Yes, I'm a real fan of the movies of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Interestingly, it's his non-gore movies that I enjoy the most. While I haven't seen them all, here are the ones that I enjoy the best and can watch over and over and over in no particular order:
1. Moonshine Mountain (1964) - Has much of the cast of "Two Thousand Maniacs" who seem to be more crazy without even killing anyone. What a cast!!
2. Suburban Roulette (1967) - Bert's freak out in the kitchen, the kids drinking liquor playing "Mommy & Daddy" while their real parents feel up the neighbors, the wife with bi-sexual tendencies, the drunk Mom, the egg smashing brats waking up hungover Daddy before Sunday Church.......what a classic!!!
3. Just For The Hell Of It (1968) - Destruction Incorporated. The kids make sadistic violence look so easy......Quite possibly THE greatest HGL movie ever made.
4. Blast-Off Girls (1967) - See the rise and fall of The Big Blast as they rock and party like any good band should. With Col. Sanders selling fried chicken! This is on a double bill DVD with Just For The Hell Of It from Something Weird (http://www.somethingweird.com/) video.
5. Living Venus (1960) - See Harvey Korman as a men's magazine photographer who gets the shaft from business partner William Kerwin (Thomas Wood/Sweetwood). Very well acted and well-produced.
6. Alley Tramp (1966) - Girl comes of sexual age and turns into a crazed nympho at the end after taking on her cousin and mother's lover. See Mom's p***y lips as her lover picks her up. I couldn't believe this was not edited or censored!!!
7. BOIN-N-G! (1963) - Allison Downe in short shorts is the sexiest thing I have ever seen. One of the last nudie cuties made with Dave Friedman, it's about two guys who set out to make their own nudie cutie movie. Cheesecake galore!
8. The Girl, The Body and The Pill (1967) - '67 seems to be THE year for HG. See what happens when little Randy replaces her mom's birth control pills with saccarrine tablets! You gotta love 30-year-old guys playing high schoolers shooting hoops in the schoolyard.
9. Something Weird (1967) - This is letterboxed on DVD from....Something Weird video (http://www.somethingweird.com/). LSD, a witch, a psychic, cops, conspiracy, killer bed sheets, murders....what fun!
10. The Gore-Gore Girls (1972) - HG hits the Seventies with the bloodiest of all of his movies. With Henny Youngman as a strip club owner.
I gotta admit I like Two Thousand Maniacs and The Wizard of Gore but I'd rather watch one of the movies above. So much emphesis gets put on his gore films because he was the first. Well, his talents for exploitation go far beyond blood as you can see.
I hope this message gets people interested in seeing his movies if they haven't yet seen one as his name is often mentioned.
2000 MANIACS is my favorite--I think I prefer its twisted bluegrass music to the NPR-fodder music of O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
Anyone who likes the scenery chewing of the Mayor in 2000 MANIACS should check out THIS STUFF'LL KILL YA! The same actor is in it, playing a moonshine-runnin' preacher.
I'm also a big fan of BLAST OFF GIRLS, JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT! ["Destruction!"] and SHE-DEVILS ON WHEELS.
I didn't like SOMETHING WEIRD or THE WIZARD OF GORE as much.
I would have to say that I like 2000 Maniacs, Wizard Of Gore and Blood Feast.
The bluegrass type music and the lovely amusement style rides were just enough to make you think some celebretions are best left alone. I mean it sure gives a new meaning to barrell roll.
The idea that these people were mutilated by Montag the Magnificent and yet were able to walk away about their normal business for a brief period of time made me think maybe I shouldn't volunteer for a magic act.
The mere appearance of Fuad Ramses was enough to bother anybody.
Callysto wrote:
>
> I would have to say that I like 2000 Maniacs, Wizard Of Gore
> and Blood Feast.
>
> The bluegrass type music and the lovely amusement style rides
> were just enough to make you think some celebretions are best
> left alone. I mean it sure gives a new meaning to barrell roll.
>
> The idea that these people were mutilated by Montag the
> Magnificent and yet were able to walk away about their normal
> business for a brief period of time made me think maybe I
> shouldn't volunteer for a magic act.
>
> The mere appearance of Fuad Ramses was enough to bother
> anybody.
>
>
I still can't believe you made me sit and watch those movies. God were they bad
Would have to say Wizard of Gore and The Gore Gore Girls. Both have outrageous characters and concepts (and gore). Montag the Magician is one of my favourite characters of all time and I really like the suave, charming Private Eye in GGG who can banter amusingly in the most hideous of situations. And his powers of deduction are amazing, even Sherlock Holmes would not be able to figure out that waitress was a wrestler simply from her touching him. I've enjoyed all of HG's films, but those two stand out as his craziest efforts.
2000 Maniacs, hands down. The only other movies by Mr. Lewis that I actually have seen are Blood Feast, The Gruesome Twosome, and The Wizard of Gore, none of which impressed much.
But 2000 Maniacs was a real black comedy gem.
"Robert E. Lee broke a musket on his knee...
The South's gonna rise again, yee-HA!"
Was singing that little item back in the day, I'll tell you that.