Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 22, 2024

1963’s “Blood Feast” isn’t a classic film, but it remains an important one in horror circles. Director Herschell Gordon Lewis wanted to stir up some controversy to help sell tickets, and he found it with “Blood Feast,” which was an early endeavor to weaponize gore in a way, offering an unrepentant display of blood and guts for audiences to enjoy…if they dared. In 2024, the feature is comical, but time hasn’t diluted much of its gonzo attitude, watching Lewis push the boundaries of violence to attract attention. For a 2016 remake, director Marcel Walz and screenwriter Philip Lilienschwarz try to recapture the spirit of the original picture while generally rethinking almost all of its plot and characters. This “Blood Feast” takes a dull movie and puts it right to sleep, watching Walz boldly refuse any sort of pace or level of suspense to the effort. There’s grisliness, no doubt, but the do-over is a colossal bore that takes its sweet time to go nowhere, finding Lewis’s take on the hunt for a human dinner much more engaging that this patience- testing experience.

Fuad (Robert Rusler) has moved his family from the U.S. to Paris, joined by his wife, Louise (Caroline Williams), and daughter, Penny (Sophie Monk). He’s bringing a piece of his home with him, opening Ramses American Diner, but business isn’t good, only attracting a small number of regulars, including Penny’s friends. Accepting a job as a night watchman at the Museum of Men, Fuad is exposed to the dangerous allure of the goddess Ishtar (Sadie Katz), who tempts the tired man into slavery, tasked with preparing a meal of human limbs and innards, offered a reward of pleasure for his service. Fuad begins work on his “feast,” soon targeting strangers and those close to Penny, collecting organs while Louise begins to wonder about his behavior, and cop Jean (Roland Freitag) starts to recognize that something isn’t right about the American chef and his specialized meat dishes.

As cheaply produced as it was, the original “Blood Feast” had some love for color, hitting viewers with the vivid redness of gross-outs and the period hues of Floridian locations and cast fashion. The 2016 film doesn’t share that same sense of adventure, with Walz preferring an impossibly dark picture at times, perhaps to cover up his own budgetary limitations. “Blood Feast” is meant to be moody, but it’s mostly drab, following the screenplay’s tone, offering a glum understanding of Fuad’s madness and his place in the middle of a supernatural manipulation. Lilienschwarz is trying to create a more substantial story here, but he’s missing a great deal of personality in the feature, which is primarily focused on Fuad’s murderous quest.

Characters aren’t the draw of “Blood Feast,” especially ones that pull attention away from its gore zone highlights. Would you rather watch Fuad hunt victims or Penny deal with the emotional demands of her friends? Lilienschwarz chooses the latter, taking a mid-movie detour into relationship woes and misunderstandings, with young punk Mathis (Max Evans) sharing his true feelings for Penny, who rejects his advances, preferring to pursue a romance with Jean. Gory events are surprisingly rare in “Blood Feast,” with early scenes following Fuad as he forcibly takes a homeless man’s life, whipping the stranger before cutting off his penis. Walz hopes to pay homage to Lewis’s work with similar acts of violence, including a tongue-tearing encounter, but the harder edges of the effort, or at least the attempt to butch up the material, don’t register as disturbing. Walz just doesn’t have a snappy vision to help bring the original idea to life, merely using brand recognition to sell an inert remake.

Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screencaps are taken from the Blu-ray release.

"Blood Feast" returns to disc courtesy of Synapse, who deliver a Dolby Vision viewing experience for the film. "Blood Feast" is an exceptionally dark picture, putting scenes with limited lighting to the test here. Blacks are mostly deep, retaining mood, but certain screen elements, including Fuad's animal mask, are difficult to discern. Detail is fairly good with the low-budget endeavor, capturing a sense of skin particulars, while gore shots are also reasonably textured. Interiors offer decent depth. Exteriors around Paris are a little less sharp, perhaps captured with different camera for sneakier mobility (framing is terrible here). Colors are acceptable, with rich reds throughout the movie. Diner outfits and living spaces also bring out brighter primaries. Again, this is a murky feature at times, with hues dialed down to create mood. Skin tones are natural. Compression issues are present, with banding flaring up at times.

Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix offers clear dialogue exchanges, handling some heavy accents along the way, and more excitable performance choices. Scoring maintains crispness, supporting drama and horror moods with a louder presence. More electro pop offerings are also defined, with some low-end beats. Surrounds aren't active, but atmospherics do go circular, along with musical moods. Sound effects are sharp, preserving all sorts of squishy noises.

Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "The Making of 'Blood Feast'" (28:52, HD) takes a look at the assembly of the feature, offering more of a B-roll/EPK approach, with cameras on the set, watching the day's work come together. There's a lot of camaraderie to enjoy, including the arrival of actress Sadie Katz to the American diner set, making herself comfortable with co-star Robert Rusler right away. More technical highlights are found on the feast set, where the actors deal with special effects and special dramatic challenges, working hard to pretend they enjoy devouring bloody organs, mentally waiting for "cut" to be called. Some picture-in-picture footage from the final cut is included, matching material being shot.

• Red Carpet Premiere (28:51, HD) is a look at the 2018 debut of "Blood Feast," held in Beverly Hills, California. The stars of the movie are out for the opening, and promotional help is offered by Josh Brolin, who stops by to take some photos with the group. Interviewees include director Marcel Walz, producer Dominik Jurczek, production manager Joe Quintanilla, "Halloween" producer Malek Akkad, and actors Robert Rusler, Caroline Williams, Sadie Katz, and Liliana Nova.

• "Scare Cam" (5:44, HD) is a collection of prank videos from the "Blood Feast" shoot, where various cast and crew work hard to torment one another. It's all fun and games, but five minutes of this?

• "Tonite" (3:38, HD) is a music video by Chilli Con Curtis.

• Original Indiegogo Promotional Teaser (1:08, HD) is offered.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:29, HD) is included.

Blood Feast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rusler tries to do something with the rising madness within Fuad, giving himself to the madness of the character. Williams is also putting in some effort for Walz, who doesn't do much with the performance, while the supporting cast is largely made up of amateurs who add no urgency to the story. Fuad goes about his business cutting up victims (including a woman with car trouble who inexplicably offers sex to the diner owner), preparing his tribute to Ishtar, but the only thing shocking about "Blood Feast" is how lifeless it is. It seems impossible that anyone could be out-directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, but here we are.