I was extremely heartbroken yesterday, when I read of the passing of the man rightfully credited with starting and creating the splatter film, the Godfather of Gore, himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis AKA H.G. Lewis). He was a true legend of the genre and one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of the horror film.
Color Me Blood- Red
H.G. Lewis was born on June 15, 1926 in Pittsburgh. Though his career started with softcore films (which he continued to make for a good chunk of his career), it's his splatter movies that he is most connected with. His first gore film was the legendary Blood Feast. While, horror movies before this either completely lacked graphic violence or only flirted lightly with it (Hammer Studios comes to mind in that department), Blood Feast was extremely graphic and bloody. That the FX were crude and fake didn't matter. Nothing had been seen up and until that point of time like it. As result it was an instant hit at the box office, and would go on to become a cult classic (as many of his other films would).
I knew about his movies for ages, being a well read horror fan and all. But, I wouldn't see any of his movies until I bought the The Blood Trilogy DVDbox-set from Image many years back. This was composed of the first three movies he made, the aforementioned Blood Feast, Two-Thousand Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red. I loved the whole cheesy and it's so bad so good aspect of these films. Pretty girls, bad dialogue, bad acting, and graphic but terribly fake splatter. I can't recommend these movies enough to any lovers of horror and gore, especially those who like their movies to be fun and bloody.
Though of these three, I would say Two-Thousand Maniacs is my favorite. Even if it does not come anywhere close of giving you that many maniacs, it is a fun, wild, bloody, and funny tale of a bunch of crazy, killer hicks bent on having the South rise again.
Sadly, I haven't seen as much of his work I should, with the only other two I saw being Wizard of Gore and The Gore-Gore Girls when I bought the double feature, and excellent, I must add, Blu-ray of them. I plan to revisit the highly enjoyable, wild, and over-the-top Wizard soon. Last night I revisited The Gore-Gore Girls (1972)in his honor. It is my favorite of his, and his last movie for many, many, many years to come until he made Blood Feast 2 (2002).
The Gore-Gore Girls
One thing that stands true is despite the bloody content his movies were always tongue and cheek (and the tongue ripped out!). They never felt mean-spirited or took themselves too seriously as a result were many times hilarious, both intentionally and not.
The Wizard of Gore
I loved his role in the thoroughly awesome love letter to him Smash Cut starring The Last House on the Left's David Hess and former porn goddess Sasha Grey. I also absolutely ADORE the excellent documentary made about him and his movies, Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore. You all need to do yourselves a favor and seek it out. You will be glad that you did.
I saw him at a Fangoria Weekend of Horrors many years ago, but didn't get to meet him until, last year at Chiller. I feel so lucky that I did. He was such a sweet and funny man.
The gore and horror world has lost a legend, but he will live on in our bloody hearts and in his blood drenched movies. All hail the Godfather of Gore! All hail H.G. Lewis! And, may he RIP, as my condolences go to his family and loved ones.
Title: The Best of Sex and Violence Director: Ken Dixon Writer: Frank Ray Perilli Cast: John Carradine, Laura Jane Leary, Angela Aames, Davis Carradine, Keith Carradine, Year: 1982 Min: 76 DVD Released by: Full Moon
This early 80s compilation from producer Charles Band has horror legend John Carradine host a bunch of exploitation trailers. The movies featured all have sex, violence, or both, of course!
John Carradine makes for a likable and funny host. The dialogue written for him by Frank (Mansion of the Doomed) Ray Perilli is witty and funny. It is also, much like the movies featured here, decidedly not very PC, which is perfectly fine by me. There is a tongue and cheek quality here that makes it all very fun. One wonders what Carradine was thinking hosting this admit ably sleazy collection of clips, especially considering he didn't seem very fond of being linked to horror (see the interview on the extra features of The House of Seven Corpses for proof). This probably just amounted to a paycheck for him and that's all.
The movies included in here run the gamut of biker, blaxplotation, softcore, sex comedies, action, women in chains, and horror movies. They include such titles as: I Spit on Your Grave, Alice in Wonderland, Tanya's Island (which, by the way, tells the of the love triangle between a hot chick played by the late, great Prince protege Vanity, a dude, and a large, hairy ape beast...), The Boogeyman, The Disco Godfather, Emaunelle Around the World, Bury Me an Angel, Terminal Island, and more.
The cover features a young Brinke Stevens, who would go on to become a legendary scream queen. While, the cover image promises that Night of the Living Dead is here; it ain't. Maybe it got it confused with The Twilight People (below)?
Band seemingly found a very old, shitty VHS tape and just transferred that to DVD, as the quality here is godawful. There is NO remastering whatsoever. In fact, I used to own some VHS tapes that looked better than this. The sound is barely adequate and even that might be a case of me being too nice. The only extras are a Charles Band Grindhouse Intro and a Grindhouse Featurette, all of which can be found in any of the other Full Moon Grindhouse Collection releases.
Still, despite the shit quality, this is fun and enjoyable. It's a blast to see Carradine present such sleaziod flicks and deliver fun one-liners. The cameo at the end by his sons, David and Keith (left), add to the pricelessness of it all. If you are a fellow fan of sleazy B-movies and trailer collections, and can find this cheap, get it!
Movie: 3 out of 4 Picture: 1 Sound: 1.5 Extras: .5
H.G. Lewis was born on June 15, 1926 in Pittsburgh. Though his career started with softcore films (which he continued to make for a good chunk of his career), it's his splatter movies that he is most connected with. His first gore film was the legendary Blood Feast. While, horror movies before this either completely lacked graphic violence or only flirted lightly with it (Hammer Studios comes to mind in that department), Blood Feast was extremely graphic and bloody. That the FX were crude and fake didn't matter. Nothing had been seen up and until that point of time like it. As result it was an instant hit at the box office, and would go on to become a cult classic (as many of his other films would).
Sadly, I haven't seen as much of his work I should, with the only other two I saw being Wizard of Gore and The Gore-Gore Girls when I bought the double feature, and excellent, I must add, Blu-ray of them. I plan to revisit the highly enjoyable, wild, and over-the-top Wizard soon. Last night I revisited The Gore-Gore Girls (1972)in his honor. It is my favorite of his, and his last movie for many, many, many years to come until he made Blood Feast 2 (2002).
I loved his role in the thoroughly awesome love letter to him Smash Cut starring The Last House on the Left's David Hess and former porn goddess Sasha Grey. I also absolutely ADORE the excellent documentary made about him and his movies, Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore. You all need to do yourselves a favor and seek it out. You will be glad that you did.
