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This movie was clearly made by people who loved Herschell Gordon Lewis
- which was a long-known fact about Frank Henenlotter, genre veteran in
his own right, at least - as it doesn't only focus on the well-known fact,
as in that he made the first gore film with Blood
Feast and probably the first backwoods horror with 2,000
Maniacs, and how the vileness of his movies probably eclipsed with
Wizard of Gore and The Gore
Gore Girls before he went into the world of direct advertising, but it
also takes a look at the man's early career when he and his then partner
in crime David F. Friedman made early nudie movies, or at some obscure
movies like The Magic Land
of Mother Goose and his never released An Eye for an Eye,
and the whole thing is carried not only by plenty of snippets and outtakes
from the man's movies, both of the sexy and gory variety, but also carried
by interviews with Lewis, with Friedman, Mal Arnold who played Fuad Ramses
in Blood Feast, Ray Sager who
played Montag the Magician in Wizard
of Gore and other Lewis collaborators. Plus Henenlotter himself,
confessing Lewis enthusiast John Waters and Joe Bob Briggs give their
insightful thoughts on the man and his work as well. Basically, if
you've ever enjoyed but one Herschell Gordon Lewis film (even if for all
the wrong reasons), this movie's for you, likewise if you're just
interested in the evolution of exploitation, sex and gore cinema. The
only thing that's missing here is any mention of Lewis later work, the
handful of films he shot and released before this documentary was out even
... but on the other hand, that would make good material for a sequel!
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