THE BLOOD TRILOGY

THE BLOOD TRILOGY

Did Pittsburgh-born Herschell Gordon Lewis really invent the gore film when he decided to turn his back on the nudie flicks that were no longer making him money in the early 60s, and came up with the idea of directing a lurid, bloody horror film for the drive-in circuit?

Well, maybe. The film of his in question, 1963’s BLOOD FEAST, was predated by LES YEUX SANS VISAGE for a start, and Jess Franco’s subsequent rip-off, THE AWFUL DOCTOR ORLOFF. Then there was Mario Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY, and Hammer’s early films – most notably HORROR OF DRACULA. All of these titles introduced a level of realism to their grisliness that had been previously taboo in horror cinema.

And yet, although the films above all exhibited moments of show-stopping grue, none of them existed purely for the purpose of bombarding their audience with a regular supply of ghastly set-pieces.

And that’s where Lewis comes in, justifiably crowned as the Godfather of Gore, thanks to the wonderful work he put in during the 1960s and the early part of the 1970s. Love them or loathe them, there was precious little else like THE GRUESOME TWOSOME and THE GORE GORE GIRLS around at the time ...

But, for all Lewis’ outrageously violent legacy (including his most recent effort, 2009’s THE UH-OH SHOW), it’s his earliest films that fans still hold the biggest candles for.

To celebrate their jump into the world of High Definition, Something Weird – via distributors Image Entertainment – have chosen to release the first three of Lewis’ splatter films onto a single blu-ray disc ... God love them.

The first, and best, of the films on offer is the aforementioned BLOOD FEAST. Previously banned in the UK as a video nasty – incredibly – the film is a wonderfully camp, colourful exercise in silliness that manages to be funny by playing it straight. Something that its ill-advised sequel couldn’t muster.

It opens with the marvellous sight of a young girl getting back to her apartment and flicking on the radio to hear the broadcaster warning of a killer in the vicinity, whose intent on stealing female body parts. Before you can let one rip, said madman, Fuad (Mal Arnold), breaks in and does some serious damage to the girl’s eye and leg.

As Fuad continues his spree of violence – hacking brains out, ripping tongues out - local cop Pete (Thomas Wood) wracks his brain trying to find the connection between the victims that we’ve all sussed within minutes. Still, his absent-mindedness can be excused, as he’s busy worrying about the welfare of his Egyptian history-craving girlfriend Suzette (Connie Mason).

Things come to a head when Suzette’s mother unwittingly asks Egyptian caterer Fuad – who’s actually collecting body parts in preparation of a feast in honour of Goddess Ishtar – to provide the food for her daughter’s upcoming birthday bash.

Ludicrous to the extreme, BLOOD FEAST is nonetheless a firm favourite of mine. It’s rife with terrible performances (check out Pete’s boss, who has to read his lines off the palm of his hand) and dialogue so rum you imagine the cast got pissed on it daily. The special effects are, of course, anything but special. And Lewis’ self-penned score is at once annoying, repetitive and amateurish.

But the brisk pace, energetic contributions of all concerned and garish colour schemes help to make this a delightfully daft, sensationalistic foray into horror of the purest Grand Guignol tradition.

Following on from the unexpected huge success of BLOOD FEAST, Lewis quickly wrote and directed 2000 MANIACS. He saw this as his opportunity to make a "real" film, he’s since stated.

2000 MANIACS, the second film in this set, isn’t as much fun as BLOOD FEAST. But it is better made.

In it, two couples travel along a lonely country road in the Deep South. They are spied from afar by two Southern hicks, who promptly place a large "detour" sign in the centre of the road. Sure enough, the car takes a right turn - and ends up in the small town of Pleasant Valley.

The town is in the midst of celebrating a Centennial - but it's a hundred years since WHAT exactly? You find that out later (although historians will pick up the early clue that whatever it is, it occurred in 1865 ...). One thing's for sure, the town's folk who greet our hapless foursome - married couples David and Beverly Wells (Michael Korb and Yvonne Gilbert), and John and Bea Miller (Jerome Eden and Shelby Livingston) - wear permanently demented smiles ... and things are definitely amiss when a group of youngsters can be seen strangling a cat with the words "Damn Yankee" tied round its neck ...

Moments later, a second car comes along driven by the pretty Terri (Connie Mason). She's picked up a hitch-hiker in the form of teacher Tom (Thomas Wood). They follow the same detour and are greeted by the town's folk too, led by the manic Mayor Buckman (Jeffrey Allen). To continued insane cheering and laughter from the locals, Buckman explains to the perplexed sextet that Pleasant Valley is having a weekend of celebrations and the six of them must stay as guests. Apparently, the town has a ceremony in place which dictates that "strangers from up North" are required.

And so, a long weekend of maddening giggles, sadistic games and really severe finger cuts ensues.

Playing out like a feature-length version of an old "Twilight Zone" episode, 2000 MANIACS is fun but it does outstay its welcome. Lewis had ideas above his station, but sadly has neither the directorial flair nor budget to make this the magnum opus he hoped for.

Having said that, it bounces with zest once festivities are underway and there are a few memorable set-piece scenes that help compensate for the director’s irritatingly addictive theme song. The twist ending is cool - and the film as a whole remains so much better than the recent remake.

