night, creatures gather on the beach in front of bonfires, staring straight up at the moon. The locals call it 'The Waiting'. These 'vampires' will eat anything: dead vampires, dead people, live people, live animals, etc. Each day 'order' returns to Point Dune.

These vampires are especially interested in eating Arletty, Thom, Toni, and Laura. First to die is Laura, devoured inside a Ralphs supermarket, in one of the film's two semi-famous scenes. Next to die is Toni, in the other semi-famous scene, she is literally devoured in a movie theater filled with blood red seats and greenish vampire-like creatures. These 'things' act like vampires, bite their victims necks, but then eat them like George Romero's zombies. The night Toni is eaten alive, Thom races downtown, realizing she is in danger. But he's too late. Things quickly get completely crazy as the 'blood moon' rises, every resident turns into a monster, and the titular Messiah of Evil - the dark stranger, a former minister, and a Donner Party survivor from the late 19th century turned vampire/cannibal, returns. He says he has come to lead his people up the coast and inland, to spread his 'religion'. Thom gets bitten on the neck, and then suddenly two policemen in riot gear drive up, and fire their guns into a swarm of townspeople/vampire/zombies; however one of them suddenly begins to bleed, causing his now-former partner to shoot him and flee. Undaunted, the undead cop shoots his former ally and he and the other vampire/zombies go to feast on his flesh.

Thom drives to the beach house, but Arletty is half-crazed; she is cold, cannot feel pain, thinks she may be dead or un-dead...she even finds a bug crawling around in her mouth and immediately vomits up various beetles, mealworms and an anole. Startled by Thom, she stabs him with garden shears. Later bandaged up and ready to go, the two of them flee to the beach. It is swarming with the ersatz vampires. They swim out to the breakers. Thom drowns, but Arletty survives. Instead of being eaten, she is tied up, to be 'sacrificed to the Messiah'. Instead of killing her, he turns her loose, and tells her to spread word of his religious movement throughout California and the world. Of course, once she is freed Arletty tries to spread word of the menace and of his cult. This causes her to be locked up in an insane asylum. She is the woman seen dancing in the hallway at the beginning of the film. Each day, all day, she sits in the sun painting. But she says she is really waiting for, and dreading the day the Messiah and his followers come to her asylum, and she is taken away to live forever as his bride.

Here's the Full movie 

Using Messiah of Evil For Your Old School Horror Game 

I've used this little gem of a movie time and again when a weird 70's style location is needed. The beach town of Point Dune, California, has this weird "Silent Hill" vibe going on with the whole "Blood Moon" business. "Point Dune is 'an artist colony', and he only vaguely remembers her father (his paintings are eerie pop art portraits of groups of people in black, white, and gray, standing; the men are always dressed in black suits, white shirts, and black ties, like dead men at a funeral). It is never clear if these are townspeople, or figures from his visions, or both." 

In Call of Cthlhu and Kult, Dune Point  is more then simply some "artist's colony" Its a location that has been lost to the pages of history and now belongs as a bauble to some ancient cult of evil.
 There are lots of weird props that seem to float through the movie. The diary of  Arletty's father and how it recounts how he feels remorse and is actively fighting his 'condition'. Meanwhile, each night, creatures gather on the beach in front of bonfires, staring straight up at the moon. The locals call it 'The Waiting'. These 'vampires' will eat anything: dead vampires, dead people, live people, live animals, etc. Each day 'order' returns to Point Dune. This is all very Kult like where the illusion of reality is shattered and we've got a real cult of  vampire like undead crossing the line and waiting for the next victim to come into their midst.
Then there is also the Nyarlathotep figure of the Messiah of Evil. Could he be simply another form of the god? 

"The titular Messiah of Evil - the dark stranger, a former minister, and a Donner Party survivor from the late 19th century turned vampire/cannibal, returns. He says he has come to lead his people up the coast and inland, to spread his 'religion'"

How To Use Messiah of Evil 
There are at least three ways that I've used this film. Number one is to use this film with a game like Dark Conspiracy and pick up the action right at the end of the film. Arletty is in an asylum and waiting for the return of her dark master. She actually is undead the PC's are brought into the case. The Dark Messiah is on the move and must be stopped.  Arletty is an undead NPC waiting for an accident to happen. 

Option number two is use the  beach town of Point Dune, California as it own self contained reality and the PC's stumble into this place thing of the Old Ones. This is the option that I've found that works the best for a group of six or more players. Best played with CoC. 

The third option is to have the world end with the madness of the Dark Messiah and bring the characters into the path of this entity and his cult of madmen and bastards.
The stats a ghoul cult from CoC are good for this. The vampires from Kult offer endless options. OD&D and AD&D have ghouls and they seem to fit the bill here. Each day 'order' returns to Point Dune. And this can be used as a hook. If the party gets caught in the town then all bets are off.
 The movie has some of the bizarre characteristics of "Carnival of Souls". The idea that the web of the undead crosses not simply lines but blurs into true religion. 
This film could in fact be connected with the realities of the Tall Man. The Phantasm films and this one were all entwined in a mega campaign I ran in the 90's. 

Why use Messiah of Evil? 

Unless your really into horror movies this one isn't even that well known. The sheer cheesy supernatural insanity of this film reminds me of " In The Mouth of Madness". That film is way too well known these days and in fact I've used this film as a bridge gap to the events of  "In The Mouth of Madness". 
The fact that this film is so surreal and bizarre works for portraying the impersonal insanity of the Mythos. 
The other reason is the tucked away, dreamlike quality of this small town. You can have all of the qualities of a sheer mad run without the issue of wrecking your regular horror campaign. 
This location also pervades a perfect place to get one of your PC's infected with the vampire madness that seemly hovers over everyone in Point Dune.