Cheap Color Me Blood Red (DVD) (Herschell Gordon Lewis) Price

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Customer Reviews of Color Me Blood Red

Interesting, but could be refined
This movie has a good story to it, but it could be improved. Besides the corny music(which is mostly just jazz and does not fit good into the scenes) and bad sound editing(too much echoing) this movie is pretty good. I watched this movie to see the gore, although I must admit, this movie did not had as much gore as I imagined. Given the few gore scenes(I recount about 5 gorey scenes), it was pretty devastating and heart-wrenching. However, this movie poses a lot of questions pertaining to the characters. The main character, Adam Sorg, seems to be provoked very easily, and as the box says that he kills people so he can use their blood as paint. Well there is one scene where one kill was completely unprovoked and, let's just say he made someone food for the fish, in which he wasted the blood he could've used, but it was a entertaining scene. <
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>Overall, I enjoyed this movie, except that it was rather short and not enough action. There was too much useless and boring dialogue. Unless you are a H.G.L. fan or you just want to see some plain gore, this movie isn't really good for much else.

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Where's the "blood red"?
In 1963 Herschell Gordon Lewis, an independent filmmaker best known for making limited release "cutie" pictures, changed forever the face of American cinema when he released "Blood Feast." This film, as low budget as you could possibly get, ushered in the era of the gore film. While it would be quite some time before Hollywood caught on to the fact that certain segments of the movie going public hungered for films containing nauseating scenes of explicit violence, H.G. Lewis took one look at the receipts for "Blood Feast" and decided he better quickly make another movie similar to this one. What followed was a series of gruesome zero budget shockers, films like "The Wizard of Gore," "A Taste of Blood," "2000 Maniacs," "Color Me Blood Red," and "The Gruesome Twosome." Lewis lensed the downright offensive "The Gore-Gore Girls" before retiring from the film business in 1972 in order to devote his time to join the advertising industry. It wasn't until 2002 that the director returned to form with "Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat," a movie which proved beyond a doubt that the Godfather of Gore still has what it takes to gross out an audience.

"Color Me Blood Red" is the story of a temperamental painter and his efforts to achieve success at any cost. And what a cost! When Adam Sorg (Gordon Oas-Heim) struggles to sell paintings at a local art gallery, he must decide how to change his methods. He stumbles on the perfect color when his girlfriend accidentally cuts her finger. Sorg smears the blood across the canvas and has an instant masterpiece-well, almost. It takes a few more pints drawn from his girlfriend as well as himself to complete the painting, but when it is finished it looks divine. The struggling artist rushes the canvas over to the gallery where the owner, a snooty art critic, and a wealthy patron all swoon and gush over this brilliant and daring objet d'art. Regrettably, by putting his body and soul into the work (literally, in one respect), Sorg cannot bring himself to sell the painting even though the figure offered for it is quite enormous. Even worse, he realizes he doesn't have enough blood to keep working, and in a H.G. Lewis film that can only mean one thing: bloody and graphic carnage must soon follow.

Did I mention Sorg killed his girlfriend to get that first painting finished? Sorry 'bout that. It's not enough, though, as the painter realizes he doesn't have enough sauce to complete future masterpieces. After burying his gal in the sand outside his lakeside property (it's not much more than a shack somewhere in Florida, but this is a cheap movie), Sorg homes in on a hapless couple that had the misfortune of lounging around outside the house. These scenes run excruciatingly long as the demented painter tools around the lake in a speedboat, harpooning the boyfriend and capturing the girl. Once inside the house, Sorg disembowels the young woman and collects her precious blood in what is probably the movie's most effective gore scene. The fun, however, does not stop there. The daughter of the wealthy patron who wanted to buy the first Sorg painting turns up at the house with a trio of friends. She stumbles over the painter standing outside his house, and he offers her a chance to pose for one of his creations. The girl is quite hesitant at first, but soon agrees to do it as her friends stay behind on the beach. While Sorg prepares to murder yet another victim, the friends discover the decaying remains of the artist's girlfriend and head to the house to investigate. A bloody showdown involving a shotgun effectively ends Adam Sorg's short career.

