August 25, 2018
Written by: Allison Louise Downe (Hershell Gordon Lewis)
Starring: William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason
Budget: $24,500
Quote: "Have you ever had... an Egyptian Feast?... A feast like this has not been performed in 5000 years."
Trivia: Producer David F. Friedman came up with some very effective publicity stunts for "Blood Feast" which included giving theater goers vomit bags reading "You may need this when you see 'Blood Feast'" and obtaining an injunction against the film in Sarasota, Florida, which of course only generated more interest in the film.
"Have you ever an Egyptian feast?" And so begins Hershell Gordon Lewis' move from sexploitation director to the king of gore. Blood Feast came out in 1963. Let's just take a minute to let that sink in. The Beatles were playing Ed Sullivan. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lawrence of Arabia will win best picture at the 1963 at the Academy Awards that still have two different awards for Black and White and Color films. In the midst of this, came Blood Feast. The first gore film (double check on this, I could be wrong). I can just imagine how insane this film must have seen to viewers in 1963. The acting is atrocious, the film itself is not made particularly well, but what it does have going to itself is gore. Hershell Gordon Lewis will go on to make a good dozen other gore films throughout his career, but this was the first one and the one that won him the throne as the King of Gore.
Blood Feast follows the story of the ancient Egypt-obsessed caterer (who unbeknownst to the police is also the author of Ancient Weird Religious Rites... seriously, they didn't even try), Faud Ramses as he murders women and takes their body parts in order to set up a cannibalistic Egyptian feast for an unsuspecting woman who wants something unique for a party she's throwing. Meanwhile, two of the dumbest (and poorest acting) cops are trying to catch the killer before he kills again (they fail, a lot). Eventually, they catch up with Faud and chase him into a garbage truck where he is smashed to death so the cops can exclaim, "He died a fitting end, just like the garbage he was."
The acting is this film seems like it is a high school play. Mal Arnold, the guy who plays Faud Ramses, overacts every scene and spends much of the movie with his eyes bugged out and trying to (and failing to) do his best Vincent Price impersonation. This is opposite the Connie Mason, who plays the daughter of the woman throwing the party. The actress was a playboy playmate and I suspect that she may have been hired for other reasons than her acting... what say you? Then there are the cops. The two dumbest cops in the world. One of them was a carnival worker who fell into this acting job when the original actor never showed up. And no matter how many hints and blatant reveals are thrown at these guys, they still cannot seem to crack the case.
The film is also really poorly directed. There are several scenes where the sound cuts out for no reasons. A car parked in the daytime turns to a car parked at night (maybe it was the total eclipse of the sun, doo wah). Lewis also did the score of the film which includes bongos, synthesizer, and poorly played trumpets. In case you haven't notice, Lewis was a bit of a Renaissance man and also created the blood. Unfortunately it is so extremely red that it more resembles marinara than blood. After the movie's climax, dumb cop #2 recounts the entire plot of the movie, I'm assuming in case people had trouble following this paper thin plot?
I hope the previous complaints do not make it appear that I am not a fan of the film. Is it a good movie? Hell no. Is it a fun movie? Absolutely! The film is exploitation at its finest. While it's one of the first splatter film, the film has a light feel to it. It is missing the gritty darkness that many of the other "Video Nasties" have. While extremely graphic, the movie has a fun campy feel to it. One moment I'm looking away from the gore on the screen and the next moment I'm laughing my head off. Sometimes both happen at the same time. It's a really unique film that respect.
There are also some really great scenes. The opening scene has a tall blonde (They are all tall blondes in this film. While they are easy on the eyes, it is so confusing who is who in the film. Several times I had to ask, wait, didn't she already die? Poor casting choice) going into a bath before Faud breaks in and stabs her in the eye ripping the eyeball out of the socket as it is stuck to his knife. He then saws off her leg to use in his... Egyptian Feast. This is the first three minutes. Faud brains another girl on the beach while she is making out with her boyfriend. And then there is the tongue scene. In the film Faud breaks into a blonde girls hotel room and reaches into her mouth and rips out her tongue. I think they must've used a cow's tongue because it is definitely a tongue of some type. There is also a flashback to ancient Egypt where we get to see the blood sacrifice of a woman five thousand years ago. What Lewis lacks as a filmmaker, he more than makes up for in shock and awe.
I have to agree with what that kid from John Waters' Serial Mom said, Blood Feast is "the Citizen Kane of gore!"
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