A
Halloween Evening with the “Godfather of Gore” himself HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS
And
The 50th Anniversary of the film that started it all… BLOOD
FEAST
Directed
by HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS/1963/67mins.
With
William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason, Lyn Bolton
Screenplay by Allison Louise Downe
When:
Oct. 31, 2013
9:00
PM – 10:45 PM
Location:
Miami Beach Cinematheque at Historic City Hall
1130
Washington Ave
Miami
Beach, Fl 33139
Once
upon a time…fifty
years ago, a man named Herschell Gordon Lewis and company set out to conquer
the world with a new genre of over-the-top, never-seen-before, in-your-face,
exploitive, and shocking cinema entertainment that would eventually be coined
“gore”, or in this case, specifically, “Florida Gore”. It was time to take
advantage of the growing Southern American Drive-In market with whatever they
could get away with, since censorship under the long-in-effect Production Code
was in demise. BLOOD FEAST, made quickly in the summer of 1963, was
that experiment. How could they put together a film so outrageous and shocking
that thousands of young impressionables would flock to pay them for doing it,
all in good fun? With a little cash and not much time, they gathered a cast of
acquaintances and the recent Playboy centerfold (Connie Mason) for good
measure. And with that, history was made, with the first gore film that would
go on with others in the varied Lewis cannon to influence The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th, and even
higher-brow entertainments like The Wild Bunchand Reservoir Dogs. Inspired by the French
Grand Guignol tradition (and the mighty dollar), grindhouse, gore, and
"splatter" were born, in Miami Florida.
By
the way, the plot of BLOOD FEAST, and there is a plot between the
real “points of interest”, is actually quite clever, suspenseful, scary, and
fun. “Fun” is the key word however, because it was never meant to take itself
very seriously. (In a nutshell: A killer is on the loose in Miami. His day
job is catering...specializing in exotic Egyptian feasts. An inept detective
attempts to figure out his motives as his victims disappear.) But plot is
secondary to why this film is so famous and why it caused mass hysteria,
fainting in the back seats of cars, and several fatal heart attacks (just
kidding). WARNING: “This film is so shocking that you may…” (or however
that brilliant marketing scheme went). In any case, it is fifty years later and
a lot has happened since then, so take a break from today’s horrors and come
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of a Florida classic, and the
man who made it happen!
HERSCHELL
GORDON LEWIS
himself
will introduce his Made-in-Miami Classic!
($12
or $11 students/seniors, and $10 MBC Members. Your ticket includes an official
souvenir Blood Feast Barf Bag...just in case!)
(The
event ends just in time to catch the best of
what
will be happening on Lincoln Road! And you'll have a parking space!)
Click
here for more information, and to get your tickets!
GORIEST
COSTUME wins a PREMIERE MBC MEMBERSHIP!
PLUS…on
display throughout October at MBC:
FLORIDA GORE...
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