# Star Wars’ Secret Writers Quietly Made the Strangest, Scariest Zombie Movies of All Time

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/star-wars-secret-writers-quietly-made-the-strangest-scariest-zombie-movies-of-all-time/
- Published: 2026-10-31T10:01:20+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-31T16:04:42+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/messiah-of-evil/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Film, Horror, Offbeat, Weird & Viral

## Key points

- *Messiah of Evil* blends horror styles into an unsettling film.
- Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck wrote and directed it.
- Its crew later worked with acclaimed filmmakers.

## Summary

More than 50 years after its overlooked release, *Messiah of Evil* is being reassessed as an unusually inventive horror film that brings together many styles of the genre. Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, later known for writing *American Graffiti*, *Temple of Doom* and *Howard the Duck*, drew on literary and cinematic horror to create a strange, unsettling story.

The film follows Arletty, who visits a coastal town to find her estranged father, and Thom, whose investigation into a local cannibalism legend exposes them to danger. Its low-budget atmosphere is shaped by expressionistic sets, gothic narration and inventive cinematography; crew members Stephen Katz and Jack Fisk later built notable film careers. The article highlights scenes ranging from bloody attacks to zombified townspeople eating raw meat in a supermarket.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.