The films of Herschell Gordon Lewis / edited by Calum Waddell.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Waddell, Calum, editor.

Series:

ReFocus, the American directors series

ReFocus: the American directors series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lewis, Herschell Gordon, 1926-2016--Criticism and interpretation.

Lewis, Herschell Gordon.

Lewis, Herschell Gordon, 1926-2016.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Other Title:

ReFocus: the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2026]

Summary:

Explores the influence of American director Herschell Gordon Lewis on exploitation cinema The first academic study into the work of Herschell Gordon LewisAn important intervention in the growing field of horror film studiesA rare entry in the ReFocus line to consider the work of a Jewish filmmakerDubbed "The Godfather of Gore," no other exploitation filmmaker made the most of scant budgets, short shooting schedules and amateur special effects like the legendary Herschell Gordon Lewis. Making his mark with Blood Feast in 1963 and helming such notorious splatter-shockers as Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964), The Gruesome Twosome (1967) and The Gore Gore Girls (1972), the director provoked generations of indebted genre stylists - from John Waters and Frank Henenlotter to Eli Roth and Damien Leone, with his hit Terrifier franchise.This is the first academic study into the work of Lewis, covering not just his bloodstained celluloid, but also his background in sexploitation and infomercials. In doing so, this entry in the ReFocus series takes one of cinema's most influential low budget craftsmen out of the grindhouse and considers him as an Avant Garde auteur in his own right.

Contents:

Carving against the grain : the case of carving magic / Jack O’Dwyer

In the name of ishtar : Herschell Gordon Lewis’s blood feast / Jialu Zhu

Unearthing the past and facing the present : a historical and social reading of two thousand maniacs! / Erika Tiburcio Moreno

“Obscene, disgusting, perverted, and sadistic” : existentialism, absurdism, and the blood trilogy of Herschell Gordon Lewis / Daniel Tilsley

Just for the smell of it : offal and olfactory awfulness in the horror films of Herschell Gordon Lewis / David Scott Diffrient

“It all seems too real” : Herschell Gordon Lewis and theaters of horror / Richard J. Hand

The wizard of bore : magic, authorship, and tedium / Murray Leeder

The black list? Herschell Gordon Lewis, black love, and the dubious pleasures of pure paracinema / Calum Waddell

Herschell Gordon Lewis, this stuff’ll kill ya!, and the state of Oklahoma / Gary D. Rhodes

“Where do these people come from?” abjection and audience reception in the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis and John Waters / Joseph M. Sirianni

Bloody and bawdy : Herschell Gordon Lewis’s comedy of the body / Kate Russell

Herschell in video-land : consuming blood feast 2 / Calum Waddell.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed February 12, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis

ISBN:

9781399536042

1399536044

9781399536035

1399536036

OCLC:

1564131165

Publisher Number:

CIPO000318374

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license