Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore: Film Review

11:02 AM PST 3/10/2011 by Frank Scheck

An entertaining, if less than deeply analytical, portrait of the pioneering exploitation filmmaker and his producing partner David Friedman.

Clearly preaching to the demented choir, Frank Henenlotter and Jimmy Mason's affectionate, tongue-in-cheek documentary explores the oeuvre of pioneering exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis and his producing partner David Friedman, the duo responsible for such not quite horror classics as Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs! Being presented at NYC's Anthology Film Archives as part of a Gordon retrospective, Hershell Gordon Lewis: TheGodfather of Gore is an entertaining if less than deeply analytical portrait of a filmmaker whose works were a forerunner of modern-day torture porn.