Pretty Good

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Blistering performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blood Feast. 1963. I wasn't even a twinkle in my parents eyes. So. With that said, let's get on with our review. Hey, you can't knock Blood Feast! A budget of under 25 grand, and you even got a Playboy babe in the film? Where else, folks, where else? Pennies pissed into production, and you made millions off this massive hunk of sh*t. Genius, Herschell. Genius! We lost our director in 2016, the mad slasher year of several talented celebrities. While Herschell may have been known as the underground horror giant of several films, such as this and 20,000 Maniacs, his movies have earned him a cult following...and remains that status to this very day. This film proves my theory true about film, both classic and modern: Just because a movie didn't make money at the box office doesn't mean it's not any good. And, in the example of Blood Feast, just because the movie made money...does not mean you have made anything to be proud of. The movie boasts to be a horror movie. However, it is not. It's more of a mystery. All the victims are female, and missing certain body parts. Leg. Eye. Oh! That eye! To put a stop to this killer, a detective must figure out why this killer is doing what he is doing. Well, you better get to work quickly, because this movie is only an hour and ten minutes long! Not much of an investigation. And, really, come on...IMDB actually spoils the mystery part, and tells you why he is doing this, in the sypnosis. Great! Now you don't have to watch it, you already know. However, I know there is a following for 60's, 70's, and 80's trash films...I review these films respectively, however, am not a big fan of them. If this is your kind of thing, you may want to give Blood Feast a fair shake, but I, on the other hand, steer clear of it. I only watched it all the way through, to find out, how they off the killer out of the picture! So many ways to do it. Bullet to the head, knife to the throat, push him down an elevator shaft, set him on fire, you know, something good like that. However, the way that he dies....it is so drop dead funny, and I want to tell you, but I am still laughing just thinking about it. Watch it! Fast forward to the ending if you have to. Watch him die....just the last ten minutes! Heh heh! Turns this mystery horror movie into a comedy!

Herschell Gordon Lewis recently died, so I decided to watch one of his movies. I rented his most famous one. "Blood Feast" is known as the "Citizen Kane" of splatter films, and so Lewis is known as the man who launched the genre. Let's just say that it doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. Without a doubt, it took guts to get this made (pun intended). It looks tame by today's standards. You may have seen it referenced in John Waters's "Serial Mom" (the son makes a poster saying BLOOD FEAST and the principal complains about it).All in all, it's an enjoyable movie. For one with such a small budget, it was well made, with the sound properly recorded (contrast it with the MST3K-riffed "Manos: the Hands of Fate"). Nice, brainless fun.

Yes, there is plenty to complain about if you want to, and it has been done, too. Just for a little taste: terrible acting, a script full of holes (though I liked the premise) and that soundtrack that just went on and on and on and on. Those elements are familiar to many cult flicks, and by now I can say I have seen a few. But, having seen 'a few', I can also say I've learned what to look for better. Some of those elements even become charming at some (perverted? whatever) point... And, as for the music, at some times it wás great ánd appropriate. The beautifully stylized gore and use of color made for a great atmosphere at quite a few moments. So, I should try 'Two Thousand Maniacs!' (1964) again sometime, which I didn't appreciate as much as this one... I have seen 'a few' since, indeed.A big 7 out of 10 for this one.

This is possibly the Worst Movie to ever get a HIGH RECOMMENDATION. Worst because of the Abysmal Acting and obvious Obliteration of any attempt to Construct a Work of any Socially Redeeming Value. BUT... here is the but. The Film was released to an Unsuspecting Public and played Without Restraint (or age restrictions at the box office) in Main Street Theaters in Small Town America.Shot in a week or so on a Budget of None, this was the First Gore Film. It was not only the First Gore Film, it was a Gore-Fest Stylistically Solidified the Genre and Announced a Horror Movie Adjective that would come to be a Force to Reckoned. The aforementioned Ultra-Violence, Shot in a Rich Color Process, was and is Fantastically Effective. The Movie was so Far Ahead of its Time that Nothing Remotely Resembling it Appeared for Years. Clunky, Stagy, Over-the-Top and Shamelessly Subversive, this Film is True to the Definitive Definition of a CULT CLASSIC.