Messiah of Evil (with Victor Putinier)

Joining Josh and Andrew this week, Washington University PhD Candidate Victor Putinier takes them down to post-Summer-of-Love California for 70s cult horror classic Messiah of Evil. Giddily getting into Gloria Katz and William Huyck’s “California gothic”, the trio voice their admiration for a film that refuses to draw a clear line in the sand, from its unfinished production, subversion of zombie horror, and somehow doing its own thing while learning from the seemingly disparate works of Italian masters Mario Bava and Michelango Antonioni. 

Then, they have One More Thing, recommending the new album The Spiritual Sound from death metal band Agriculture, as well as continuing their talk of California Gothic with the 1970 adaptation of The Dunwich Horror.

On the next episode, our hosts decide to give themselves a challenge. Venturing further back in film history, Josh and Andrew will pick out movies from the silent era, starting things off with F.W Murnau’s The Last Laugh. Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.