Blood Feast
Encyclopedia
Blood Feast is a 1963 American horror film
directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
, often considered the first "splatter film
". It was produced by David F. Friedman
. The screenplay was written by Alison Louise Downe, who had previously appeared in several of Lewis' other films. Lewis also wrote the film's score
. It was followed by Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat.
about an insane Egyptian
caterer who kills people so that he can include their body parts in his meals and perform sacrifices to his "Egypt
ian goddess" Ishtar
(the deity in question is actually Babylon
ian). Blood Feast immediately became notorious for its explicit blood, gore
and violence. Blood Feast is often cited erroneously as one of the first films to show people dying with their eyes open (earlier examples include D. W. Griffith
's 1909 film The Country Doctor
and the 1931 film The Public Enemy
).
Mal Arnold plays deranged murderer Fuad Ramses, described by author Christopher Wayne Curry in his book A Taste of Blood: The Films Of Herschell Gordon Lewis as "the original machete-wielding madman", and the forerunner to similar characters in Friday the 13th and Halloween
. Lewis said of the film, "I've often referred to Blood Feast as a Walt Whitman
poem. It's no good, but it was the first of its type."
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!
(1964) and Color Me Blood Red
(1965). After the third film, producer David F. Friedman said, "I think that for now we're going to abandon making any more 'super blood and gore' movies, since so many of our contemporaries are launching similar productions, causing a risk that the market will quickly reach a saturation point."
review of May 6, 1964 termed the film a "totally inept shocker", "incredibly crude and unprofessional from start to finish", and "an insult even to the most puerile and salacious of audiences". The review labeled the entire production a "fiasco", calling Louise Downe's screenplay "senseless" and the acting "amateurish". Of Lewis' direction, camerawork and musical composition, the review judged that he had "failed dismally on all three counts".
In response to Varietys criticism of the film, Friedman wrote: “Herschell and I have often wondered who told the Variety scribe we were taking ourselves seriously.”
Illinois metal band, Dance Club Massacre
used the film's original poster as the cover for the original pressing of their debut album, Feast of the Blood Monsters
.
in 1986, with the intention of making it a "spiritual sequel" to Blood Feast. An official sequel, Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
, was released in 2002. It marked the first time Lewis and Friedman worked together on a film in several years.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis is an American filmmaker, best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror...
, often considered the first "splatter film
Splatter film
A splatter film or gore film is a subgenre of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the...
". It was produced by David F. Friedman
David F. Friedman
David Frank Friedman was an American filmmaker and film producer.-Life and career:Friedman first became interested in entertainment after spending part of his childhood in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, traveling carnival sites. He met exploitation film pioneer Kroger Babb during his stay in...
. The screenplay was written by Alison Louise Downe, who had previously appeared in several of Lewis' other films. Lewis also wrote the film's score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
. It was followed by Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat.
Cast
- William Kerwin as Detective Pete Thornton
- Mal Arnold as Fuad Ramses
- Connie MasonConnie MasonConnie Mason is an American model and actress who was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its June 1963 issue. After winning Playmate of the Month, Mason started a career in film by starring in the gore movies pioneered by Herschell Gordon Lewis, Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs!...
as Suzette Fremont - Scott H. Hall as Frank, Police Captain
- Lyn Bolton as Mrs. Dorothy Fremont
- Toni Calvert as Trudy Sanders
- Ashlyn Martin as Marcy, girl on beach
- Sandra Sinclair as Pat Tracey
- Astrid Olson as Motel victim: Astrid Olson
- David F. FriedmanDavid F. FriedmanDavid Frank Friedman was an American filmmaker and film producer.-Life and career:Friedman first became interested in entertainment after spending part of his childhood in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, traveling carnival sites. He met exploitation film pioneer Kroger Babb during his stay in...
(uncredited) as Drunken husband - Herschell Gordon LewisHerschell Gordon LewisHerschell Gordon Lewis is an American filmmaker, best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror...
