Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat

I had waited and waited for this movie to come out, back when it was being hyped up in '99 (then as Blood Feast 2000), and heard absolutely nothing about this movie. Then on Halloween eve, I saw the double dvd in the video shop for $30, and I snatched it off of the shelf like a 5 year old snatches a lollypop out of his little brother's hand. I was so excited to see a new H.G. Lewis film (who has been one of my admitted "heroes"). All in all, I wasn't disappointed...but I do agree with the other reviewers that say it does tend to drag on a little long. But the blood and gore effects...oh man! I was in absolute gorehound heaven! I think Joe Castro needed to work on a movie like this to up his fx career a little bit, because usually his effects are pretty decent, but I talk about him to other horror fanatics, and they say, "who's that?". But he REALLY outdid himself on this movie, because there's a couple scenes that would make Dahmer himself a little queasy, including one of THE best throat-slashing scenes I have ever witnessed on film. I honestly think that after this movie, Joe Castro could very well become the new Tom Savini (if you will) of the blood'n'guts video scene.

And another thing...alot of reviewers have said that this is very cheap, exploitive, bad, and somewhat grueling to sit through...but come on, people! this is Herschell Gordon Lewis! that's what the man is KNOWN for, for crying out loud! The overall sleaziness and exploitive nature of this film are his M.O.! And this definately has all the sleazy overtones and feel of his past films from the 60's and 70's.

But anyway, you can tell that the killing scenes are the primary focus of this movie. Each one goes on for an excessive amount of time, until you find yourself saying "Come on, dude! she's dead already!" But then again, that's the point of exploitive horror. And H.G. Lewis has definately proven that he is still "the man" when it comes to his style of film-making. If you're looking for an over-the-top gorefest, then you should really check this one out...

H.G. Lewis (the wizard of gore) made this film as a sequel to his classic "Blood Feast." Before this film came out, I though good old H.G. was in retirement somewhere just biding his time. I'm glad that I was wrong. Most of H.G.'s older films were pretty shocking in their day, but are merely campy by today's standards. Blood Feast 2 plays off of the campiness of his films, but doesn't become annoying like so many other films would.

The plot is that Fuad Ramses III opens up a catering business in his grandfather's old shop (the villain in Blood Feast). He becomes possessed by the evil goddess Ishtar. He is hired by a bitchy socialite to cater her daughters wedding. Ramses begins butchering the bride's maids to fulfill his contract.

Most of the humor is tongue in cheek and a little juvenile, but it fits the overall mood of the film rather well.

For H.G. Lewis fans (those who haven't seen it) it is well worth the price of renting it.

Blood Feast 2 (2002)

*** (out of 4)

Thirty-nine years after the original film comes this sequel that has the grandson (J.P. Delahoussaye) of the famous killer moving back into the small town to butcher more women and serve them as food at a wedding. Even though I'm a fan of the director and the original film I held off watching this one expecting something really horrible. I mean, Lewis hadnt made a film in thirty-years so how in the world would he come back with anything good? Well, he did somehow but I'm sure those expecting something like his older films are going to be disappointed because this is a very polished and rather good looking film unlike previous ones, which were usually low budget and ugly. There's no doubt that this film has a sense of humor, which really comes across with the two detectives played by John McConnell and Mark McLachlan. These two men do a great job together and their comic timing with one another really makes for some great laughs. There's an entire running joke about McConnell constantly eating, which works very well. Delahoussaye is also very good in his role as the maniac. We've also got several hot girls getting naked, which is something the early Lewis films couldn't show. John Waters even shows up as a pedophile priest. Then there's the gore, which is certainly over the top but the one thing people will be coming for. Lewis gets credit for bringing gore to movies but all of his previous movie's gore put together can't top one single sequence here. We have eyes being ripped out, guts pull out, scalpings and various other things including one woman having her face ripped off while she is alive. If you're a gore hound then there's plenty of stuff on hand here. The one negative is that the film runs 99-minutes, which is way too long as some more editing would have helped the film.

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!

I first saw this movie in a small horror festival. A beer in a hand, a cigarette in the other one, I didn't expect to watch something that fun!

The opening scene itself is a tribute to absurd funny gore. I don't want to tell more, but it is one of the most hilarious intro I've ever seen. Since this moment, I didn't stop laughing until the end.

If, like me, you appreciate pictures with over played acting, absurd dialogs, many topless scenes, stupid humor and... some blood too, you will love this one. Of course, we can say that about a lot of films (troma, Fulci...) but this one is just a little bit better in everything. I found it almost as fun as P.Jackson's "Braindead". HG Lewis comes back with his famous humor noir, and is at his best!

I would give a special appreciation for the music: A few good old school psychedelic rock n'roll songs doesn't kill, after all.. does it? And of course, the acting is (intentionally) as bad as you could expect. At the opposite, the special effects are impressive. In fact, it is the perfect mix between a stupid teen movie plot and some old styled gore scenes!

The perfect film to watch with a few buddies and some beer! Don't miss it!