Blood Feast 2 Review
The king of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, directed Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat in 2002 as a sequel to his classic Blood Feast (1963). Blood Feast 2 was a return to directing for Lewis after a 30 year break. He had decided to leave the film world in 1972 after The Gore Gore Girls stating that the era of exploitation was ending. He returned to advertising full time but always wanted to make a follow-up to cult classic Blood Feast.
The story picks up from where the original left off with the grandson of Fuad Ramses arriving in the same small town. Sadly, he also becomes possessed by the Egyptian statue that drove his grandfather to murder. Once Fuad has re-opened the family shop, his first customers are the Lampley family, their daughter, Tiffani, is getting married and Ramses is the only caterer within 100 miles. Once the bridesmaids start to disappear, the local detectives, Myers and Loomis, start to suspect Ramses. The reception itself is a wondrous selection of body parts presented as finger food (literally).
Anybody who hasn’t seen a Herschell Gordon Lewis film is in for a treat with Blood Feast 2. The film is simply a vehicle for endless amounts of gore including: grinding a hand, scooping out eye balls and innards galore. The acting, dialogue, performances and sets are astoundingly awful re-calling the heyday of 60s B-movies. The cast seems made of the most un-talented performers you could ever wish to encounter. No doubt some of the performances are intentionally terrible whilst others, mostly from the stripper girls, are just plain bad.
The gore is mixed with comedy with hilarious lines such as ‘without a post-mortem at first glance I’d say that she died from the corkscrew in her head’. The ultimate bad taste moment arrives in the form of the cum-brulee that is a wonderful concoction by Fuad. Another superb addition to the film is the legendary John Waters as the priest. The king of bad taste comedy sits happily with a wannabe alter-boy telling him to pop round the next day in his swimming trunks.
Blood Feast 2 is undoubtedly for hardcore fans of Lewis and endless amounts of gore. This film is to be watched with a crowd of friends late on a Saturday night for full effect. Lewis’ return to directing is superb, echoing his earlier films without any attempt to change the formula one bit. The DVD by Arrow has an excellent print but no extras beyond a booklet and poster.
Aled Jones