15 Films So Bad They're Good

We get a taste of what’s in store in Blood Feast’s trailer, which opens with actor William Kerwin announcing that the following picture “Contains scenes which under no circumstances should be viewed by anyone with a heart condition or anyone who is easily upset.” Thus intrigued, we’re shown a succession of ‘highlights’, including bashed-in heads, ripped-out hearts and torn-off limbs. To make sure we fully understand, an onscreen caption reads: “Nothing so appalling in the annals of horror!”

Viewed today, of course, the picture looks as cheap and sloppy as Plan 9 From Outer Space. ‘Actors’ attempt to express shock by raising their hands to their faces, show their consternation by crossing their arms and try to look pensive by touching their chin. The lead detective, though a “keen student” of Egyptian folklore, can’t connect the wave of mutilation murders and the weird local caterer (who dyes his hair and eyebrows the same ash grey) who’s planning an “Egyptian feast.” And then there’s Connie Mason.

Performing her part as though she were reading the script aloud into the mirror, the Playmate is a fascinatingly vacuous lead, the perfect choice for a film that’s laughably amateurish in every respect. Blood Feast, director Herschell Gordon Lewis claims, is like a Walt Whitman poem – it’s no good, but it’s the first of its type.