"Color Me Blood Red" is definitely a lesser Lewis horror film. While that might not be saying much-all of his films boast atrocious acting, horribly cheap production values, and pedestrian dialogue-the film fails to match the nauseating atrocities seen in "Blood Feast" and "2000 Maniacs." Moreover, it fails to stand up along side Lewis's later, more vicious films like "Wizard of Gore" and "The Gore-Gore Girls." "Color Me Blood Red" has little red in it, unfortunately, and in a Lewis movie that's a crime of epic proportions. After all, audiences aren't watching a film like this for the acting or the big name stars; they want to see stomach-churning gore. Except for the scene with the girl in the house, there isn't much worth mentioning here. You may get a few laughs out of the acting, especially Sorg's histrionic antics as the tormented artist, but overall this movie is a disappointment. If I had to pick one notable element of the film, it would have to be the two "beat" friends of the daughter of the wealthy patron. These two stumble around throwing out all sorts of hep cat lingo, act all "crazy," and generally make complete fools out of themselves. In fact, they're immensely annoying, so much so that they do stand out in a film largely populated by walking and talking mannequins.

The DVD contains a heap of extras, including a commentary track with Herschell Lewis and producer David Friedman, poster galleries, outtakes, trailers, and an introduction from Lewis regular Bill Kerwin warning you about the graphic nature of this film. The extras are better than the movie, sad to say, but Lewis completists will want to own this one along with all the rest. I felt a bit down in the dumps after watching "Color Me Blood Red" because it was my last Lewis gore film. I have now seen all of them, from "Blood Feast" to "Blood Feast 2." Hopefully, this director will make another film in the next year or two. If not, it's been a heck of a run.

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Alright, little finger. Bleed for the big man.
1965's "Color Me Blood Red" is another slice of sickening cinema by H.G. Lewis, the Godfather of Gore. Released one year after "Two Thousand Maniacs," this film takes place on the sunny beaches of Sarasota, Florida. Actor Don Joseph stars as Adam Sorg, a blunt and frustrated artist who enjoys making rude comments toward any critic who analyzes his work. Although savvy collectors at Farsworth Galleries are anxious to purchase his abstract paintings, Adam indignantly refuses to sell them. Isolated in his studio, he has a great deal of trouble trying to concoct the best color scheme. Later, when his nagging girlfriend Gigi (Ellen Warner) cuts herself on a jutting canvas nail, Adam is instantly enamored at how blood emits the most brilliant shade of red. Immediately, he attempts to cover an entire canvas with his own hemoglobin; slicing open his hands with a razor blade, he feverishly smears his own bleeding digits onto a nude portrait, frantically squeezing the wounds before they clot. However, as he became dizzy and lightheaded, it doesn't take him long to realize that to finish his masterpiece, he would have to bleed himself dry. So, what does he do instead? As Gigi assails him with yet another tongue-lashing, Adam stabs her in the cranium with a palette knife! Then, in perhaps the most morbid example of artistic expression, he holds up Gigi's limp corpse and wipes her face on the picture, using her head as a giagantic brush! Eventually, his first ghastly painting is complete; we as an audience get to see it as a grisly representation of Adam's obsession with blood. When the critics at Farsworth Galleries see this work, they are instantly astounded and expect Adam to create more pieces with the same style. Buyers offer the upcoming artist up to $15,000. But, in an insane outburst, he downright refuses to sell the Red Painting. Over time, of course, the guilt relating to Gigi's death and the pressure to uphold his reputation drive him to the brink of madness.
In a fiendish manner, Adam continues his pattern of bleeding brushstrokes by killing any youth who vacations outside his beach house. At one point, he preys upon two unsuspecting swimmers; driving a motorboat, he stabs a young man in the chest with a harpoon, then grinds apart his flesh with the spinning propellers! The other victim was a woman; he has her tied against the wall with her intestines hanging out! Weeks later, a group of college students set up a picnic on Adam's cove. Like a crazed stalker, he lures a virginal girl named April (Candi Conder) into his studio, promising her the chance to be a model. I don't want to give the ending away, but let's just say that it includes sweet April in a pink bikini, a little bit of bondage, and a sharp axe!
While H.G. Lewis did have a disturbing concept behind "Color Me Blood Red," the film fell short overall. The outcome was predictable and the pacing was far too slow. The movie's grusome humor isn't as over-the-top when compared to "Two Thousand Maniacs" and "Wizard of Gore." Still, if you are a ravenous fan of Lewis's lurid legacy, this DVD is worth purchasing.