(uncredited) as Radio Announcer
Significance
Blood Feast is a low budget horror filmHorror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
about an insane Egyptian
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
caterer who kills people so that he can include their body parts in his meals and perform sacrifices to his "Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian goddess" Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
(the deity in question is actually Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
ian). Blood Feast immediately became notorious for its explicit blood, gore
Graphic violence
Graphic violence is the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as literature, film, television, and video games...
and violence. Blood Feast is often cited erroneously as one of the first films to show people dying with their eyes open (earlier examples include D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's 1909 film The Country Doctor
The Country Doctor (film)
The Country Doctor is a 1909 drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Prints of the film exist in the film archives of the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.-Cast:* Kate Bruce as Poor Mother...
and the 1931 film The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy is a 1931 American Pre-Code crime film starring James Cagney and directed by William A. Wellman. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld in prohibition-era urban America...
).
Mal Arnold plays deranged murderer Fuad Ramses, described by author Christopher Wayne Curry in his book A Taste of Blood: The Films Of Herschell Gordon Lewis as "the original machete-wielding madman", and the forerunner to similar characters in Friday the 13th and Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
. Lewis said of the film, "I've often referred to Blood Feast as a Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
poem. It's no good, but it was the first of its type."
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!
Two Thousand Maniacs!
Two Thousand Maniacs! is a low budget 1964 splatter film directed and written by Herschell Gordon Lewis. It is the second part of what the director's fans have dubbed "The Blood Trilogy", including Blood Feast and Color Me Blood Red...
(1964) and Color Me Blood Red
Color Me Blood Red
Color Me Blood Red is a low budget 1965 horror film directed and written by Herschell Gordon Lewis. Color Me Blood Red is the third part of what the director's fans have dubbed "The Blood Trilogy", including Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs! .-Film synopsis:An eccentric artist is criticized by...
(1965). After the third film, producer David F. Friedman said, "I think that for now we're going to abandon making any more 'super blood and gore' movies, since so many of our contemporaries are launching similar productions, causing a risk that the market will quickly reach a saturation point."
Critical reception
A VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
review of May 6, 1964 termed the film a "totally inept shocker", "incredibly crude and unprofessional from start to finish", and "an insult even to the most puerile and salacious of audiences". The review labeled the entire production a "fiasco", calling Louise Downe's screenplay "senseless" and the acting "amateurish". Of Lewis' direction, camerawork and musical composition, the review judged that he had "failed dismally on all three counts".
In response to Varietys criticism of the film, Friedman wrote: “Herschell and I have often wondered who told the Variety scribe we were taking ourselves seriously.”
Illinois metal band, Dance Club Massacre
Dance Club Massacre
Dance Club Massacre is an American extreme metal band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 2004, the group originated as a simple recording project between founding members Nick Seger and Kurt Latos...
used the film's original poster as the cover for the original pressing of their debut album, Feast of the Blood Monsters
Feast of the Blood Monsters
Feast of the Blood Monsters is the debut album by Dance Club Massacre. It was released on June 6, 2006 independently and was re-issued on July 10, 2007.- Release and information :...
.
Sequel
Jackie Kong directed the cult film Blood DinerBlood Diner
Blood Diner is a 1987 horror-comedy film, a loose remake of the 1963 film Blood Feast.-Plot:Blood Diner is a dark comedy/horror about two brothers, Michael Tutman and George Tutman becoming brainwashed by their serial killer uncle Anwar Namtut , into completing his task of resurrecting the...
in 1986, with the intention of making it a "spiritual sequel" to Blood Feast. An official sequel, Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, also known as Blood Feast 2: Buffet of Blood, is an exploitation-style splatter film written by W. Boyd Ford and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis as a sequel to Lewis's cult classic exploitation film Blood Feast...
, was released in 2002. It marked the first time Lewis and Friedman worked together on a film in several years.