Esteemed game designer and gentleman farmer Sandy Petersen comes to Jabootu and reviews a Herschell Gordon Lewis gore flick so you don’t have to…and more importantly, so I don’t have to. It’s not just paint that hits the canvas when some mysterious person apparently yells for no reason Color Me Blood Red.*
[FYI Liz, in your country it’s called Colour Me Blood Red. Just so you’re not confused. Also, you drive on the wrong side of the road.]
#1 by lyzard on November 3, 2009 - 10:10 pm
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Thanks to my THIS-close-to-legally-blind status, *I* don’t drive at all. So, nyah.
And yes, I *have* noticed your countrymen’s tendency to dumb things down…but I won’t say any more, for fear of setting Read off again. 🙂
#2 by Read MacGuirtose on November 4, 2009 - 12:50 am
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There is no cause for alarm. I’m unarmed. I have stepped away from the OED…
#3 by Read MacGuirtose on November 4, 2009 - 3:57 am
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(Though I will say this… does anyone else find it ironic that right after a month of Lovecraft reviews, Sandy Petersen shows up and contributes a review that has nothing to do with Lovecraft? Though admittedly I guess “HGL” isn’t too far from “HPL”…)
#4 by Cabal on November 4, 2009 - 1:09 pm
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Personally, I’m far less horrified by the gore effect than by the wood panelling. I guess that look was de rigeur for all the torture & mutilation dungeons of the swingin’ 60s…
#5 by Rel on November 4, 2009 - 3:19 pm
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It’s all an accident of history. Harsh British enforement of the taxes on Tea and spelling in 1772, led the Colonies into a revolutionary war under the leadership of the barbarian Nathaniel Webster. Britain pretented to lose out of politeness (always the Empire’s greatest weakness), and Americans have never been sure what to do with u’s or tea since. Really, we shouldn’t blame them.
#6 by Ken Begg on November 4, 2009 - 3:47 pm
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This from a nation that thinks a scone is better than a doughnut.
Oh, I’m sorry, is that ‘scoune’? Forgive me, I was busy sticking out my pinkie finger whilst holding my little cap of tea and tilting my head back to make sure my monocle doesn’t fall out.
#7 by lyzard on November 4, 2009 - 3:58 pm
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We actually prefer the lamington.
Mock all you want, but without stalwarts like Read and myself holding back the tide of bad spelling and sloppy grammar, we’re going to end up with a sociery in which everyone speaks and writes kitteh. Is that what you want!? ZOMG IZ TEH MADNESS!!1!
#8 by Rel on November 4, 2009 - 4:31 pm
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Mastery of the monocle is a mark of a true gentleman. Don’t give up.
As a Yorkshireman, I eat Parkin. Food isn’t proper food unless it’s heavier than copper.
To the point, though, I’m almost embarrased to say that I’ve never seen a Herschell Lewis film. Can he live up to the standard set by the mighty Ed Grinter’s Blood Freak?
#9 by The Rev. D.D. on November 4, 2009 - 9:42 pm
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If it comes to people using “kitteh” like that I’ll be on the front line against it with you noble defenders of the word. My inborn editor demands it. Plus, I’d actually be using my major for a change…
I already verbally assault people for saying “LOL” and “WTF” in everyday speech (barring intentional mockery or somesuch). Having said that, I find it very hard not to respond to Ms. Kingsley’s last sentence with “LOLWUT!?”
Rel–2000 Maniacs! is a much better movie than Blood Freak, as far as quality goes. I have a feeling none of HGL’s movies match the laugh factor of the latter, though. Of course, I’ve only seen two, so what the hell do I know?
(Other than the fact that, even with the turkey, Blood Freak is MUCH more fun and enjoyable than The Gore Gore Girls.)
#10 by The Rev. D.D. on November 4, 2009 - 9:43 pm
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Aw dammit, can someone fix my tags please? A bushel and a peck’s worth of thanks will be yours!
#11 by El Santo on November 4, 2009 - 11:09 pm
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I haven’t yet seen Blood Freak (although it beckons to me from the pile of unwatched tapes and discs beside my television), but I’d put Blood Feast up against practically anything in a duel of incompetence. Meanwhile, The Wizard of Gore‘s bafflement factor places it easily in the same class as Manos: The Hands of Fate, so I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of it comparing favorably on that score with a movie about a pot-smoking, blood-drinking were-turkey. I suppose the question is, can Lewis be as weird as Blood Freak and as lousy as Blood Freak at the same time?
#12 by MatthewF on November 5, 2009 - 3:31 pm
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But can 2000 Maniacs be as good as 2001 Maniacs? Good lord, my word, I say, that’s a jolly awful film. BTW Poirot, Miss Marple and anything with people wearing bonnets and shouting ‘Mister Darcy!’ are not actual representations of contemporary Britain.
#13 by lyzard on November 5, 2009 - 3:48 pm
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Come, come, MatthewF: next you’ll be suggesting that Australia isn’t full of convicts comparing knife sizes while dodging all the kangaroos that live in the middle of the city.
#14 by Thomas on November 5, 2009 - 8:31 pm
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The middle, no – but the suburbs.
#15 by MatthewF on November 6, 2009 - 1:21 am
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Lyz, I take it you can’t drive because all the corks hanging off your hat are obscuring your vision?
#16 by lyzard on November 6, 2009 - 3:49 am
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Too right, cobber! Stone the bleedin’ crows!
#17 by Rel on November 7, 2009 - 10:03 am
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Brad Grinter. I know the man’s name is Brad. Why did I type Ed?
Well Reverend, I took your advice and you know – I rather liked 2,000 Maniacs. It was strangely effective, particularly the closing sequence with the reveal of the monument and the Maniacs fading away in the dawn.
I also watched 2,001 Maniacs. That was not so effective, and it made me wonder. In terms of content the two films aren’t miles apart, but the seat-of-the-pants cheapness of the original has a charm that the remake’s patina of slickness simply can’t match for some reason. How does raising the technical adeptness result in a less satisfying film? Maybe there’s less sincerity to it, somehow? I don’t know.
Still, Maniacs is no Blood Freak, and I think (having read Mr. Peteresen’s review) that’s due to the fact that Lewis knew he was making cheap exploitation fare: I’m convinced that Grinter had no idea how insane what he was doing was.