Bloodmania

Like the vast majority of Herschel Gorden Lewis's 37 films, Bloodmania is kind of a stinker. Lewis isn't exactly known for being a cinematic masterpiece, even among those fans who have only seen his popular gore films and Bloodmania won't be changing anyone's mind. This is a cheap production that seeks to cut corners on not only the budget but also on things like character development, acting, and writing. A few of the shorts sort of capture a modern take on Lewis's mid century classics but overall they have the feeling of trying too hard to become some sort of cult classic. I'm not sure I'd suggest this to anyone other than a Lewis completionist as they offer very little in the way of novel ideas, scenes, or effects.

Herschell Gordon Lewis is a name that should be far more familiar to horror and film fans than it is, he basically invented gore and splatter films. His films were also always laced with a sense of humour and, in particular, satire.

In BloodMania, his last directorial effort before his untimely and sad death, he plays host to four short tales of the comically macabre and diabolically bloody. He also directs two segments and writes one.

I am very happy to report that for a low budget, independent anthology film, BloodMania is a sheer delight. Gorehounds will love it, horror fans will love it, HGL fans will love it and indie movie fans will love it. Hopefully a few curious viewers will stumble upon this and love it too!! It has all the bloodletting, humour, horror, scares, weirdness, monsters and maniacs you could want, plus, of course, PUNS galore!

It's also tightly directed, with fantastic "have to be seen to be believed" effects, a strong, enjoyable cast and a couple of rocking tunes!

It is a fantastically fitting send off for the Godfather of Gore and one that cements his legacy as a joyous jester of the jugular and the ballsy baron of blood that films so sadly lack these days. We needed Herschell and him, along with his wonderful cast and crew, delivered with the awesome BloodMania!

Infamous splatter pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis acts as host for this low-budget horror anthology that also sees the 'godfather of gore' directing two out of the four segments.

The first story, Gory Story, is directed by Lewis, and is absolute garbage: it follows a man who is possessed by the hook he has instead of a hand, and clumsily mixes comedy and gore as the weirdo injures his leg, pokes out his eye and gets run over by a steamroller and hit by a car. The bloodletting is fine (the mangled corpse is cool) but this episode as a whole rivals Troma at its very worst.

Next up is Attack of Conscience, directed by Melanie Reinboldt, which ups the ante on the first tale in terms of gore with a body falling from a height onto concrete (resulting in a very messy splat), a crucifixion, and a spurting neck wound! The somewhat confusing plot involves a pregnant woman who discovers that her lover is already married, takes revenge, gets shot, and spends the next decade in a coma dreaming that she is being killed in a variety of ways.

Herschell takes the directing reins again for the third segment, The Night Hag, which focuses less on the gore and more on creepy atmosphere (having said that, there is a splattery decapitation at the start). The story sees a family move into a new home only to find that a supernatural hag lives in the walls and likes to eat people's hair (removing their scalp to do so!). It's not a bad attempt by Lewis to do something a little different, although the comical ending in which the family are shown completely bald undoes some of the good work.

The final episode is GOREgeous, from director Kevin Littlelight, and ends things on a very messy note. Stuart Bentley plays Gordo, manager of an all-girl rock band, who loses the plot and goes on a murderous rampage when he is fired. The focus is on nudity and blood, the girls in the band missing no opportunity to get naked before being carved up by Gordo. The impressive effects include a great throat slashing, and a juicy scissors in the back/disembowellment (which make up for the awful 'running machine chase scene' gag).

As is often the case with anthologies, this is a mixed bag, ranging from the bearable to the atrocious, but with enough blood and guts to satisfy most fans of Lewis (who, let's face it, probably aren't expecting a masterpiece).

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 in the memory of HGL.

Herschell Gordon Lewis is widely recognized as the father of splatter cinema. His "Blood Feast" introduced audiences to shocking, gory scenes (it must've looked especially grotesque way back when, as audiences had gotten used to the limits imposed by the Hays Code).

Lewis died in 2016, but not before gracing us with one last movie, released after his death. "BloodMania" is an anthology film, with the segments (each introduced by the master himself) ranging from the bland to the lovably gory, and even one functioning as a satire on the media.

It's no match for Lewis's directorial debut, but horror fans will probably enjoy it, if only for a couple of shots of the girl group. I hope to see more of the guy's movies in the coming years.

Herschell Gordon Lewis' BloodMania (2017)

** (out of 4)

This anthology horror film turned out to be the last directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis who did two of the four stories. Up first is Gory Story from Lewis, which is about a man who is possessed by a hook he uses for his hand. Attack of Conscience deals with a woman seeking vengeance on a dirty man. The Night Hag, also directed by Lewis, has a new family moving into a house and thinking something is there. Finally, GOREgeous has a weirdo manager of an all-girls rock band finally flipping out.

From the opening credits to the last, there's no question that this movie was meant to pay respect to Lewis as well as get him behind the camera again. Was the film a success? I would argue no but at the same time it's good to get another Lewis picture even if it can't stand up to his classics. With that said, the film is still better than a lot of the movies he released back in the day.

As with any anthology movie, the stories are certainly going to be of a different quality. I'd say that the second film was the least entertaining as there just really wasn't anything interesting going on. The story was rather boring and the CGI murders were just silly. The next weakest would be the first story from Lewis. I'm not sure if the point was to make fun of the media but it's just not as clever as it should have been. The Night Hag from Lewis is a somewhat interesting idea that has Lewis briefly going away from the gore to do a 70's like movie about a creepy woman living in the walls. The final film is probably the best if you're wanting gore as there are several graphic murders in the Lewis style.

This here is mainly going to appeal to fans of Lewis who want to see everything that the director did. The highlight of the entire film is the fact that Lewis plays hosts and introduces the films. That great voice was still there and there's no doubt that this is the best part of the film. There's some real blood used but there's way too much CGI and I'd argue that none of the stories are overly good. Still, the last two are certainly the best of the bunch.