[click on photos |  | "When you have professional, competent actors like Tom Cruise and Nicole
Kidman, what on earth is the difference between Take 1 and Take 48?"
"About 6000 feet of film."
The third and last entry in what has become known as the "Blood Trilogy" was also the final collaboration between writer-director Herschell Gordon Lewis
and producer David F. Friedman.
Blood Feast had a tiny budget and low production values--but was a huge
success. Two Thousand Maniacs! had considerably more going for it on both
sides of the camera (and a generous budget by exploitation standards), yet it
fared somewhat less well at the box office. Entry number three, therefore,
fell somewhere in the middle. Color Me Blood Red offered a less ambitious
(and less expensive) story than had the duo's previous film; however, the
afforded technical conveniences kept it above Blood Feast in the quality
department.
Don Joseph stars as Adam Sorg, a frustrated painter unable to interest the
buying public in his work. After a disappointing, critically lambasted
exhibition, Sorg retreats to his studio in search of inspiration. However,
the spark he seeks arrives in the form of an accident: his model Gigi cuts
herself on a nail protruding from one of Sorg's picture frames, and her
blood on the canvas sends Sorg into an artistic frenzy. Milking the
initially obliging model's cut for all its worth, Sorg eventually goes to
work on his own fingers to obtain fresh "pigment," but he soon realizes the
impossibility of maintaining this approach. "If (Sorg) had discovered
chicken blood, we wouldn't have a movie," remarks Lewis in his audio
commentary for Something Weird's DVD release of Color Me Blood Red, so it isn't long before the artist commits his first act of murder for the sake of his work. By this point, commercial considerations
mean nothing. The critics now praise Sorg's paintings, and people line up to buy them, but Sorg refuses to sell at any price. His passion to create is undiminished, however, and further sources of "paint" must be secured...
Color Me Blood Red is probably the least imaginative and inspired of the
Lewis/Friedman gore trilogy; lacking as it does the spontaneity of Blood
Feast and the outrageous gimmickry of Two Thousand Maniacs! Demented
artists had been seen on film before (Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood
featured Dick Miller as a sculptor whose works actually hid the bodies of
his victims, for instance) and would be again (the 1970 Canadian production
Playgirl Killer is a near remake of Lewis's film and even features former
Lewis star William Kerwin in the lead role). The film also suffers from
noticeable padding, such as the "beach party" antics of the local teenagers
and several obvious attempts to promote an awkward "paddlewheel" water
bicycle. (Lewis acknowledges that the vehicle's creator hoped to start a
national craze by featuring them in the film.) In the film's favor are
Joseph's earnest, energetic performance as Sorg, and the effective use of library music.
With no time to create their own
soundtrack, Lewis and Friedman chose stock tracks they weren't particularly
happy with, yet the driving, jazzy music ended up giving the film an
appropriate, distinctive flavor. The trademark gore is, of course, there,
but most of the blood winds up on various canvases. This film zeroes in on
one particularly hideous set piece in the second half (in the mildest terms
possible, Sorg has strung a once-living "palette" up on his wall, from which
he obtains his special "paint").
Something Weird owner Mike Vraney (this time joined by Shocking Video's
Jimmy Maslon) guide Lewis and Friedman through the DVD's audio commentary track
--and this particular commentary is the most valuable of the
three available for those interested in the stories of the showmen. The
requisite Color Me Blood Red anecdotes are, of course, included--and are
quite amusing in their own right. But here, the story goes on. Both Lewis
and Friedman give straightforward accounts of their professional breakup
immediately following this production (the subject of much speculation in
print and elsewhere), as well as their ultimate reunion and reconciliation.
Their work in the exploitation field is candidly compared with so-called
"mainstream" Hollywood films (and even modern network television), as is the
hypocrisy of a ratings board which allows huge liberties to major studios
but comes down hard on the independents--and a convincing case is made. For
all the national agonizing over what effect entertainment violence may have
on society, the Lewis "gore" films, extreme as they were, seem oddly
innocent by today's standards. A mad caterer? Vengeful Confederate ghosts?
A blood-crazed painter? Lewis would go on to offer us the exploits of a
demented mother-and-son wigmaking team, the possessive spirit of Count
Dracula, and a reality-bending magician, among others--all "boogeymen" found
strictly in the movies.
The DVD offers a clean, colorful transfer. Some minor flaws and one or
two splices are visible but untroublesome. As on Something Weird's other "Blood Trilogy" DVDs, the theatrical
trailer is included, as is the same "Gallery of Exploitation Art." Silent outtakes are once again offered. This time
they run for about ten minutes and offer nothing unfamiliar (although it is
nice to see the victim of the central effect described above break character
and take a little stretch!). In all, the advantages of the DVD presentation
make this edition of Color Me Blood Red a fine way to wrap up Something
Weird's initial Lewis offerings.
Go to:
|
