Herschell Gordon Lewis was born on 15 June 1926.

He is an icon of psychotronic film. Not because he made good films. But because of the kind of films he made. He wasn’t what you could call an artist. But some of his films are still really quite good. For example, he did a great job with Scum of the Earth. And the same goes for Color Me Blood Red.

But Lewis is more a producer than a director, even though he didn’t technically produce his most iconic films. For example, David F Friedman produced the Blood Trilogy. But I tend to think of the two of them producing and no one really directing.

But Lewis had skills. It’s just that he knew what minimal effort was necessary. And if your film features a woman’s tongue being ripped out of her mouth, the film doesn’t need much effort. I don’t blame him. But it has caused me to cool in my appraisal of his work.

Lewis and Friedman hooked up in Chicago and made five nudie cutie films from 1961 through 1963. The first was Living Venus. It isn’t technically a nudie cutie in that it doesn’t feature any nudity. But it’s about a guy who starts a nudie magazine. And the last film, Scum of the Earth, is widely considered the first roughie.

Looking back, the two claimed they got into gore because they weren’t happy about the move of sexploitation toward violence. But it’s hard to take them seriously. I figure they saw sexploitation as ending. And they were right. These kinds of films continued to be made into the 1970s but they weren’t big money makers.

This led to the production of their Blood Trilogy: Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red. Lewis said, “I’ve often compared Blood Feast to a Walt Whitman poem; it’s no good, but it was the first of its kind.” It’s unfair to Whitman. And it seems that Lewis wasn’t even really trying with Blood Feast. The other two films are much better.

After the Blood Trlogy, the two men had a falling out and really didn’t work together again. After that, Lewis worked closely with Allison Louise Downe, who had acted in a number of his nudie films. She also wrote the script for Blood Feast and was important to productions — especially in terms of special effects.

They seem to have been romantically involved. The two stopped making films in the early 1970s. I assume they broke up and went on to other things. Lewis eventually reappeared thirty years later with the Blood Feast sequel Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat.

But let’s go pre-gore and watch Scum of the Earth.

Other 15 June Anniversaries

Filmmakers

• Richard P Rubinstein (1947-): Producer known especially for his association with George Romero in films like Martin and Dawn of the Dead.
• Jim Varney (1949-2000): Shakespeare-trained actor known for the character Ernest P Worrell.
• Julie Hagerty (1955-): Actor known for Airplane! and Lost in America.
• Robin Curtis (1956-): The second Saavik.
• Chris Morris (1962-): Writer-director of dark comedies like Four Lions.
• Neil Patrick Harris (1973-): Actor known for doing a lot of odd things including his recurring role (as himself) in the Harold & Kumar films.
• Elizabeth Reaser (1975-): Actor known for her work with Mike Flanagan in Ouija: Origin of Evil and The Haunting of Hill House.

Films

• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): The first of the “meet” films.
• The Beast With A Million Eyes (1955): A family farm is threatened by a space invader.
• This Island Earth (1955): Space aliens need help from human scientists.
• Cape Fear (1962): Criminal wants revenge on a lawyer who sent him down.
• Creature of the Walking Dead (1965): Mad scientists kill young women for their blood.
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973): Can all the apes get along?!
• The Legend of Hell House (1973): A group of experts investigates a deadly haunted house.
• Tentacles (1977): Giant octopus is done with sharks having all the fun.
• The Driller Killer (1979): An artist goes crazy killing people in New York with a drill.
• Prophecy (1979): Monster in the forest.
• Rocky II (1979): This time he wins.
• Honeymoon Horror (1981): Couples on honeymoon are killed.
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990): More of the same. See Key & Peele.
• Autopsy: A Love Story (2002): A morgue worker falls in love with one of the corpses.
• Batman Begins (2005): Batman must fight people even more insane than he is.
• Woods of Evil (2005): Kidnappers and their victims face evil forces.
• His Will Be Done (2009): Witches vs Christians.
• Women’s Studies (2010): A woman’s college is run by a feminist cult.

Herschell Gordon Lewis by Super Festivals under CC BY 2.0.