Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 24, 2016

Note: This film is available as part of The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast.

Mention the initials “H.G.” to most people, and my hunch is virtually everyone will default to thinking about H.G. Wells, the legendary author whose science fiction masterpieces resulted in such memorable films as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau and War of the Worlds. Certain fans who have a slightly different definition of what constitutes a memorable film might have a variant reaction to those same initials, however, positing one Herschell Gordon Lewis instead of Mr. Wells. Lewis has long been known by the sobriquet “Godfather of Gore,” and his early exploitation pictures were, for their day, amazingly overt in their depiction of what ultimately came to be called “splatter”. Lewis, who only just fairly recently died at the age of 90, had an interesting if not especially distinguished career, though it’s notable that Lewis maintained a more than abundant sense of humor about his films and his contributions to the supposed art of cinema. Lewis’ filmography (it’s a bit of a stretch to actually call it an oeuvre) hasn’t been especially well served in the Blu-ray era, though there have been at least a few releases of his work, including The Blood Trilogy, The Wizard of Gore / The Gore Gore Girls and The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Now, in what amounts to an elegy of sorts for Lewis, Arrow Video has assembled what will certainly go down in the annals of the Blu-ray era as one of the most lavish deluxe sets produced, at least within the confines of what can only be accurately described as “cult cinema”. Along with a collection of fourteen films (nine making their Blu-ray debut), Arrow also includes a glut of bonus content (some with Lewis’ involvement), as well as impressive packaging and non disc supplements.

Color Me Blood Red is the third film in what Lewis fans have dubbed The Blood Trilogy, and in some ways it’s possible to imagine this film having been done by one Roger Corman with Vincent Price starring as a demented painter who starts using human blood on his work to get just the right hue of red. Of course, it’s not directed by Corman and it has the somewhat less iconic Gordon Oas-Heim (working under the name Don Joseph—did everyone take assumed names on Lewis films?) on hand as painter Adam Sorg, a kind of obnoxious type who is nonetheless at least minimally talented (at least as evidenced by some of the rather effective artwork on display throughout the film). That doesn’t stop him from being upbraided by local art critic Gregorovich (William Harris), who tells him his use of color (or lack thereof) is the cause of all his career problems. When Adam’s girlfriend Gigi (Elyn Warner) nicks her finger on a nail sticking out of a frame and spills a bit of blood on Adam’s latest canvas, he suddenly gets the bright idea of how to achieve a certain kind of Technicolor luster, at least with regard to reds.

One of the supplements on the disc containing Color Me Blood Red and Something Weird contains a brief summary of mad artists in film, and it includes a few snippets from a film Corman did direct, 1959’s A Bucket of Blood. Both films feature a hapless artist who resorts to nefarious means to produce his art, but Lewis’ film, while relatively restrained within the context of Lewis’ typically gonzo sensibility, simply doesn’t have the narrative flow and general filmmaking competence of any given Corman piece.

Still, the film offers several elements of what became Lewis’ stock in trade (aside from clunky dialogue and wooden acting, that is): lots of pulchritudinous females in various states of undress and at least occasional forays into “splatter” (which in this case includes something akin to squeezing the last ounce of toothpaste out of the tube). The film is resolutely silly and never works up much in the way of suspense or even terror, but for Lewis fans it will no doubt be appreciated as, well, a work of art.

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arrow has included some general verbiage about the transfers in this set:

All film materials sourced for restoration were scanned in 2K resolution on a pin registered 4K Lasergraphics Director Scanner at Deluxe Media, Burbank. Film grading and restoration was completed at Deluxe Restoration, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Overall image stability and density fluctuation was also improved when possible.

The original mono soundtracks were transferred from 35mm prints by Deluxe Audio Services, Los Angeles, and were conformed and restored at Deluxe Restoration, London.

Additional audio conform for How to Make a Doll and Just for the Hell of It by David Mackenzie.

Although the best existing elements were sourced for this project and every attempt was made to present the films in this collection in the highest quality possible, some of the films still exhibit varying degrees of damage that could not be digitally repaired to our satisfaction. The condition of the existing materials for Moonshine Mountain, The Gruesome Twosome, How to Make a Doll and This Stuff'll Kill Ya all contained extreme levels of dirt, scratches and debris as well as many instances of torn or missing frames. They all exhibited heavy degrees of colour fading as well. Likewise, the print sections sourced to complete A Taste of Blood were both faded and heavily scratched. Throughout the restoration workflow process, our priority was to retain the original photochemical look of the films rather than create unwanted digital artefacts by heavy handed picture cleanup. Therefore, many of the films in this collection exhibit "warts and all" appearance, in keeping with their distribution history and physical condition.

Restoration supervised by James White, Arrow Films.

Color Me Blood Red is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This transfer is boosted by elements in better than average condition, though there are still minor issues like occasional flecks on display. Once again grain is fairly coarse but organic looking. There are occasional issues with damage, as with a blackish flicker that intrudes on the left side of the frame for a while starting at 31:35. Exteriors at the beach pop nicely, and there's even decent shadow definition in one nighttime sequence at the beach. Colors are generally fresh looking, though occasionally some of the reds tip slightly toward orange.

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Color Me Blood Red's LPCM mono track is one of the better sounding ones in the Lewis set, though it has the typically boxy sound that is heard in other releases in this set, something that's especially noticeable in moments like the opening tympani cues. Later orchestral cues can be a little thin sounding, and a late saxophone cue sounds a little phased. There's minor but noticeable background hiss, though dialogue is always easy to hear.

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this set a little unusually, with two films per disc and one set of supplements for both movies available from a main menu. While some of the supplements are obviously geared toward one individual film, others are a bit more general in nature, and so I'm listing the complete supplemental package for each particular disc rather than for each individual film. The supplements for Color Me Blood Red and Something Weird are:

• The Art of Madness (1080p; 5:35) is a visual essay about mad artists in film.


• Weirdsville (1080p; 10:31) features Jeffrey Sconce discussing Something Weird.


• H.G. Lewis on Jimmy, the Boy Wonder (1080p; 2:10) features Lewis discussing his 1966 children's musical. Yes, Lewis made a children's musical.


• A Hot Night at the Go Go Lounge (1080p; 10:07) is a 1966 short thought to have been directed by Lewis.


• Color Me Blood Red Outtakes (1080p; 9:36) are silent but are underscored here with music and dialogue snippets.


• Promo Gallery

  Color Me Blood Red Trailer (1080p; 1:26)

  Something Weird Trailer (1080p; 1:26)

  Jimmy, the Boy Wonder Trailer (1080p; 1:39)

Audio Commentaries

Color Me Blood Red Commentary features Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman.

Something Weird Commentary features Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman.

• Herschell Gordon Lewis Introduction to Color Me Blood Red (1080p; 1:17) is available under the play menu for that film.


• Herschell Gordon Lewis Introduction to Something Weird (1080p; 00:58) is available under the play menu for that film.

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Color Me Blood Red is effective on its own gruesome but patently ridiculous terms. This presentation is one of the more consistent and pleasing in the Lewis set, and the supplementary package is excellent. Recommended.