Intriguing idea but doesn't manage to deliver

(AKA Dead People, AKA Night of the Damned, AKA Return of the Living Dead, AKA Revenge of the Screaming Dead )

Directed by husband and wife team Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (who would later work together on the screenplays for American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). A woman travels to a remote California coastal town to search for her missing father. When she arrives she finds the townspeople behaving oddly, with a desire to consume raw meat - the fresher the better. She finds no trace of her father, but does find his journal, which describes a strange transformation taking place amongst the town's inhabitants - along with his fear that he himself has become infected. As she tries to ascertain what happened to him it becomes increasingly obvious that the locals resent her presence, and she's soon having to fight for her life.

There's a strong feel of HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth about this, but instead of 'fish-people' the townsfolk transform into zombie-like ghouls (or ghoul-like zombies; it's not exactly clear what they are) as they await the return of a 'dark stranger' who first visited them 100 years ago. It's also very reminiscent of Carnival of Souls (1962) in atmosphere and the look of the 'ghouls'. No big names; Marianna Hill is the woman looking for her father, Michael Greer is a fellow traveller who helps her, and Joy Bang and Anitra Ford are Greer's 'travelling companions'. There's a very good scene in a supermarket, and a terrific one in a movie theatre, neither of which turn out well for the characters involved; but generally it's slow and meandering, with unremarkable performances. The ending is an anti-climax, too (apparently the shoot was abandoned when the money ran out; someone later bought the unedited mess and tried to make something releasable out of it). A strong general atmosphere of unease, the two scenes I mentioned, and the very cute Joy Bang and Anitra Ford get this 5/10