Get Off the Road

The theme song from Herschell Gordon Lewis' movie "She Devils on Wheels". An incredible, fun, violent, and dirty flick. The best female biker movie ever made...and also one of the best movie theme songs! Herschell wrote the song himself! Here's "Get Off the Road". Enjoy.

INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS

Before the advent of the Internet there was a series of over sized trade paperback periodicals called Re/Search. They were about all sorts of bizarre counter-culture subjects, from strange outsider music to pranks to bizarre fiction, movies, and other off-the-wall treasures that you could find nowhere else. The Re-Search series flourished throughout the 1980's through the very early 1990's. Most were edited by V. Vale and Andrea Juno and featured articles, interviews, and essays by a wide variety of writers. My favorite of these books was "Incredibly Strange Films"(Re/Search #10, published in 1985). This book helped turn me on to wide variety of bizarre directors and films. Some in the book I already knew about, but this book helped me learn more about them and discover more of their films. Others I had never heard of, and I immediately and hungrily sought out their work.

"Incredibly Strange Films" is a real treasure trove of information on bizarre American cinema. It is chock full of in depth interviews with directors, essays, and other information on several pieces of classic and unheard of cult cinema, some of which you may have seen reviewed here. There is also exhaustive coverage of several cult cinema sub-genres, such as mondo films, women in prison films and LSD flicks. There are interviews and in-depth coverage of some of my favorite directors their lifetime production of films.

I will give you a list of some of the directors featured in this book, and the movies in parenthesis are the ones that have been reviewed here so far.

Russ Meyer (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill)

Ted V. Mikels ( Corpsegrinders 2, Mark of the Astro Zombies)

Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case 2, Brain Damage, Frankenhooker)

Larry Cohen (Black Caesar)

Herschell Gordon Lewis (Bloodfeast 1 and 2, The Wizard of Gore, The Gore-Gore Girls)

Ray Dennis Steckler (Rat Phink a Boo Boo)

Essay on Jack Hill's Spider Baby

There are a lot of movies featured in this book, many that I have yet to discover, and some that I have yet to share with you. Just pick this book up if you can. Even though it came out in the 1980's, I have not seen another publication to cover so thoroughly the joy and wonders of the American cult film.

THE WIZARD OF GORE

The Wizard of Gore(1970), directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, is an infamous and bizarre artifact of American cult cinema. It is a about a stage magician who inflicts horrifying and gruesome damage to the participants in his stage shows. Brains are fondled and drilled, eyes are gouged, bowels are cut open and played with....all under the unflinching and unforgiving camera of H.G. Lewis. The bizarre twist with this movie is that Montag is a master of illusion. He performs all of these terrible acts on stage, yet when his victims stand up and walk away it appears as if nothing happened to them. That is until after they leave the auditorium and they collapse in a pile of gore. This movie has an hallucinatory quality, as welcome as a bad acid trip, yet you can't take your eyes away. The acting is terrible and overdone, the lighting is freakish and overbearing, everybody is greasy looking through lack of proper make-up. Yet there is something about this movie that I cannot resist. The gore effects are stomach wrenching and top notch for their time and even today. H.G. Lewis had his own stage blood formula that was gruesomely realistic. Montag's character is particularly disgusting and wooden. He is always questioning the very nature of reality in his stage monologues. The real kicker in this movie is the bizarre twist ending that will completely blow your mind and make you wonder "What the hell were they thinking?" The ending questions the very essence of reality, what is real, and what is not, and makes you question your sanity. You've sat through almost an hour and a half of unbridled gore and bad acting for this? The answer is 'yes' and the shock of the ending is what gives this movie it's charm. The overall effect is maddening, and it makes you appreciate "The Wizard of Gore" even more for all of it's badness. This is not your typical H.G.Lewis movie. His works for the most part are looser and more fun. There's something about the wayward experimentalism of this movie that I can't get enough of. One of H.G. Lewis' darkest and best.

Here's a trailer...


And here's the first ten minutes of the movie. Enjoy.

