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Herschell Gordon Lewis… Who was this man? He was born in 1926 in Pennsylvania and died in Florida in 2016 for a total of an exact 90 years, not bad at all.
Well, he was a film director and producer and can be considered the father of the splatter genre, a subgenre of horror cinema. A genre that, in turn, harkens back to the Grand Guignol, the famous Parisian theater inaugurated in 1897 and closed in 1963, known for its decidedly macabre and gruesome performances.
Blood and guts, then? Oh yes, but also gouged eyes, removed brains, and hearts… after all, what wouldn't you do for a human sacrifice to offer to the Egyptian goddess Ishtar? Indeed, this is the theme of the legendary Blood Feast from 1963, the first feature film of the so-called Blood Trilogy, followed by 2000 Maniacs (1964) and Color Me Blood Red (1965).
In Miami, Florida, Mrs. Dorothy Fremont approaches Fuad Ramses, an Egyptian-origin merchant, to organize her daughter Suzette's party.
What the woman doesn't know is that the man, a sadistic killer, intends to turn the party into a blood feast to bring the goddess Ishtar back to life…
And so, good Fuad, busily and tirelessly procures the (organic) material needed for his personal blood feast, going around brutally killing in various ways the unlucky victims of the moment—young and attractive girls—because only the best for the goddess Ishtar… The killings are imaginative and brutal, the blood flows abundantly, and the innards are removed with great diligence and satisfaction.
Fuad is thus one of the first serial killers in cinema and undoubtedly leaves his mark. Around 50 years old, of average height with salt-and-pepper hair, eyes wide open like a fanatic, competitive double-double eyebrows, dressed in black and limping on one leg. Although he's little more than a clumsy cripple, he seems untouchable, killing with abandon, and the police are clueless…
Seen today, 60 years later, but in a way it is intentional, the film also has a subtle humorous line that verges on the ridiculous, where our character's madness reaches a climax in exaggerated emphasis. However, the overall work is valid not only for the audacity of its proposal but also for its staging. Vivid cinematography highlights and enhances the blood, the true protagonist of the film, in a bright, dazzling, almost too vivid red. The murders are brutal and explicit, deliberately shocking and repellent. And what about the soundtrack? Composed by Lewis himself, the soundtrack is quite fitting and varied, ranging from simple obsessive percussion, death tam-tams, to vampiric cello, to orchestral crescendos. There are also significant directorial solutions, fades, details connecting one sequence to another; it's not a trivial work.
So, if only out of curiosity or personal culture, the film is recommended for its uniqueness, originality, and historical importance. Give it a chance.
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