BLOOD FEAST
Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis His official website
Writer: Allison Louise Downe imdb Profile
IMDB: Link
Genre: Horror / Slasher / Exploitation / Classic
Distributer: Something Weird Video
Sequel: Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat (2002) Mpeg Torrent
Blood Feast is the first recognized slasher film and directly inspired the many bloody antagonists of the 70's we all love to dress up as for Halloween. This film was released to both critical and public dismay. Audiences flocked in droves to be disgusted and outraged again and again. The release of this film was both a hard slap to the face for the mainstream and the dawn of a new era in horror films.
'Looking for a different angle than the soft core sex and nude films they had been making, they came up with the idea of making a film that emphasized blood and gore, a market that neither they nor virtually any other producer had exploited. They wrote a 15 page script, named it Blood Feast (1963), began shooting it – with a budget of less than $25,000 – the day after “Bell, Bare and Beautiful” was shot and finished it seven days later. It was first exhibited in July 1963 and, despite the low production values, slow pace and a variety of technical problems, audiences flocked to the drive-in theaters and local movie houses it was being shown in that catered to exploitation films. It was banned in various parts of the country for its frightening (for the day) murder/gore scenes, an action that increased interest in – and attendance at – the film.'
Herschell Gordon Lewis and David F. Friedman are exploitation pioneers from 1960 - 1972. They both made many B-movies such as 2,000 Maniacs and , but Blood Feast is imho their finest film. The poster shown at theatres claimed: “More Grisly Than Ever in Blood Color,” “Recoil and Shudder,” “The Slaughter and Mutilation of Nubile Young Girls– in a wierd and horrendous Ancient Rite!” The plot concerns a crazed caterer of Egyptian feasts, Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold), who is “serving” choice parts of young virgins to the blood goddess Ishtar in order to bring about the enslavement and destruction of humanity. There are only a few days until the ceremony is complete and Ramses is on a roll. Mal Arnold does a bang up job as the killer; crazy eyes rolling and eyebrows winking us through the narrative. Every other performance is just another dish for Ishtar to feast on. So what can Blood Feast offer you besides a trip down nostalgia boulevard? How about Cannibalism, surgery without a license, pulling a tongue out with your bare hands, sex on the beach, hilarious dialogue (who would've thought the man was crazy?), buxom virgins, hypnotism, a bumbling detective, enough blood to fill a kiddie pool, and literally getting caught red handed. Have you not seen Blood Feast yet? What the hell is the matter with you?
Fun little note: Something Weird Video, the Seattle-based distributor for this film and many other titles you might not know exist, is named after a film by Herschell Gordon Lewis. Be sure to check out one of their trailer compilations. Torrent for Vol. 1
