Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

If you went into this, taking it seriously, then the problem is at your end. The acting, props, special effects and story line are supposed to be hokey. Don't believe me? Then watch the movie with the Herschell Gordon Lewis and David F. Friedman commentary.

The story, is simple, sacrifice women to appease and resurrect the Egyptian Goddess Ishtar.

There is plenty of gore, and considering this is pre-FX, pretty impressive. Utilizing items such as chicken skin, studio blood mixed with Kaopectate to give it texture and a rotten lamb tongue (more on this later). This was how American Gore all started, this was the flagship and I value the ingenuity.

Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold) overacts to a degree that is comical and it fits perfectly. Ramses is killing and mutilating young women in a Florida suburb, taking bloody souvenirs to the idol of his revered goddess Ishtar, (which is a store Mannequin painted gold in a Channel dress). There are a series of quality kills, for its time and if you keep your mindset, in a place that accommodates 50/60's exploitation, I promise you, you'll enjoy yourself.

There is one kill I do want to mention. Ramses infiltrates (surprisingly powerful for a short, thin gimp) Aldrid Olson, (whom by the way, was found by David Friedman at the Playboy mansion, he went there in search of an attractive woman with a large mouth(for the tongue scene), this is also where he found Connie Mason). Anyway, I digress, Ramses, proceeds to rip out Aldrid's tongue. This scene, as amateurish as the special effects were, was ghastly. The tongue was gruesome and in all actuality, it really was. It had once belonged to a sheep, it was a real tongue. The story behind it is that the production team had to obtain it from a slaughter house in Tampa, which was quite a haul from the production set. While it was resting in a refrigeration unit, the power had gone out and the tongue quickly became rank. However, getting a replacement was not possible due to scheduling restrictions. The solution was attributed to Scott H. Hall (if I remember right); he drenched the tongue in Pinesol which rectified the stench. Pretty gross, I'd say.

The movie is well worth the watch, I also encourage you to re-watch it with the commentary.

Happy Horrors

I discovered Herschell Gordon Lewis through a reference in the movie Juno, and Blood Feast is my first Lewis film experience. Also known as the "Godfather of Gore," Lewis is best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror films. He made several nudie films in the early Sixties (Living Venus, B-O-I-N-G!, Adventures of Lucky Pierre, and Goldilocks and the Three Bares, none of which I've seen) before making Blood Feast in 1963. Blood Feast is considered to be the first "gore" film. I can only imagine what it would have been like to experience this unprecedented and sensational film at a drive-in theater.

Blood Feast tells the story of Fuad Ramses, an insane Egyptian caterer (insert Talking Head's song "Psycho Killer" here), who is killing nubile young hotties for their body parts to serve at an Egyptian Blood Feast in honor of the Egyptian goddess Ishtar. Is the film violent? One scene depicts the deranged caterer ripping the tongue out of a young woman's mouth. Badly acted, badly directed, and badly plotted, Blood Feast is nevertheless a must-see cult classic that opened the door to later horror films such as the Friday the 13th and Halloween series. As the trailer warns, Blood Feast is not for small children or the faint of heart.

G. Merritt