My impression of this film is that it could have been remembered as a horror classic with a little bit better execution. Storywise, there's almost enough there to be great, and some of the scenes end up being fairly effective, but there are too many wasted opportunities. A woman arrives in a strange town looking for her father. He's an artist, whose expansive home is filled with striking paintings. The town is eerie, and the people she meets are clearly off. So there is some pretty good atmosphere that is developed. However, clunky direction and lazy techniques, such as narration (which is delievered by MULTIPLE characters), take away from what could have been effective scares. There are scenes, such as the one in the theatre, that build very well, but there are also poor choices, such as taking jarring detours to follow around side characters that we haven't even gotten to know. There were even some moments that could have been fairly shocking, but by the time the movie got to them, the effect was already ruined. Not to mention the weak ending. Can not recommend, unless you just want to observe how not to make a memorable horror movie.
Review of Messiah of Evil
