Blood Feast

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Something Weird Video

Siren Entertainment

R4

Blood feast is considered to be the very first gore film. It was made in 1963 by Herschell Gordon Lewis, who became instantly infamous for the violent excesses of his various films. It is considered the first of what is called The Gore Trilogy, with 2000 Maniacs being the second, and Color Me Blood Red being the third. While Lewis and producer David F. Friedman did not intend to make a trilogy, since they were shown together in many cinemas it simply evolved that way.

The story behind this film is well known, the Nudie Cutie market was oversupplied with product and the films in the genre were becoming more and more explicit, Friedman and Lewis weren’t especially attracted to this developing genre and so were looking for a new gimmick. They needed to find something to grab attention, something challenging enough that the studios would not touch it. They decided the way to go was with violence, horror and gore.

Blood Feast was the result of their new direction and was made for about $24,000. It horrified patrons, shocked all those who saw it and hence created a new thrill which filled the drive-in theatres like never before. Indeed as rumours spread about this film there was queues up to five miles waiting to get in to the drive-in ! To say it was a success is an under statement! This was the birth of gore and gore has never looked back !

The story is an interesting one which traded on the interest in religious cults, sex and the exoticism of Ancient Egypt. A wealthy woman hires an Egyptian caterer to provide an unusual feast for her daughter’s 21st birthday party. Faud Ramses decides to use the party to create a very “special” feast which will resurrect the Egyptian goddess Ishtar ! In order to create this unique taste sensation, he needs body parts from a number of women...ranging from legs and various limbs to half a face, brains and a tongue! In the film’s most famous scene, a blond coed (Astrid Olson) gets her tongue ripped right out of her skull. This primitive but confronting special effect was done by shoving a sheep's tongue, stage blood and red jelly into the mouth of the blond coed (who used to work for playboy) -- then allowing the gooey mess to spill out for the camera. It's truly a sight to behold.

The production quality of this film is crude, but considering when it was made it was shocking for the time, indeed it was said patrons regularly threw up when watching it ! The acting is horrible and time has done nothing to improve it. The gore effects while bringing down the house in 1963 now seem rather ridiculous but there is a sense of play in the film which makes it a real joy.

In 2005 Blood Feast now seems like a high camp black comedy and it is extremely fun to watch. It is one of those films which age has turned into a B Grade classic and it is well worth the investment to have it in your DVD library. Looking back at this film it seems to have the right mix of horror, shock and camp overacting, it is a real joy to see especially in such a high quality edition.

Blood Feast was one of those films which was constantly circulated on video and always in a terribly grainy state and usually cut. This new uncut edition on DVD, is incredibly clear, vivid and the best you will ever see it. The sound has also been cleaned up and is superb, while the soundtrack is clear you won’t believe the bizarre music used in this film !

The extras are also top quality, a trailer, a rare collection of outtakes from the film and a truly bizarre short called Carving time- a rather strange educational short subject in which William Kerwin (Blood Feast) and Harvey Korman (Blazing Saddles) demonstrate how to slice meat !

This is a real collectors delight !