Blood Feast-1963

Director H.G.Lewis

Starring Thomas Wood, Connie Mason

Scott’s Review #100

Reviewed July 10, 2014

Grade: B-

Blood Feast (1963) is the debut film by horror master H.G. Lewis, who invented the gore genre.

The film is simplistic and makes his later films almost seem a big budget.

This film is not meant to be taken seriously and anyone who does is completely missing the point. It is exploitation, but completely over-the-top, with wooden performances for laughs, specifically by Connie Mason, who stinks.

The story involves a demented caterer who is hired by a mother to cater an Egyptian-themed dinner party. He, of course, uses real body parts to complete the meal is obsessed with some silly curse, and owns a female Egyptian statue that talks to him.

The kills are laughing out loud in their basic shock value and all the victims are women.

One victim’s tongue is torn out, as another is whipped to death, which, in a more modern film like Saw would be horrific. But the kills are so comedic, and the gore blood so amateurish, that the audience cannot help but chuckle.

The highlight for me was the intentionally (let’s hope) horrendous acting by all involved.

I much prefer H.G. Lewis’s later films, but this blueprint is a nice introduction.