Herschell Gordon Lewis, Godfather of Gore: The Films

by Randy Palmer

Without a big budget, special effects team, or professional actors and crew members, Herschell Gordon Lewis created films that he himself admits were trash. Yet, while Gordon's softcore porn ( The Adventures of Lucky Pierre ) and heavy-duty gore ( The Gruesome Twosome ) were never blockbuster films, they were popular drive-in fare in the sixties and seventies. They have had a strong influence over more recent productions, and they have created for Lewis his own special niche in the world of exploitation and horror film. The history of Lewis the man and the filmmaker is a surprising one. Behind titles like Blood Feast and The Gore-Gore Girls is a warm and friendly gentleman whose road to his own brand of film glory was paved with disappointments, surprising successes, and lots and lots of fake blood. His career is examined in detail, with personal anecdotes and insights into making really gross movies on really small budgets. A filmography is included, and photographs, many of them rare, complement the text.

Genres: Media Tie In

203 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

Reviews

[Printable Tire]

I've been wanting to read this book since 2004, and so, my friends, I finally got around to reading it, long after "HG Lewis mania" has left me.

Nonetheless, it's pretty good. It is by no means a critical evaluation of HG Lewis' work, or even insightful or exciting, but the fanboy in me enjoyed the anecdotes and press-release style narration. It's too bad the author didn't interview anyone but HG Lewis, as the whole story unfolds very one-sidedly, and adds up to nothing more than propaganda for HG Lewis the man. Also, strangely, the remake of Blood Feast in the 80's wasn't mentioned. But all in all it's a good book if you want to get some tantalizing insights into the behind-the-scenes of the first no-budget gore films, which to this day are still pretty freaking disgusting, and very original.

HG Lewis is a cheap bastard and proud of the fact. He likes the muppets and now does junk mail marketing. Maybe that spam you just deleted was written by him. Who knows?

From this book came the ingredients to some of the blood we used in the Grateful Undead, and my poorly executed plan of using gross animal parts I bought in Chinatown for the gore scenes. We only used a couple, and the rest rotted in the fridge! It was gross, folks! Turns outs dough works for body parts just as well.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hershel Gordon lewis, the maestro of 60's and 70's exploitation film. You have to love schlock to love his movies, same with this book.