Editorials
[Butcher Block] Hershell Gordon Lewis’ Seminal Splatter ‘Blood Feast’
Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.
It feels only appropriate to kick off a brand-new series dedicated to gore and splatter with the film widely considered to be the first splatter film ever; Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast. The first film of its kind to use its gore as a selling point to attract audiences, Lewis’ first film also happens to be one of the oldest films to have made the Video Nasties list. While not technically a great film, even by Lewis’ own admission, it’s so historically important to horror that it should be required viewing for fans of blood and gore.
Dubbed the “Godfather of Gore,” Herschell Gordan Lewis had a more academic based career after graduating with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. It wasn’t until he began working for an advertising company in Chicago that he began to dabble with film on the side, eventually buying out the advertising company and retooling it into a film company. It would lead him to a fruitful partnership with producer David F. Friedman, and the pair then created a number of erotic exploitation flicks until the market for that type of film would diminish, causing them to explore new avenues in film. Inspired, or rather infuriated, by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and how it cheated its audience by keeping its kills off screen, Lewis wanted to do the exact opposite. He wanted to create a similar film with the gruesome kills at the forefront and in your face, and he wanted the film in color to show off the red blood.
Shot in mere days for a low, low budget of under $25,000, Friedman and Lewis realized they could take advantage of the drive-in audience for their seminal splatter film. Friedman came up with a bunch of publicity stunts, including giving out vomit bags with hired “nurses” to hand them out and even going so far as to file an injunction against Blood Feast in Sarasota, Florida to block the film from being screen there. Once it was granted and effectively banned, Friedman then filed a counter-suit to have it lifted. Somehow, that worked too. The “legal battle” Friedman warred for and against his own film drummed up the intended publicity.
Friedman’s marketing tactic, and the gory nature of the plot was very much in line with the Grand Guignol theatrical experience, from which Lewis and Friedman drew inspiration. Egyptian caterer Fuad Ramses (played up to eccentric effect by Mal Arnold) kills women in the suburbs of Miami to harvest their organs as part of a sacrificial ritual to his beloved Egyptian goddess Ishtar, with the police trailing far behind in tracking him down. It’s the simplest of plots in a film with a short run time of 67 minutes, which gives the gore the spotlight. You can forgive the cheesy dialogue, the shaky camera movement, and Arnold’s comical white-painted eyebrows and exaggerated limp because it was never about the story. It was about the unadulterated gore.
Lewis sets the tone right out of the gate with Ramses’ slaughter of an unexpected victim during her bath time, complete with typical bath time reading of book Ancient Weird Religious Rites (doesn’t every gal have a copy?). When Hitchcock would have turned away once Norman Bates went in for the kill, Lewis zooms in as Ramses hacks away at his victim in her bathtub, and closes in one the clumpy bits of her eyeball on his machete. The camera continues to look on in voyeuristic pleasure as Ramses continues to hack away at victim after victim.
The shoestring budget meant a lot of obvious mannequin usage for hacked limbs and corpses, but Lewis splurged on real animal offal in attempt to lend authenticity to his kills. Though he imported most of the animal organs locally, he had a sheep’s tongue shipped in from Tampa Bay for the scene in which Ramses rips the tongue from his victim’s mouth in her hotel room (the victim played by Playboy employee Astrid Olsen). It’s surprisingly effective for its time.
Released just 3 years after Psycho shook audiences to their core, it’s easy to see why Lewis’ first foray into splatter and horror would ruffle feathers. Though the gore doesn’t compare to what’s available today, and the blood is an oversaturated, thick red, it was downright shocking in 1963. Friedman and Lewis knew they didn’t have a masterpiece on their hands, but that wasn’t their intent in the first place. They wanted a no holds barred gore fest, and they nailed it. Lewis’ work only improved from there, with more impressive efforts soon for follow.
Responsible for not only launching the splatter sub-genre in horror, Blood Feast served as a major influence for George A. Romero, John Waters, and Tom Savini. It received a remake in the form of underrated horror comedy Blood Diner in 1987, and numerous references in various films like Juno and Serial Mom. Blood Feast may be schlocky and of its time (the over the top beach boyfriend wailing to the cops is an all-timer), but there’s no denying it’s importance in the canon of gore films.
Most brutal kill:
Beach babe Marcy loses her brains – While teen Tony is wooing his girlfriend Marcy on the beach for some canoodling, Ramses sneaks up on the lovers, knocking out Tony and hacking up Marcy’s skull with his machete to harvest her brain. A bloody mess in the sand, Lewis hovers lovingly on the mess of gray matter in Ramses’ hands. Of all of the blood and guts in the film, Marcy’s on screen death is the messiest.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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