Messiah of Evil (1974)

From the Box: "Evil is running rampant at a small California village and the poor unsuspecting Marianna Hill is driving straight into hell to find out why she hasn't heard from her father. There is a simple uncomplicatd reason: Zombies have invaded the coastal town and are dining on the naive population. Can anything help the innocent victims? Can anything stop them before they make us the entire main course for dinner? This is a visually haunting and scary film. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! NOT TO BE SEEN ON A FULL STOMACH! "

What You Get: A couple things wrong with this summary. First, it's not zombies invading the town, it's the town going zombie-esque on us. Second, if I see capital letters on the box they best deliver that kind of disturbing imagery. They don't. Not even close. What you get another movie from the 70's that attempts to give you a disturbing mind fuck, but, well, doesn't.

Origin of Zombies: The "legend of the Blood Moon" which causes beyond-weird shit

Zombie Traits: Flesh-eating, dead like appearance

Unzombie Traits: Running, normal (living) movements

The "Heroes": An artist's daughter, a man seeking legends & his two companions.

Zombie Killing Weapons of Choice: Pistols (useless), fire (only thing that works)

The Goals: Escape the town of Point Dune & it's curse.

End Result: Artist's daughter committed, others dead

Zombie Rating: (not zombies but zombie-acting cannibals)

Notes: It's more of people-start-eating-raw-meat-and-human-flesh than dead-walk-the-earth-and-are-hungry-for-flesh type of situation.People act zombie-like and become cannibals (they even eat their own), not really undead at all. They (the cannibals) want to return the "Dark Stranger" (who was a Donner Party survivor), who does return. Also they remain fairly docile during day light, which as any zombie expert knows is never the case.