Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Herschell-Gordon Lewis’ ‘Blood’ Trilogy: Part 1

A man named Herschell-Gordon Lewis had a dream: to put lots of blood on the movie screens of America. During the advent of affordable, color film-making, H.G. decided to do just that. He first did so in a charming, little film called "Blood Feast." The result is a roadhouse hit that became the oldest film to end up on the UK's notorious 'Video Nasty' list. He followed this film up with "Color Me Blood Red" a couple years later. This film is about a painter who learns just how useful blood can be and how much he will do to get it. Unfortunately, since the film is less gory and more character-driven, it is often forgotten about by horror fans. In nineteen sixty-seven, he completed the trilogy with "A Taste of Blood," his own unique take on the vampire genre. This one is the lengthiest of the three films and features a quirkier story. As a whole, the films make up an interesting take on the horror/splatter genre. "Feast" has an under-the-radar sequel made by Lewis some thirty-seven years later. Other films from Lewis' catalog like "Two Thousand Maniacs" and "The Wizard of Gore" have since been remade as well. If things go the way they are, I will not be surprised to see more of these films as well. Before Uwe Boll ruins them, let's cover the originals more in-depth.

Blood Feast

If an Egyptian God tells you to kill women for her, you might be a character in an H.G. Lewis film. The antagonist is a caterer hired to do the wedding reception for a young socialite. His clients do not know about his homicidal urges or that these two things will cross paths. As time goes by, his mania increases and killings get more violent. The movie is an interesting look back at how the splatter genre used to be. There is no nudity, no sex-obsessed teenagers and no big-time heavy like Jason or Michael Meyers. In addition, the sound cuts out during the killings and is replaced with loud organ music. This gives it the feel of a silent film a la "Nosferatu," albeit in color and with lots of red food-coloring. The blood effects are clearly the biggest draw of the film, which Lewis highlights in slow, lingering shots of the corpses. The villain is so obviously a crazy person that you have to question the brains of every other character in the film. That is one aspect of Herschell-Gordon Lewis movies that viewers must accept: plot holes are abundant. If you cannot make peace with that, it is best to avoid the majority of his films. The gore itself is pretty unconvincing now, although you can easily see how it bothered people back in the day. It is also quite abundant, so people who do not even like fake gore will be bothered. As a whole, "Feast" is a unique oddity for horror fans, while some people will just find it to be misogynistic and stupid. Both are true.


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