Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore

MOVIE #1,428 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 03.11.24 Today I’m closing the books on my Frank Henenlotter DF, bringing closure to his oeuvre with reviews of three documentaries he directed or co-directed in the 2010s. For the record, I couldn’t locate his 2014 movie Chasing Banksy, which is apparently a non-horror comedy that looks like quite the departure from the trailer. (From a YouTube comment posted three weeks ago on that page, it appears this might see the light of day soon however: “Going in and tweaking the edit with Frank next month. Stay tuned. I’m projecting end of the year. We’ll do a limited indie theatrical run with a 35mm print.” So that's interesting.) This doc has a fairly boilerplate style but the content is handled lovingly.

We get right into the movies with almost no backstory on Hershell Gordon Lewis, the man. This was completed six years before Lewis passed away and he's interviewed extensively. Known as the titular “godfather of gore,” Gordon worked in a range of exploitation film genres including juvenile delinquent films, nudie-cuties, but is most notable for essentially creating the "splatter" subgenre of horror films.

There are a number of engaged talking heads, most notably the great John Waters, who is extremely happy to be talking about Lewis and how important his films are. Personally, these movies are a blind spot for me, but he’s definitely a director I want to tackle soon.

As we go chronologically through nearly his entire filmography, another highlight is getting to see Lewis and his production partner David F. Friedman visiting old locations where they shot. Hershell is a fascinating figure in film history, as he took a prolonged retirement for three decades where he worked as a highly successful career in business and actually published over 20 books on advertising and direct marketing, among other topics. He then returned to filmmaking in his late 70s into early 80s, making a handful of gore pics, including a sequel to his beloved Blood Feast in 2002. The thirty-year break is probably not that interesting, but I wish we could have gotten a little more of a glimpse into his decision to walk away from the arts for so long.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
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Gory, Gory, Hallelujah! Take an outrageous ride through the wild world of exploitation films with this often-hilarious documentary, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS, THE GODFATHER OF GORE! It was released on July 1, 2010.