Blood Feast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Blood Feast | |
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| Directed by | Herschell Gordon Lewis |
| Produced by | David F. Friedman |
| Written by | Allison Louise Downe, David F. Friedman, Herschell Gordon Lewis |
| Starring | William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason, Lyn Bolton, Scott H. Hall |
| Distributed by | Box Office Spectaculars |
| Release date(s) | July 6, 1963 |
| Running time | 67 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24,500 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Blood Feast, a 1963 film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, is an American exploitation film often considered the first "gore" or splatter film. It was produced by David F. Friedman. The screenplay was written by Alison Louise Downe, an actress who had previously appeared in several of Lewis's other films. Lewis also wrote the film's score.
Well loved by members of Lewis's small but loyal cult, as well as by some bad 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 god" (the deity in question is actually Babylonian, and female), Ishtar. 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. (An effect achieved with fake blood and a sheep's tongue.) Blood Feast is also one of the first films to show people dying with their eyes open.
The film has also been noted for its bad direction and terrible acting. Particularly entertaining was the amateurish performance of Mal Arnold, playing the part of deranged murderer Fuad Ramses, called by author Christopher Wayne Curry in his book A Taste of Blood: The Films Of Herschell Gordon Lewis "the original 'machete-wielding madman', and the forerunner" to similar characters in the Friday the 13th and Halloween series of films.
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! and Color Me Blood Red.
Jackie Kong directed the cult favorite Blood Diner in 1986, with the intention of making it a "spiritual sequel" to Blood Feast. A comedic sequel/remake, Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, was released in 2002. It marked the first time Lewis and Friedman worked together on a movie in several years.
