Box Office Spectaculars released Color Me Blood Red on 13 October 1965. This was in Baltimore, Maryland. I assume at the Bengies Drive-In Theatre.
It is the last of the Blood Trilogy. I think it is the best of the films. The first, Blood Feast, is so silly. And the second, Two Thousand Maniacs, is so cruel. As a result, I enjoy this film about a twisted but likeable artist.
The story is simple. Critics dismiss an artist because of his bland use of color. So he uses his own blood for red. And the critics love it! But you can only bleed yourself so long. So he kills his models and uses their blood. What’s not to like?
The cast is led by Gordon Oas-Heim in the central role of Adam Sorg. Oddly, Oas-Heim used “Adam Sorg” for his screen name in the other Herschell Gordon Lewis film he was in, Moonshine Mountain. Here he is Don Joseph.
He gives a spirited, idiosyncratic performance. And this really sells the whole film.
According to producer David F Friedman, the demand for gore films faded. It didn’t make sense to produce more. It’s also worth noting that both Friedman and Lewis must have been wealthy at this point.
But Color Me Blood Red delivers. It is still very much a Lewis-Friedman production with ugly design, mostly amateur acting, and lots of gorgeous gore. All psychotronic fans should watch it at least once. And today is the day given it was released exactly 60 years ago!
Other 13 October Birthdays and Releases
Filmmakers
- Cornel Wilde (1912-1989): Director known for The Naked Prey, No Blade of Grass, and more.
- Robert Walker (1918-1951): Actor best known for Strangers on a Train.
- Laraine Day (1920-2007): Actor known for Foreign Correspondent, Fingers at the Window, and more.
- Bruce Geller (1930-1978): Creator of Mission: Impossible and Mannix.
- Melinda Dillon (1939-2023): Actor known for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Christmas Story, Spontaneous Combustion, and more.
- Chris Carter (1956-): Creator of The X-Files.
Films
- The Faces of Fu Manchu (1965): Wanna watch Chirstopher Lee be a 6’5″ Chinaman? (He did a lot!)
- You’ll Like My Mother (1972): The pregnant widow of a soldier goes to stay with her in-laws, who are not pleased.
- Badlands (1973): A young couple go on a killing spree.
- Pumpkinhead (1988): The monster provides vengeance but at a great price.
- Breaking In (1989): An old pro thief takes a younger guy under his wing.
- Transylvania Twist (1989): A librarian mistakenly allows a vampire to check out an evil book and, you know, they gotta get it back now.
- Dollman vs Demonic Toys (1993): Another Full Moon franchise crossover.
- Strange Days (1995): Ex-cop gets drawn into a conspiracy.
- The Lost World (1998): Dinosaurs in Mongolia.
- Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998): The last of the Phantasm films Coscarelli directed.
- Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006): A documentary film crew follows a serial killer.
- The Grudge 2 (2006): Three interlocking horror stories.
- The Sand (2015): After a party, college students wake up on a killer beach.
- I Had a Bloody Good Time at House Harker (2016): A family that long ago killed Dracula put on a Haunted House, which attracts a vampire vigilante.
- Dark Harvest (2023): A yearly event pits boys against Sawtooth Jack.
Color Me Blood Red (1965) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