1965’s COLOR ME BLOOD RED is a slower, less gory film, and one that sees Lewis adopt a more serious tone for the most part. The plot, however, is strictly B-movie nonsense – and should prove to be an eye-opener for anyone who thought wanker Peter Doherty was being original be painting in blood.

Adam (Don Joseph) is a struggling artist who can’t find respect from local art critic Gregorovich (William Harris), and is failing to bring in a wage to satisfy his otherwise doting girlfriend.

Working on his latest project – a portrait of a topless woman – Adam is frustrated by his inability to find the colours bold enough to impress Gregorovich. That is, until his girlfriend cuts her finger in his presence and he realises her blood is the perfect tone to complement his artwork. "Look, I’m willing to share my blood with you, but you can’t have all of it!" she cries. That’s what she thinks – following a bit too much nagging, she winds up with a blade in her eye and her gore spattered all over Adam’s painting.

Adam’s painting becomes a hit, thanks to the addition of human blood on the canvas. But now, if he is to maintain his newfound success, he must find a more regular source of blood ...

A jazzy score and some unusually considered camerawork and editing help distinguish RED as one of Lewis’ more professional-looking films. Coupled with the more deliberate pacing and toning down of the grisliness, it almost feels as though he was attempting to break into the mainstream. But, this is still a Lewis film through and through, so expect cheap sets, enjoyably duff performances and exploitative murder scenes ... as well as an inordinate amount of time spent watching Adam riding on his water bike.

Joseph – real name Gordon Oas-Heim - is excellent. Best line in the film, meanwhile, must surely be "Holy bananas! It’s a girl’s leg!". Great stuff.

Something Weird present these three films on a startlingly low-priced blu-ray disc, which is locked to Region A coding.

BLOOD FEAST looks great, exhibiting more detail and colour than ever before. Considering the film was made for peanuts on 16mm almost 50 years ago, this is a remarkably clean and bright presentation of this classic film. Odd specks don’t distract, as the vibrancy of the picture impresses so. Just check out the detail in Fuad’s hair and clothes during the first murder scene, for example, or the rich texture of the red hues during scenes of him worshipping at a statue of Ishtar.

2000 MANIACS boasts more print damage and a little softness in some interior scenes. By and large though, it looks better than ever before. It’s the colours that impress on this one.

COLOR ME BLOOD RED looks grand too, with a largely clean print and colourful, crisp images.

All three transfers are mastered in AVC encoded 1080p HD. They exhibit a healthy amount of natural grain, while the odd fleck, cigarette burn and vertical line are not too disconcerting. In fact, the films look remarkably vivid in the main – without trace of compression or excessive DNR – and are unlikely to ever be better served. It’s certainly the best I’ve ever seen them looking.

Also, it’s worth noting that each film is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.78:1 – the first time they’ve been presented on home video in widescreen (all previous releases have been open matte). Each transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

English LPCM mono audio is proffered for each film. A minor instance of drop-out in 2000 MANIACS notwithstanding, these provided good clean playbacks throughout.

A static main menu page offers access to each film. From there, each film has its own pop-up menu including scene-selection menus allowing access to the films via 12 chapters apiece.

Extras begin with the excellent, fluent and informative audio commentary tracks that Lewis and legendary producer David F Friedman produced for each film back when they first surfaced on DVD. They remain addictive, endlessly entertaining and thoroughly recommended listens.

From there, we get an original trailer (windowboxed at 1.33:1) for each film. Check out Thomas Wood sweating like a rapist as he addresses the audience in the intro to the BLOOD FEAST trailer. There’s also a trailer for Something Weird’s forthcoming Lewis documentary, THE GODFATHER OF GORE. This looks like it’ll be an excellent watch.

If you want to see how much the films are improved by their HD renderings, check out the outtakes for each film. These look particularly rough for the most part, but are an invaluable port from the previous DVD editions anyway. BLOOD FEAST gets 50 minutes of outtakes (some seemingly sourced from VHS); COLOR gets 10 minutes. Both were presented without audio on the original DVDs, I believe, but here Something Weird has complemented them with a mix of soundtracks from Lewis films and interview snippets with the man himself. 16 minutes of outtakes for MANIACS actually come with original audio. Priceless.

"Carving Magic" is a 20-minute colour short from the 60s which originally featured on Something Weird’s BLOOD FEAST DVD. It opens with Thomas Wood’s dinner guest jibing him over his failure to carve turkey. Wood surprises the oaf by meticulously slicing thin strips off the bird, and then relays via flashback how he received a masterclass in carving meat. Utterly absurd and pretty pointless, this is nevertheless an oddly engaging watch.

"Follow That Skirt" is a gory 27-minute film from 1964, credited as having been directed by Richard W Bomont (WIFE SWAPPERS). It follows a man (Dale West) with a penchant for sneaking into the homes of comely women, watching them strip – bare breasts aplenty – and then killing them. It’s gory in a colourful, crude fashion and builds to a climax that is at once amusing and unsettling.

Finally, we get a 7-minute gallery offering a wealth of archive promotional artwork relating to the exploitation cinema of Friedman and Lewis.

The trailers for BLOOD FEAST and THE GODFATHER OF GORE are presented in HD. All other extras come in 480i standard definition.

THE BLOOD TRILOGY offers incredible value (you can currently get it imported for around £10 including delivery to the UK), and the films have never looked or sounded better. It’s great that all of the DVD extras have been included in this set too. The only potential shame is that the disc is locked to region A.

Thoroughly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Region A - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
see main review
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