Blood Feast

Infobox_Film
name = Blood Feast


writer = Allison Louise Downe
David F. Friedman
Herschell Gordon Lewis
starring = William Kerwin
Mal Arnold
Connie Mason
Lyn Bolton
Scott H. Hall
director = Herschell Gordon Lewis
producer = David F. Friedman
distributor = Box Office Spectaculars
released = July 6, 1963
runtime = 67 min.
language = English
budget = $24,500 (estimated) | gross = | preceded_by = | followed_by = "" (2002)
music =
awards =
amg_id = 1:6102
imdb_id = 0056875

Blood Feast (1963, also known as Egyptian Blood Feast and Feast of Flesh) is an American horror film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, often considered the first splatter film. It was produced by David F. Friedman. The screenplay was written by Alison Louise Downe, who had previously appeared in several of Lewis's other films. Lewis also wrote the film's score.

Popular with members of Lewis's small but loyal cult, as well as by some "B movie" fanatics, "Blood Feast" is a low budget horror film about an insane Egyptian caterer who kills people so that he can include their body parts in his meals and perform sacrifices to his "Egyptian goddess" Ishtar (although the deity in question is actually Babylonian). "Blood Feast" immediately became notorious for its explicit blood, gore and violence. Many people consider its most infamous moment to be when the murderer rips out a young woman's tongue on camera. "Blood Feast" is also one of the first films to show people dying with their eyes open. [Palmer, Randy. "Herschell Gordon Lewis, Godfather of Gore: The Films". Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0808-1. p. 41.]

The film is noted for its "B movie" acting and direction.Fact|date=June 2008 Notable is the caricature-like performanceFact|date=June 2008 of Mal Arnold, playing the part of deranged murderer Fuad Ramses, described by author Christopher Wayne Curry in his book "A Taste of Blood: The Films Of Herschell Gordon Lewis" as 'the original machete-wielding madman', and the forerunner to similar characters in the "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" series of films. Lewis said of the film, "I've often referred to "Blood Feast" as a Walt Whitman poem. It's no good, but it was the first of its type." [Herschell Gordon Lewis quoted in Palmer (2000). p. 7.]

"Blood Feast" is the first part of what the director's fans have dubbed "The Blood Trilogy". Rounding out the trilogy are the films "Two Thousand Maniacs!" (1964) and "Color Me Blood Red" (1965). After the third film, producer David F. Friedman said, "I think that for now we're going to abandon making any more 'super blood and gore' movies, since so many of our contemporaries are launching similar productions, causing a risk that the market will quickly reach a saturation point." [Romer, Jean-Claude, Silver Alain (trans.) "A Bloody New Wave in the United States" (July 1964), in Silver, Alain & Ursini, James (eds.) "Horror Film Reader". New York: Limelight Editions, 2000. ISBN 0-87910-297-7. p. 63-64.]

Jackie Kong directed the cult favorite "Blood Diner" in 1986, with the intention of making it a "spiritual sequel" to "Blood Feast". A spoof remake, "", was released in 2002. It marked the first time Lewis and Friedman worked together on a movie in several years.

This movie is referenced and seen in John Waters' "Serial Mom", when Matthew Lillard's character mentions that this movie is "the Citizen Kane of gore movies".

Criticism

Contemporary critics were not kind to "Blood Feast". A "Variety" review of May 6, 1964 called the film a "totally inept shocker", "incredibly crude and unprofessional from start to finish", and "an insult even to the most puerile and salacious of audiences". The review labeled the entire production a "fiasco", calling Louise Downe's screenplay "senseless" and the acting "amateurish". Of Herschell Gordon Lewis's direction, camerawork and musical composition, the review judged that he had "failed dismally on all three counts". ["Blood Feast" (film review). "Variety", May 6 1964]

=Cast ["Blood Feast" (film review). "Variety", May 6 1964] =

* Pete Thornton: Thomas Wood (William Kerwin)
* Ramses: Mal Arnold
* Suzette: Connie Mason
* Police Captain: Scott H. Hall
* Mrs. Fremont: Lyn Bolton
* Trudy: Toni Calvert
* Tony: Gene Courtier
* Girl on beach: Ashlyn Marton
*Girl in apartment: Sandra Sinclair
*High priest: Al Golden
* Truck driver: Craig Maudalay Jr.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0056875|title=Blood Feast