There have been news reports recently of young women being killed and mutilated with some of their body parts missing. Women are being warned to not venture out after dark unaccompanied and to keep their doors locked. The police captain, Frank (Scott H. Hall) and Detective Pete Thornton (William Kerwin) are stymied and have no clues to go on. So far, seven girls have been killed in two weeks.
Mrs. Dorothy Fremont (Lyn Bolton) visits the shop of Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold). Ramses is a caterer that features exotic dishes, mostly Egyptian. Mrs. Fremont wants to hire Ramses to cater a dinner party she is giving for her daughter in a couple weeks. Ramses suggests and authentic Egyptian feast, the feast of an ancient Pharaoh. Mrs. Fremont is delighted with the idea.
Ramses is in fact the serial killer that has been hacking up young ladies. He belongs to the cult of Ishtar. He is preparing the ancient ritual in honor of the goddess. This festival was celebrated at the beginning of spring. The body parts Ramses has been harvesting are going to be cooked and offered to Mrs. Fremont’s guests. A final sacrifice will then be offered, and the goddess Ishtar will be reincarnated. Ramses plans to use Mrs. Fremont’s daughter Suzette (Connie Mason) as the final sacrifice.
“Blood Feast” was released in 1963 and was directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis. It is a really low budget horror gore fest movie. Director Lewis has a bit part as the radio announcer.
Lewis, who is known as the “godfather of gore” is credited for creating the horror subgenre “splatter film”, and he did it with “Blood Feast”. Filmed in Miami, it premiered in 1963 at the Bel-Air Drive-In, in Peoria, IL. The film influenced other filmmakers such as John Carpenter and make-up artists like Tom Savini, (“Night of the Living Dead”), and “Re-animator” director Stuart Gordon. The film was shot in somewhere between six and nine days at a cost between $25,000 and $60,000. Eventually it took in millions.
Outside of being an important movie in cinema history, it is probably one of the worst pieces of dreck out there. The acting is horrible, and the production values prove that almost nothing was spent on anything other than fake blood and gooey entrails. Even the make-up is bad. Mal Arnold, who plays the part of the insane and elderly Fuad Ramses, uses either talcum powder or Grecian Formula 44 in his hair to give himself the appearance of being old. Even then, he looks his actual age of 33. Despite all the really bad things about the movie, it is still as popular as ever. In the 60’s the movie was gross, today it is iconic.
Producer David F. Friedman had the idea of giving theater goers vomit bags that said "You may need this when you see Blood Feast” as well as obtaining an injunction against the film in Sarasota, Florida. That little stunt generated more publicity for the film.
The movie was the oldest film on Britain’s video nasties list. Some newspapers refused to carry ads for the film because of its graphic content.