It would not be a list of controversial films without the godfather of gore himself Herschell Gordon Lewis.
This man, shocking as it is, has not been on the blog?! Lewis directed the usual nudie cuties before getting into horror, and he was trying specifically to show what Alfred Hitchcock had not. That was his goal, as I read about this movie on wikipedia.
Blood Test was also known as Egyptian Blood Fest, and has all the hallmarks of what I more expected to see on the Video Nasty list. One take, unlit, non professional actors hamming it up in essentially plotless, artless films. Not to say Blood Feast is a bad movie. From what I’ve seen of Lewis, he is able to dig into that “slimy fun” aspect that can be had and make it funny.
This is probably what created cult film. I mean sure, German expressionism and sex in film and other things had people seeking out specific things before this, but films like Rocky Horror, which is perhaps the most popular cult film, are drafting off this. The “hokeyness” specifically, the ridiculousness. Characters that are outrageous and bizarre, that if they had a mustache would literally twirl it.
It’s barely over an hour long. To start with. And the plot, I mean is this a plot? A woman goes to the butcher and says they want a “special party” and the butcher says he recommends an Egyptian Feast. He kills a girl and rips out her tongue. He books another feast. He kills another girl. That continues.
This could barely last 10 minutes longer, as it is you might check the clock as I did a few times. There is one concept here, and its not one with much in the way of legs. On the Nasty list for the gore and some cannibalism, I get it, especially for 1963. I give it probably 3.5 stars.
Argument for Video Nasty
3/10 on the Nasty Meter
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