The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 24, 2016

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.

For reviews of the all of the films in this set, please click on the following links:

Blood Feast Blu-ray review

Scum of the Earth Blu-ray review

Two Thousand Maniacs! Blu-ray review

Moonshine Mountain Blu-ray review

Color Me Blood Red Blu-ray review

Something Weird Blu-ray review

The Gruesome Twosome Blu-ray review

A Taste of Blood Blu-ray review

She-Devils on Wheels Blu-ray review

Just for the Hell of It Blu-ray review

How to Make a Doll Blu-ray review

This Stuff'll Kill Ya Blu-ray review

The Wizard of Gore Blu-ray review

The Gore Gore Girls Blu-ray review

The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews. For the record, the first seven screenshots accompanying this review give a cross section of shots from the various films. Additionally, screenshots 8-22 provide a few screenshots of the five films which are offered in 1.33:1 aspect ratios as bonuses (see the supplements section below for more information). Screenshots 23-27 come from the bonus documentary Herschell Gordon Lewis: Godfather of Gore (see the supplements section below for more information).

The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplemental material linked to the various films is detailed in the appropriate reviews, linked above. Additionally, this edition comes packed to the gills both with extra disc supplements and some fun swag. To start from the outside and work our way in, the set comes housed in a nicely illustrated chipboard case that measures approximately 12" long by 8 3/8" wide by 2 1/2" deep. Housed within the case are two hardbound volumes, the first offering the films from 1963-67, and the second one offering the films from 1966-1972, as well as some of the bonus material listed below. These volumes measure approximately 11 1/2" long by 8 1/4" wide by 1" deep. (My father's approach was to measure twice, cut once, but I take a "hire someone to do the measuring for you" tack, so these may be off by a 1/16th or so.) Within each volume are double thick cardboard disc holders, two per page (one for the Blu-ray presentation of two films and/or bonus content, one for the DVD copy). The second volume features one of the bonus Blu-ray discs in a holder inside the back cover. Also included is a goofy hardback book measuring 11 3/4" long by 8 1/4" wide by 1/8" deep that has an assortment of "activities" inside (as well as Arrow's typically detailed information about the transfers). Mark my words: when this set goes out of print and collectors are going to be looking for it on the secondary market, one of the criteria is going to be whether the previous owner did any of the suggested activities in the book (which include mazes, word searches and even a cutout doll section).

Disc supplements include:

Bonus Disc One

• Blood Feast, Scum of the Earth and Color Me Blood Red presented in 1.33:1 (see screenshots 8-16)

Bonus Disc Two

• A Taste of Blood and The Wizard of Gore presented in 1.33:1 (see screenshots 17-22)

Bonus Disc Three

• Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (1080i; 1:46:18) is an extremely entertaining and informative retrospective of Lewis' career, including copious looks at his early "nudie cuties" and overviews of his better known splatter offerings. Interviews abound in this extremely well done piece. While it's fun to see people like John Waters almost giddy about some of the Lewis collectibles they own, Lewis himself provides some of the best interview segments. See screenshots 23-27.


• Outtakes (1080i; 1:04:18) offer even more snippets from Lewis films with additional interviews.


• Trailer (1080i; 1:48)

The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is the rare release where it's kind of hard to argue that any of the films are great (some may feel even my scores of 2.5 for some of these are too high, but I'm grading on the Ed Wood Curve), and one where the technical merits are often pretty problematic, and yet is still a release which is a treasure trove of arcana, including a glut of fantastic supplemental features. This release obviously won't be for everyone, but for those with tastes skewed toward the wacky and kind of wonderful world of Herschell Gordon Lewis, this impressively packaged set comes Highly recommended.