Color Me Blood Red
The last (and least) of H.G. Lewisâ so-called âBlood Trilogyâ is also incredibly dull and slow-paced as well. Released in 1965, it tells the story of a struggling artist who in a quest to discover his âvoiceâ (and satisfy a very pretentious art critic) realizes that if he uses human blood in his paintings, heâll be hailed as a âdark geniusâ and be the toast of the art world. When pricking his own fingers and doing it that way leaves him drained, he decides to murder his nagging girlfriend and use her as a donor instead, before moving on to more random victims. As the artist, Don Joseph (nee Gordon Oas-Heim) does a fairly good job of showing his characterâs mental degradation and helps to introduce the one decent thematic element of the material in the way that he refuses to have his new masterpieces sold and wearily tells the critic âAre you satisfied now?â, suggesting that he has perhaps great guilt and shame over his acts not to mention his past drubbings from the critic literally drove him to a new low mentally. However, like stated, the pacing is lethargic for a 79 minute movie, and the kills are rather unimaginative to say the least (except for one victim being gutted), and then there are the supporting characters, most notably a beatnik guy and girl whose âhipâ dialogue wears thin on the viewerâs nerves from almost their very first scene, while Candi Conder as the ubiquitous heroine of the piece is certainly pretty (despite her beehive hairdo) but nonetheless gives Connie Mason a run for her money in the bad acting department. In the end, whereas Blood Feast was a watershed breakthrough for the genre and Two Thousand Maniacs actually came off as a quality horror flick, this one shows that Lewis was experimenting with a different approach and while some of its qualities work, most of them alas donâtâŚ
5/10