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

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.