On September 26, 2016 lost a B-movie creator, a man who worked in so many different departments of filmmaking impossible to name them all, he was Herschell Gordon Lewis. The film BloodMania resulted in his final directorial project, an anthology flick for his diehard cult fans, note that it shouldn’t confused with Robert Vincent O’Neill’s 1970 movie of the same name. This movie flagrantly runs afoul of everything politically correct, and decent, rather praising grotesque stories and obscene thoughts. Lewis achieves both production and distribution thanks to Diabolique Films, HGB Entertainment, Monarch Films, and available currently on Amazon Prime. This movie drenches itself with elements of nostalgia of his famed splatter films such as Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs, and The Wizard of Gore to name a few, but in the end its this bizarre legacy smeared all over the screen in his free-for-all farewell.
While its seems the standard practice for anthology wraparound store, this instead contains Lewis standing center stage oddly uttering nonsensical jokes which rotten punchlines to intro each short story. His presence on the screen has refreshing qualities that his fans likely to enjoy and reminiscent about his craft of blood sludge enjoyment.
The first tale entitled Gory Story written and directed by Lewis himself with co-writer Bob Schultz involving perhaps the most unfortunate individual ever to walk the streets, that person Brewster (Roger LeBlanc) suffering in more than one way first his ex-girlfriend Becky (Savannah Nightingale) dumped him. Then in a moment of revenge and anger he goes to see her in a used power tool shop, and instead of cutting her up cuts off his own hand. Then later gets a phony hook for his hand, except it’s possessed and from there kidnapping a secretary goes astray and he becomes a bloody shredded mess. Next up Attack of Conscience directed by Melanie Reinboldt and written by James Saito involving a woman known as Julie (Sonia Deleo) who will not leave her fiancé Beau (Donovan Cerminara) alone, okay, let’s understand he’s tried killing her repeatedly she just clings to him. Talk about undying love. The third story also directed by Lewis and penned by Justin Sane, contains another undead story called The Night Hag, which just needs one to watch and understand it. Lastly, the story of Gordo (Stuart Bentley) in GOREgeous who’s a lousy manager of an all-girl rock band, just one thing he’s more into the blood fetishes than groupies or music. His desire for a blood feast of gory girls, makes him a wizard of sleazy proportions in the short by Kevin Littlelight.
Some of the production crew estimate over 18-gallons of film blood used throughout the filming, creating his dream of a continuous blood-soaked and bloodstained creation, loaded with gagging humor, sarcasm in almost every line of dialogue and filling the screen with horrendous acting. However, those of Lewis’ fanbase expect no more, they definitely understand the filmmaker’s design through his previous movies and even books.
BloodMania not Herschell Gordon Lewis’ finest moment movie, however his dedicated quirky fans likely to enjoy the cult filmmaker’s final sendup for all the oddness on the screen. Nothing here meant for a serious display all of it fun and laughs with a group of friends and a few beers, as the white walls of sanity becomes blood covered with nuttery. If you’re unfamiliar with Herschell’s previous films, never seeing any of them, then perhaps a comparison might assist, his showmanship mirrors at times is that of Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Empire, except Lewis acts more as a carnival barker. A passing note, Lewis started his career with a movie called Blood Feast and ended it with this flick and the remake of Blood Feast (2016).
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IMDb Rating: 4/10
Baron’s Rating: 3.5/10