2001 MANIACS

I was at my local video store a while back desperate for something to watch. I came across "2001 Maniacs"(2004). It is a remake of the hillbilly cannibal classic "2000 Maniacs"(1965) directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
I have heard about the remake before, but I had my doubts. I am no fan of remakes. Why would someone want to remake this film anyway? Wasn't it good enough already? Well, I gave it a chance, and it blew me away! I was not disappointed.
Let me start by saying it is neither better nor worse than the original. It is a modern version of the story, which means more gore, better production, more risque subject matter, and other things they couldn't show back in 1965, such as sex and nudity galore. "2001 Maniacs" is a pure, fun, hillbilly cannibal movie.
The story, in short, is some college students on spring break head down to Florida and take a false detour. They wind up in Pleasant Valley, a town of population 2001, whose residents were all civilians who were slaughtered by the north in the Civil War. Every year, they come back to life, lure in some Yankees, torture them, and cook them up for some barbecue.
The movie has the same sense of dread as the original. It is just as tortuous to watch. The murder scenes are highly creative and do not simply recreate the ones from "2000 Maniacs". It even has a twist on the ending, which I prefer over the original. Robert Englund does a great job as portraying the Confederate mayor of the town. You can tell that the director and cast were having a great time paying tribute to this classic of gore cinema. The production is simply breathtaking compared to its predecessor. The acting is well above average. "2001 Maniacs" is a movie made for the modern horror fan, and hopefully it will revive interest in the works of the gore classics of yore made by Herschell Gordon Lewis, The Godfather of Gore.

BLOOD FEAST VS. BLOOD FEAST 2, OR THE RETURN OF THE GODFATHER OF GORE

Everybody know who Herschell Gordon Lewis is? He made the first gore film, BLOODFEAST, back in 1963. It showed tongues being ripped out, brains being gouged, and people dying with their eyes open. When it was showing at drive-ins it caused traffic jams. Although mostly known for gore, he made other films based on social commentary like SHE DEVILS ON WHEELS and SUBURBAN ROULETTE. He stopped making movies in the very early '70's. All have extremely poor acting, and a low budget, but are very entertaining. Except for BLOOD FEAST.
The problem I have with this movie is it has a snail's pace, the acting is horrid, and you want to take a shower after watching it. Don't get me wrong. I love bad movies. I've seen tons. And I know the ones to stay away from and this is one of them. But for some reasons you can't take youre eyes away...
And 40 years later here comes BLOOD FEAST 2! I was skeptical at first but I broke down and bought it. A new Herschell movie!!!!!
Let me give you the story behind the two movies: in the first one, Fuad Ramses is a caterer who is possesed by the goddess Ishtar. He must find women to kill and mutilate in the basement of his catering business so he can give a human sacrifice to Ishtar. Of course the police catch up to him and he is killed. Now, Bloodfeast 2. Fuad Ramses' grandson moves into the same catering place run by his grandfather and becomes possessed by Ishtar. Of course he goes on a killing spree and serves his victims to his guests. Many bizarre twists ensue…
BLOOD FEAST 2 is very fun. H G LEWIS did a great job directing and the acting is good, the production is smooth, the writing good. There is tons of gore and some naked women, and a rockin' soundtrack by SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS. It doesn't take itself too seriously and is especially vicious when it shows how slow the police are at figuring things out.
This movie is great fun and what a comeback for Herschell! And may I mention there's a cameo by John Waters? Buy Bloodfeast 2 now and go rent or borrow the first one.

Heres's the trailer for the first Blood Feast.


Here's John Waters as a priest in Blood Feast 2.

THE GORE GORE GIRLS

"Nothing has ever stripped your nerves as screamingly raw as THE GORE GORE GIRLS!" So goes the promo for this Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter fest.....and for once the teaser is dead-on because you will be needing a shower, some psyhco-therapy, and a barf bag(if you're the squeamish type) after you've feasted your eyes on this blood feast to end all blood feasts!

Made in 1972 at the end of H.G Lewis' career as a filmmaker, THE GORE GORE GIRLS pulls no punches. H.G. Lewis(a.k.a "The Godfather of Gore") was embittered with film-making at the time so he made a gore film that would be his most extreme and memorable and yet poke fun at all the trappings of the genre.

And extreme it is! This movie is all out gore. There is no point in mentioning the plot, and the acting is wooden and overdone simultaneously....by far the worst acting ever in an H. G. Lewis film.

So here's the deal. Go-go dancers are being gruesomely murdered in ways unheard of and we are shown every deep red detail. The camera does not flinch. It stays glued on the mayhem, and you have no choice but to watch more. You will see eyes gouged out, faces deep-fried until the skin melts off, brains and intestines everywhere, faces burned with irons, buttocks tenderized with a meat tenderizer until they bleed, nipples cut off with scissors(white milk comes out of one, chocolate milk comes out the other).....you get the point.
There is a detective out there looking for the killer somewhere, but the way this movie is made, you don't care if they find the killer or not because it's just gore gore gore all the way through!
Do you have the nerve to tackle THE GORE GORE GIRLS? I hope so, because if you don't, you're missing out...
'Til next time,
"I ain't nothing but a gore hound"

Here's a hilarious go-go dancing clip from the movie: