Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson

Easily one of the best documentaries of a life I have ever seen. The interviews were incredibly well done, honest and loving portrayals of their friend. Even folks that are not horror fans will enjoy this great piece of work. I have seen several of his movies, but I will definitely go back with my new knowledge of how they were made and enjoy them a second time.

What do Orson Welles, Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, Lon Chaney, Jr., Colonel Sanders, The Three Stooges, Charles Manson, an international UFO conspiracy, and a wrecked hot tub deep in the California desert all have in common?

Cinema schlock-meister Al Adamson, that's what. The creative force behind such drive-in classics as "Satan's Sadists", "Blazing Stewardesses" and "Dracula vs. Frankenstein", Adamson's oeuvre rivals Ed Wood in the pantheon of bad films. Like Wood, his life didn't end particularly well. As a matter of fact, it matches the title of one of his films - "Blood of Ghastly Horror".

This doc gives him his due. Unlike Wood, he had no delusions of grandeur. It's a very entertaining look at independent/exploitation filmmaking in the '60's and '70's.

Streaming on Tubi TV.

Really good documentary. I saw this on Shudder not knowing who he was, but I'm really glad I watched it. The ending was really sad and tragic. I liked the behind the scenes look at the b movie genre from back then.

Today, July 25th, we're cracking open a cold one for Al Adamson's birthday-toasting the man and this gonzo doc. I've yelled "Al Adamson!" mid-bite more times than I can count - his films makes it to the list of prandial accompaniment, perfect with takeout and cheap beer. If you've ever mainlined a midnight B-movie, you know his name scrawled in exploitation history's grime. If not, this documentary's a wild ride, whether you're a grindhouse junkie or just some curious normie slumming it for kicks.

We're not just here for the "tits and terror" of Adamson's grindhouse empire, but for the untamed spirit of a man who lived hard, made movies harder, and died harder still. David Gregory, the madman behind this doc, nails it-no sugarcoating, no cheap shots. This is a celebration of a guy who just wanted to make movies, any damn way he could. It's a dive into B-cinema's underbelly, complete with a murder-mystery finale straight out of one of his own scripts.

Picture it: late '60s, early '70s. Al's shooting on the fly, even at Spahn Ranch-Manson vibes lingering-while hustling paper routes to pay his crew. Legendary. He dragged Russ Tamblyn into his orbit (years before Tarantino quoted Satan's Sadists at him) and even strong-armed Colonel Sanders into feeding his sets with free buckets of chicken. That's how you run a schlock factory. Adamson wasn't just a director; he was a cinematic alchemist, Frankensteining foreign flicks with fresh gore and go-go girls, then reselling them as something new. He even had Oscar-winning cinematographers like Vilmos Zsigmond and Orson Welles' later-days shooter, Gary Graver, cutting their teeth on his sets and learning the "fast and loose" way. The doc's grainy interviews show the love his crew still holds for him-from the stockbroker-turned-"worst Dracula ever" to actresses who adored his generosity.

And then things get dark. The '90s roll in, and Adamson spirals into Beyond This Earth, a UFO documentary that apparently spooked his girlfriend, Stevee Ashlock, and longtime partner Sam Sherman into radio silence. They refused to discuss the project's unsettling impact on Adamson. Whispers of aliens, government spooks-it's like one of his plots, but terrifyingly real and Al vanishes.

No monster, no Satanic cult-but his own live-in contractor, a supposed friend, Fred Fulford. Murdered. Buried in concrete under his jacuzzi. A ghastly end for a man who lived for fun. Yet Blood & Flesh never forgets his spirit. It's a tribute to a guy who loved movies, no matter how wild or cheap. Proof that the the most interesting lives are lived on the fringes, and the biggest best dreams are built with duct tape and grit. Cheers to Al Adamson-lived hard, died harder, left us pure B-movie magic.

This was a documentary that I got turned on to thanks to podcasts. Al Adamson was a director that I had seen a couple of his films without realizing who he was at the time. One of them my father picked up on DVD, Horror of the Blood Monsters. He thought it was a movie that he saw growing up. The other was Blood of Dracula's Castle. That was one that I saw thanks to the Horror Show Guide Encyclopedia. This is one that I watched while at work as I treated it like a podcast.

This does a good job at detailing the life of Adamson. We learn about his start in film thanks to his father and how he didn't necessarily want to be an actor. He realized that he could be in the industry and make money. His low budget approach didn't always work, but it did eventually allow him to continue making films. It also allowed him to work with the likes of John Carradine, Russ Tamblyn and Lon Chaney Jr., amongst others. I did like to see actors who worked with Adamson recounting, both positive and negative, their experiences.

Going along with this, we also get similar filmmakers like Fred Olen Ray or from people who worked behind the camera like Vilmos Zsigmond. It is crazy to see people working with Adamson, then them go on to do bigger things as their career develops. It is fun to see how people got their start and then where it went, especially if they had mainstream success.

This unfortunately ends in tragedy as well. It is heartbreaking to hear, especially since everyone seems to mostly remember him in a positive light. Not that if he was a scoundrel that he deserves to be murdered. This does make a comment about the movies he made that it did only seem fitting he would meet his end in a similar fashion. It is truly sad. I did think that this would do well in moving through the different phases of his career and to where things ended up. It was interesting and I enjoyed my time here. I know that Adamson wasn't a great filmmaker, but I do have his filmography on my list. Would recommend it if you're a fan of him or just intrigued to learn more.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.