One of the special events planned for the Frightmare Weekend was the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis. The low budget filmmaker revolutionized the horror genre with his 1963 film “Blood Feast” which was the beginning of the extreme gore flicks that we all now know and love.

The award was presented by Dallas columnist, G. Noel Gross of CineSchlock-O-Rama, the ceremony began with a screening of the “Blood Feast” trailer to get everyone in the right state of mind. Mr. Lewis then took the stage to speak about his filmmaking experiences and take questions from the crowd.

 


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Herschell Gordon Lewis Lifetime Achievement

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See pictures from the H.G. Lewis live performance of the 2000 Maniacs theme.
He reminisced about how the idea to make a gore movie initially came to him and producer David F. Friedman. It was basically a marketing move. They were simply looking for a new twist on moviemaking, something that would set their movie apart. They brainstormed to come up with something that the major studios couldn’t and wouldn’t do, and explicit gore scenes is what they came up with and it set off a firestorm of impostors and the birth of a new genre.

“2000 Maniacs” was the result of Lewis and Friedman’s attempt to make a “good” version of what they had done with Blood Feast. Lewis remarked that it remained his favorite film that he has made to date.

 

He cracked the crowd up with tales of animal tongues and uncooperative actresses, and was very visibly moved by the award which he was presented. He remarked that it felt great to be among “his kind,” and it was nothing short of an honor to be there with him. A living legend, Mr. Herschell Gordon Lewis.