The official Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis is an extremely intelligent and avuncular man which totally contrasts with the blood and entrail soaked, ultra-violent horror movies he landed on us during the 1960s and early 1970s. Totally tasteless in every respect, former Professor of English Literature, Lewis freely admits that there was no artistry in his films and everything he did was a calculated move to bring in money. Lewis achieved notoriety for his first 'gore' picture Blood Feast. Very much mannequin limbs hacked off and entrails up the jumper, the film nevertheless contained scenes of such gut wrenching violence, it still makes an impact to this day. Lewis followed up terrible gore movie after gore movie. 2000 Maniacs! is probably his best feature, but the Wizard of Gore is hot on its heels. Looking At The Gore Gore Girls - Lewis' final horror movie, the viewer will see the very essence of 'bad taste' in cinema including strippers being killed by having their faces totally mashed in scenes of carnage that are just plain disgusting and horrible to watch. Lewis tried to temper the insane gore with humour - cutting off a stripper's nipple which spout ordinary milk and chocolate milk. Lewis never gave a tinker's hoot about film craftsmanship. He retired in the 1970s to make millions of dollars in direct marketing but he left a legacy of thoroughly disgusting and shameless movies whose upfront nastiness has rarely been rivalled in cinema more than 40 years later. Which other depraved maniac directors deserve to be on this list? Share your picks below in the comments thread.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
