The name Herschell Gordon Lewis may not mean anything to you but to fans of horror and especially gore films Lewis rules. In a day and age when nearly every horror film being made features more gore than scares, few realize that at one time this wasn’t seen on film. Lewis was the first to make it so and he started off with three films represented in this wonderful package from Image Entertainment, THE BLOOD TRILOGY.
The first film offered was Lewis first foray into this genre, BLOOD FEAST. The story revolves around a caterer in the Florida area who specializes in exotic themed parties named Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold). There is a killer in the area that is taking select body parts off of his female victims and in no time flat we the viewers know that Fuad is behind it all. It seems that he continues to worship an Egyptian goddess and is in the midst of preparing a sacrificial feast to bring her back to Earth. A huge number of coincidental clues eventually lead the police to Fuad before he can complete his task.
So what makes this movie one that folks remember? Of course, the gore. Made in 1963 it was the first film to feature anything this over the top. Within the first 5 minutes we have a girl murdered in her bathtub and he leg hacked off. The glimpse of the exposed bone sticking out of the stump where her leg was before covered in the brightest red imaginable was astounding at the time. For some it would still be that way. Other gore scenes include a woman having her tongue ripped out (with some hilarious sound editing) and a brain removed on the beach. It was shocking enough that in some spots the movie was closed down and banned from being played. But not enough that it wasn’t one of the most successful independent movies ever made and the beginning of a genre that Lewis became associated with.
The second film offered is Lewis favorite and one remade recently with Robert England of Freddy Krueger fame, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS. For a horror film there is more story here than most offer even if it might borrow just a tad from the classic musical BRIGADOON. Ever so many years a small Southern town is resurrected and the folks there lure in tourist and treat them special for their annual celebration. The problem is that these folks have been lured there for the South to take vengeance on the North for losing the Civil War. These folks intend to do nothing but torture and murder these “guests”. Gore scenes here include an arm hacked off with an axe, a finger cut off with pruning sheers and a dunk tank device that drops a boulder on a guest tied to a platform beneath it. The best thing about this film was the actual story going on, the whole ghost town that appears only at select times. That’s an intriguing idea and more original than most horror films being made today.
The last of the three films included in this package is COLOR ME BLOOD RED and perhaps my least favorite of the three. Here we have an artist who isn’t the favorite of the critics in his town. One thing they note is his lack of the use of the color red. An accident leads him to use the blood of his girlfriend in one of the pictures he is painting which of course the critic can’t say enough good things about. This leads him on a murderous rampage so he can have more “paint” to use in his paintings. Made in 1965 the theme here wasn’t quite original since Roger Corman used a similar device in his film BUCKET OF BLOOD back in 1959. It is the weakest of the three films but still interesting.
The main thing to witness with these movies is that they were made in a time when these sorts of films weren’t the norm. Lewis, who began shooting industrial films and then what were termed “nudie cuties” had decided he needed to make something different and you can certainly see that he did just that. The movies played across the countries in drive ins for years.
The violence is almost cartoonish in a way and the acting for the most part it terrible. But looking at it from the standpoint of someone shooting a film on their own terms without any involvement from major Hollywood studio involvement and it being so successful financially makes you take notice. This was guerilla film making in its earliest form. And the truth is that while some of the lighting is lacking at times and the budget for sets and more is infinitesimal, Lewis actually makes a pretty good looking film.
While these films may not be for everyone, for movie fans they will be something you will want to add to your collection because of their historical value. Horror fans will want to watch them to see what gore films were like in their earliest stage. And the curious will want to watch to see what all the talk was about. Don’t focus on the negatives of the movies but put yourself in a theater seat back in 1963 and imagine the shock value that these films had at the time. Do that and you just might like THE BLOOD TRILOGY.
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