Woodyanders
This zippy and engrossing documentary covers the controversial career of trailblazing indie horror gore guru Herschell Gordon Lewis. Among the subjects covered are how Lewis started out as a school teacher and working in advertising, making nudie cuties, his partnership with the always folksy and rambunctious David F. Friedman, launching the splatter craze with "Blood Feast," Florida exploitation staple Bill Kerwin, the hopelessly wooden "acting" of Playboy Playmate Connie Mason, doing hired hack directorial assignments in the mid to late 1960's, putting plugs for fried chicken in his movies, and Lewis' well-deserved status as both a cult icon and brazen cinematic pioneer. Besides Lewis, who comes across as quite a modest and engaging fellow, we also get fun and illuminating interviews with drive-in cinema critic Joe Bob Briggs and Los Angeles times film critic Kevin Thomas, actors Mal Arnold, Jerome Eden, Ray Sagar, and Vincent Santo, noted adult photographer Bunny Yeager, trash flick historian Frank Henenlotter (who also co-directed), cinematographers Andy Romanoff and Steven Poster, and the ubiquitous John Waters. Loaded with a wealth of choice clips, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage, it's absolutely essential viewing for Herschell Gordon Lewis aficionados.
Michael_Elliott
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Very good documentary from director Frank Henenlotter (BASKET CASE) taking a look at the career of cult filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis. Even though the title draws attention to his horror films, the documentary covers his entire career, which includes nudies, educational shorts and just about any genre that was going against what Hollywood was making. Outside the first fifteen-minutes or so, this here is an incredibly entertaining and very funny documentary. I say it starts off somewhat weak simply because the exploitation genre has already had several documentaries done on it so nothing here is all that fresh or original. The film really picks up when we hit the nudie pictures but especially the horror movies. We get all sorts of interesting tidbits on BLOOD FEAST, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS and COLOR ME BLOOD RED including some cast members being interviewed. We also get to hear from the L.A. Times film critic who went into BLOOD FEAST not really knowing what to expect. As a fan of these films, it's was really fun getting to see all the outtakes as well as getting new interviews with some of the cast members. The documentary also does a nice job taking a look at what the director was doing after these films. The director himself is interviewed about the films as is David F. Friedman, Henenlotter, Jerome Eden, John Waters, Mal Arnold, Bunny Yeager and Joe Bob Briggs. Fans of exploitation and the director will certainly want to check this one out.
nickyak
Packed with more gore and nudity than any documentary I can think of, THE GODFATHER OF GORE is almost like watching a "Greatest Hits" list of Lewis' films, so I'm hoping new comers will be enticed to go back and check out these precursors to Friday THE 13th and HALLOWEEN, and the haters may see what a great guy (if not the greatest director) Herschell Gordon Lewis was (and still is).Even though I've been a fan of Lewis since reading about him in the 4th issue of FANGORIA way back when, have read 3 books about him, and have met and spoke with him and David Friedman, I still learned some things about him in this wonderfully entertaining and educational tribute that any horror fan interested in the roots of modern horror cinema would be crazy to miss.
PKazee
More than just a review of Lewis's career, this excellent film presents a history of early independent exploitation film production, an era - says Lewis - that had its fate sealed when Sam Peckinpah adapted what Lewis was doing and released THE WILD BUNCH with major studio money behind it.Includes interviews with John Waters, Joe Bob Briggs, Frank Henenlotter, Drew Friedman and - of course - the master himself, H.G. Lewis. And naturally, there are clips and/or trailers from many of his films, incl. "Blood Feast", Two Thousand Maniacs!", "She-Devils on Wheels," "Just for the Hell of It", "Blast-Off Girls", "Gruesome Twosome" and "Wizard of Gore". It really doesn't get much more fun that this.
AD
