A curfew has been placed on all women in Miami Beach due to a killer being on the loose. Could it be the work of a random serial killer or the local Egyptian caterer who is sacrificing young women to an ancient god?

I first heard of Hershell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast through reading Incredibly Strange Films, published by Re: Search. There was then an episode of Jonathan Ross’ excellent series The Incredibly Strange Film Show devoted to Blood Feast’s director Hershell Gordon Lewis, which whet my appetite. I’d have to wait until I loved in London to finally see this opus.

It was worth the wait. Blood Feast is a trip. It dragged the horror genre into the modern day with gore galore that is still something to behold. John Waters says that he saw the film in a drive-in and was impressed as fellow patrons were leaving their cars to vomit! He would later show a short clip from the film in his masterpiece Serial Mom.

In fact, Blood Feast can be seen as a huge influence on Waters. The acting is like something from one of his films. Also, it could have influenced other pivotal horror films. Could the bright red blood have influenced George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead? Could the male survivor of the killer, who we see go mad and start laughing hysterically, have influenced what happens to Sally Hardisty at the end of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Quite possibly.

But whilst Blood Feast is such an important work, it’s one thing that a lot of landmark films aren’t- it’s fun. Whilst it’s gory and still shocking, it’s also very funny (another quality that made me think of Waters’ early films). I love the fact that the woman killed in the bath is reading a copy of a book called ‘Ancient Weird Religious Rites’. The film is also gorgeous to look at and has a colour palate that will make your retinas bleed.

Blood Feast feels like visiting an old friend and is a delight from start to finish.

5 out of 5 stars