Blood Is The Life.....

If you like bloody low budget horror movies you're probably familiar with Herschell Gordon Lewis, sometimes referred to as "The Father of Gore" and generally considered to have made the first "gore" film, BLOOD FEAST in 1963. (Ok, I've been told otherwise but for the sake of my crummy review please bare with me!)

It tells the story of one crazy killer named Fuad Ramses who cuts up women and sacrifices their body parts to an Egyptian goddess called Ishtar. Two weird cops try to catch him while he plans his next dismemberment but he winds up getting crushed in a grabage truck instead!

Man, they just don't make 'em like that anymore! BF influenced countless future films...maybe too many!

BITS & PIECES is a 1983 production directed by one Leland Thomas who as of this writing has mercifully not made another film. I think he must have watched BLOOD FEAST once too often. Arthur Hill (SE Zygmont in his film debut and swan song all in one) is a demented killer taunted by a mannequin head he thinks is his mother. He hears her voice in his head and it even tells him when to eat! Poor Arthur is nuts because his mom and boyfriend dressed him up like a girl when he interrupted them during sex. Flashbacks also show that later on he killed her. Now he has dreams of a laughing skull with a wig on! He's killing girls because "they're all dirty whores like mommy".

There's also a would be victim named Rosie (Suzanna Smith) who's doing a term paper on male strippers. She has a funny conversation with a cop (Brian Burt; are these names real?). Director Thomas shows off his talent as script writer too. When the cop asks Rosie about her dead friend's sex life she replies: "What kind chauvinistic disgusting question is that?". Naturally, they get together and have fun at the beach and in a jacuzzi while Arthur is killing women. Much like the aforementioned Fuad Ramses Arthur even snatches a victim in broad daylight. A lot of blood abounds but most of the killings are off screen. The finale is pretty gory though. But that can't save this braindead production!

Accept no subsitutes! Check out HG Lewis's "Blood Trilogy" of BLOOD FEAST, 2000 MANIACS and COLOR ME BLOOD RED!!!
Thanks for reading!