BLOOD FEAST (1963)
Article #604 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-9-2002
Posting date: 4-5-2003

Horrible murders are being committed by a caterer intent on making an Egyptian Feast as an offering to Ishtar.

Ten thoughts.

1. Being as I am not a fan of graphic gore and violence, I am not a fan of the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

2. This was the first real gore movie. This makes it at least as important (in cinematic terms) as the first bubonic plague.

3. Having watched at least one other of Lewis’ gore flicks as part of this series, I found that the experience has given me the hard shell I need to stomach his movies. That doesn’t mean I mistake them for anything good.

4. Herschell Gordon Lewis has written many books on business and marketing. His movies make more sense if looked at from the perspective of a man finding a marketing niche that could be exploited, and then doing so.

5. He manages to make his movies look like home movies without giving them that air of verisimilitude that would make them believable.

6. The acting is bad in this movie.

7. … Really BAD…

8. I just can’t tell you how bad the acting is in this movie.

9. The acting couldn’t have been worse if Lewis had been trying to get the absolute worst actors he could find.

10. On a positive note, Lewis is a better director than Jerry Warren. The movie even has one clever moment where he does a jump cut that looks vaguely like the hands of a clock turning. So the movie is good for one second. I’d tell you precisely where that moment is, but then I’d have to watch the movie again to find it. No thanks.