The final film from Herschell Gordon Lewis will not win over new fans but will satiate the lust of obsessives hungry for more from The Godfather of Gore.
The only line of trivia listed on IMDB for BloodMania is that 18 gallons of blood were used during filming. I know what you’re thinking, “only 18 gallons?” That does seem a little light for a Herschell Gordon Lewis production. After all, The Godfather of Gore made his name on a torrent of splatstick grotesques with glistening wet titles like Color Me Blood Red, A Taste of Blood, and Blood Feast. Well, HGL only directed two of the segments in this anthology film, while Melanie Reinboldt and Kevin Littlelight direct the other two. So, those 18 gallons had to be allotted for HGL’s tales, right? Sure, Reinboldt and Littlelight don’t skimp on the gruesome, but it’s in The Wizard of Gore’s pieces where we’re bathed in red carnage. 18 gallons for 35 minutes of footage feels in keeping with history. Yeah.
BloodMania operates like a more degenerate Tales From The Crypt or a hate-fueled Twilight Zone. After an opening credits sequence that sees its stars paraded over a series of VHS box covers, and a bobbling Herschell Gordon Lewis head bounces over the lyrics to “Gore Gore On The Floor,” the man himself steps into frame. The Gorefather acts as host for the audience, welcoming us into this peculiar world, and laying on puns that the Cryptkeeper wouldn’t touch. He bemoans the true horror of Hollywood producers always on the hunt for hooks, but promises us that they’ll get their money’s worth with this first story about a guy who’s “hooked on hooks.”
It will not take you long to decide if BloodMania is your type of film or not. Recently released on Amazon Prime, if you’re mad enough to click on the title, and manage to make it through the first segment, then congratulations are due; you’re one of the converted. The story of Brewster Bricabrac (Roger LeBlanc) and his sentient hook hand conspirator is honestly just an excuse to watch a bumbling murderer accidently maim himself in flight from the law, and the Live Action 5 Newscam. By story end every limb will be pierced, eyeballs will be gorged, legs will be steamrolled, and guts ruptured.
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