On its initial release, Herschell Gordon Lewis classic delivered something viewers had seen before - young women in a state of undress having their tongues torn out and brains smashed in by a saucer-eyed lunatic. In those pre-VHS days, patrons lined up to watch a film theyd never get to see elsewhere, whose trailer claimed the picture contains scenes which under no circumstances should be viewed by anyone with a heart condition or anyone who is easily upset. Fake medical personnel were stationed outside rural Drive-ins, dispensing barf bags that proclaimed, Youll need this after watching Blood Feast, a gimmick that paid off to the tune of $4 million in box office receipts. Viewed today, of course, the picture looks as cheap and sloppy as Plan 9 From Outer Space. Lewis, though, remains refreshingly unpretentious, objecting to the auteur label while cheerfully admitting that the acting, effects and staging in his signature film are all terrible. Blood Feast, he likes to point out, is like a Walt Whitman poem its no good, but its the first of its type.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
