Herschell Gordon Lewis' pioneering "gore" films in deluxe special editions. First, Mrs. Fremont hires crackpot Egyptian cultist Fuad Ramses to cater a party--and he prepares a Blood Feast made from the grisly body parts of nubile young women. The world's first gore film. Then the Two Thousand Maniacs of a small Southern town celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Civil War by forcing a handful of Northerners to serve as "guests" in their macabre, blood-crazed fun and games. And when his girlfriend, Gigi, cuts her finger on a frame, maniacal artist Adam Sorg discovers a new shade of crimson that will make his artwork so special--human blood--in the shocktacular Color Me Blood Red.The Blood Trilogy are not related by any common thematic thread, characters, or story. The are Blood brothers. As the very first gore films they share a common bond that is much more important. Lewis and Friedman were two of a kind, hucksters of the highest order, and while they were fans of film, they were bigger fans of making a buck, and there was no better way to make a buck in the '60s than to scare the pants off teenaged girls. This is where Blood Feast came into play.
Blood Feast is by no stretch of the imagination a good film. Lewis and Friedman will testify to that, but it was a trailblazing film. Shot in a week in a seedy motel in Florida, the film went on to make buckets of money on the drive-in circuit in 1964. The film's main claim to fame is that is was the first full-length gore feature. It is goofy, poorly acted, and technically somewhat inept, but for the right audience, it is loads of fun. I enjoy Blood Feast, in spite of its terrible qualities, but nowhere near as much as I love the next film in the trilogy.
Two Thousand Maniacs is one of my all time favorite films, and it is HG Lewis' favorite among his own works. The film's plot involves a southern town that was razed during Sherman's march through the south in 1864. This military campaign was more or less a scorched earth trip through Georgia when the Union army decided to humiliate and completely disable the confederate army and crush the spirit of the rebellion. According to the film, one of the towns was Pleasant valley, and 100 years later, they want revenge.
It sounds very unsavory, but the entire film is relatively lighthearted, if extremely bloody. The hillbillies rise from the dead and misdirect some hapless Yankees into their centennial celebration. Little to the Yankees know that the party means to have their heads, and arms, and legs, etc. Two Thousand Maniacs is a great and genuinely fun movie. Production value is relatively high for a film like this, and the writing is surprisingly adequate. Not to mention the fact that Lewis, himself, wrote and EXTREMELY catchy theme that tells the story of the film. I find myself humming the Two Thousand Manics theme more often than I care to admit. If there is one winner in this set, it is clearly this film, and on its own it is well worth the meager price being asked.
The third film is the last of Lewis and Friedman's original gore films, Color Me Blood Red. The film involves an insane artist who can't seem to find the right shade of red for his paintings. You can guess where it goes from there. This is the nastiest of the three films, and as Lewis progressed his films got much gooier. There is some interesting and funny hokey dialogue, but the film on the whole doesn't stack up to Two Thousand Maniacs. The gore quotient is kicked up a notch, and there are some pretty ugly scenes, but it's a pretty one note story.
I don't think many people would accuse HG Lewis of being a great filmmaker. However, as an innovator, a salesman, and a fascinating example of exploitation filmmaking and marketing, he's a dynamo. These three films, though not his first nor his last, are certainly his most memorable. This set has significant historical value for all of the films and artists Lewis and Friedman have influenced over the last 50 years. We take gore for granted now, and you can even see some pretty nasty stuff in PG-13 films these days, but in 1963, this was hot stuff, and it's never looked better.
The Disc:
Something Weird Video has teamed with Image Entertainment to release their first Blu-ray releases and they are pretty impressive, though not altogether without controversy. The colors, sharpness, and detail in these three films is outstanding. I've seen them numerous times on DVD and VHS, but they've never looked this good. With Blood Feast and Color Me Blood Red both being remastered from the original negatives, they probably look better than they ever did on a big screen as well. Unfortunately, Two Thousand Maniacs' negative hasn't survived the years, but this is by far the best presentation of that film as well. Unlike their VHS and DVD releases, which were full screen, all three of these films are now presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This has been a bone of contention among fans of the films. I think they looks great, but whether or not they are accurate representations of the director's wishes, I'm not certain. All three films and extras are housed on a single Blu-ray disc, which sounds like it would be a terrible idea, but I can't find any fault with the presentation in that regard.
SWV carries over their extras from the DVD box set into this Blu-ray set. The gems of the bonus material are the team commentaries on each of the films from Lewis and Friedman. They are a gregarious team, and you can definitely see how they managed to be so successful. They're both born salesmen, and they are very open about the problems they encountered, both in terms of production, and in terms of cranky performers. Friedman is also open about the split that occurred between the two men following Color Me Blood Red, which ended up not being resolved until Lewis had more or less retired from filmmaking. There are also many MANY outtakes from each of the films, theatrical trailers, a gallery of pertinent art work, and a rare Lewis gore short titled "Follow That Skirt".
This set is an absolute steal, typically running around $13 on Amazon. Buy it. Buy it now.