Herschell Gordon Lewis Comes to Dinner

Academically dissecting work from the lower sub-strata of film doesn’t make a whole buncha sense. But some folks are innately drawn to discursive explanations of films that might not warrant such examinations. Blood Feast may or may not be a land mark in low budget, kitschy horror films, but it’s (almost) able to entertain viewers over its scant hour running time.

Herschell Gordon Lewis gets named checked pretty often when blood and guts fair is discussed and this flick, released in 1963 and constituting the first entry into what would be termed “The Blood Trilogy,” is a good reason for that. The film could be considered an early statement in letting the gore fly, but in that, one might figure that Lewis sacrificed quality – not that anyone’s going to argue that this was an artistic master piece – for panache.

Blood Feast is predicated on Fuad Ramses being hold up in some generic, interchangeable west coast town and running a catering service. He one day has a walk in client who wants to throw a party for her daughter. It comes out the girl has some interest in Egyptology, which only makes Ramses excited. And as an aside he’s apparently one of the foremost writers on the topic of ancient cult rituals.

A date is set and Ramses sets about preparing all the while killing various folks about town unbeknownst to others. The scenes that capture Ramses’ murders aren’t well contrived and frequently the askew framing of the entire ordeal can distract from the less than subtle blood that’s splattered everywhere. It’s interesting to note the fact that while Lewis and company were some early practitioners of no-budget, independent work, there’s not really too much that’s artfully accomplished here. The acting is just this side of rotten, the shots (again) are poorly set up and the plot – even if it’s only spread out over the space of an hour – is pretty transparent.

Judging by Ramses’ excitement it would seem as if he’s not been granted the opportunity to work in some time, which begs the question why and how’d Mrs. Dorothy Fremont show up? And even beyond that why, in this small town, are there lectures on Egyptian history and ritual being given?

I just wrote up The House By the Cemetary and even as that film comes two decades later, a good deal of Fulci’s work, this flick specifically, is rendered with fully conceived shots and cuts. Lewis was obviously using antiquated equipment and working with a shorter budget, but there’s a great deal about Blood Feast that seems hap dash at best.

Laden with more holes and nonsense than one should be able to witness, Blood Feast is just an exploitation flick. It works in that mold and that mold alone. Even as that might seem reductive, Lewis succeeds in what it is that he set out to do: work out a cheap horror flick that’ll make the little kiddies squirm. So even if this effort isn’t going to be critically acclaimed, it’s enhanced Lewis’ status as a blood auteur of the first degree.