Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat

1963's Blood Feast is not particularly well known to most people that are not hardcore horror fans, but it's actually quite a remarkable film; and one of the first to use extreme gore, which makes it rather influential also. On paper, it's not all that surprising that such as a remarkable film got a sequel - even if it is almost forty years on from its release - the surprising thing about this film is the fact that it wasn't just made by someone who wanted to imitate Blood Feast's creator, it's actually The Godfather of Gore himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis, sitting in the director's chair! And despite the fact that it's thirty years on from his previous director's credit, he has lost none of his thirst for blood and guts! Essentially, the film is just a remake of the original and features an almost identical plot. We focus on Fuad Ramses III; a chef who just happens to be the grandson of the killer in the first film, and he also just happens to worship the same Egyptian God - so naturally it's not long before girls start being butchered...

Aside from a bucket of gore, Herschell has also kept the other things that made his older films such a blast in place - and that includes awful acting, poorly written characters and a very simple plot. He does appear to have moved with the times slightly as the effects are a bit better, plus the film features modern fashions...but other than that, the film could have been made in The Godfather of Gore's heyday. Lewis has lost none of his sense of humour either, with hilarious dialogues, ridiculous situations and even amusing character names (Bambi Deere, Laci Hundees) features. The plot basically just skips from gore scene to gore scene, but there's some interesting stuff in-between the gore; including a police investigation that even the most dim-witted of officers would have solved in about five minutes. Lead actor J.P. Delahoussaye unsurprisingly doesn't have many other film credits to his name; but he really is a blast in this one and gives a lead performance very much in Herschell's trademark style. Of course, it's the gore that is the real star and the film really does feature plenty, so HG fans rejoice! It all boils down to a typically ridiculous ending, but who cares? Blood Feast 2 is an absolutely great gore flick and while it's certainly a lot more redundant than the original - in its own right I wouldn't hesitate to call it one of Herschell's best and any fan of the director will surely want to track this down!

Finally an official sequel to Blood Feast (Blood Diner was an unofficial one, not having seen it yet, i can't say if it's better or worse though). JP Delahoussaye (man, that's a mouthful) plays Fuad Ramses, the grandson of the original Istar worshiping nut-zoid. Anyways he re-opens the old place & before long he's in his own grandfather's nut-zoid footsteps. The film plays for high camp. Some of the jokes are inane, the acting....well it IS a B horror movie, & it's a tad long(could have been trimmed by about half an hour). But the blood, gore and nudity doth flow & John Waters cameos.

My Grade: 6 out of 10 bloody machetes

DVD Extras: Disk 1: stills gallery; Trailers for Zombie 5: Killing Birds, Zombie 2, Demons 3: The Orge, Lizard in a Woman's skin, Flesh for the Beast, & theatrical trailer Disk 2:On the set with Hershell Gorden Lewis; Behind the scenes; behind the gore; 3 deleted scenes

Eye Candy: pretty much all the female cast besides Misty & Mrs. Lampley get topless at the least

Blood Feast 2 is a welcome treat to fans of campy black comedy (as long as they can handle large amounts of blood and gore). If you liked the first one (or even if you didn't), you should check this out. It's a big improvement over the original. The gore looks great. I haven't laughed out loud this much in years. You can't ask for a better film from H.G. Lewis.

9/10

The so called follow up of the first slasher/gore attempt Blood Feast. Everone who has seen that one will remember the score and the extreme red color of the bloodletting. Well, this one has it too but it delivers so much more. It has a lot of black humor but also a lot of gore, and it's so much fun to watch those scene's. a slasher shouldn't be one without some nudity. Men, did he added some, it's all over the top but it works and never gets bored. Even the score is over the top. you will have your cheers and you will have your laughs by watching this well made follow up. I just can't tell more but if you're not in the mood, watch this one it surely will deliver all you can eat.

All cinematic values & qualities aside, you at least have to show respect for Herschell Gordon Lewis. The man was born in 1926! My grandpa was born in 1926! A lot of people's grandfathers were born in 1926! Can you imagine YOUR grandpa directing a movie that constantly features engrossing decapitations, disembowelment, brain removals (through the ear!), gauging eyeballs and lesbian lingerie parties? I wish my gramps was the Godfather of cinematic gore instead of a random guy who keeps nagging about the devastating years of World War II… At the ago of 76, H.G. Lewis suddenly made his one-time comeback with the nearly 40 years overdue sequel to "Blood Feast"; THE gore-movie that inspired all independent horror directors forevermore. The only characteristic proving Lewis actually is an elderly man is the fact that he doesn't evolve with the times. Lewis' filming style is exactly the same as it was forty years ago, meaning not the slightest attempt to tell a decent story, crude & vulgar humor, hideous music, amateurish editing, depthless characters and make-up effects that are ultimately gross but not the least bit shocking or convincing. So basically, yes, "Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat" is quite an awful film, but not a horror freak in this world is likely to spread negative comments about it. And besides, regardless of all the ineptitude, this undeniably remains a hugely entertaining and often downright hilarious horror film experience! The plot of the sequel is pretty much identical to that of the original. Fuad Ramses III reopens his infamous grandfather's small town catering business and promptly accepts an assignment to cater at the wedding of a local beauty and a dim-witted cop. But Fuad worships the same Egyptian (Babylonian?) Goddess as his grandpa and thus all the sexy bridesmaids' intestines end up on the catering menu during his ongoing search for the ultimate human sacrifice. That concludes the description of the story … or were you expecting something deep & thought provoking, perhaps? There's really no point in "defending" this movie… Either you already were a big fan of H.G. Lewis' oeuvre and decided to LOVE the sequel even before watching it or you never cared for his previous gore films to begin with and, in case of the latter, there's absolutely no reason to seek out this belated effort, neither. For the die-hard fans there are a handful of great surprises, like a delicious cameo of trash-director John Waters (as a gay-paedophilic priest!), purely gratuitous nudity, infantile textbook lesbianism ("Hey girls, let's all get together and try on our sexiest lingerie!"), hilarious dialogs ("I was dropping more hints than mariner soldiers drop soap in the shower") and random stupidity (some guy's corpse lying around everywhere). Thank you very much for this film, Mr. Lewis. I hope you enjoy your well-deserved retirement and live to be hundred years old.