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The Godfather of Gore
Herschell Gordon Lewis is considered the Godfather of Gore as his early 1960's films were the first horror movies to feature explicit violence in vivid detail.
While pretty tame and even silly by today's standards, his first two gore films, "Blood Feast" and "2000 Maniacs" deserve to be in any serious horror fans DVD collection.
"Blood Feast" is about an Egyptian caterer who hacks up women for a....uh... feast... and features limbs being removed and entrails being ripped from torsos.... all in glorious color and f/x about as real looking as those at a local Halloween Haunted House.
"2000 Maniacs" is a bit more fun and proves that rednecks are still scarier than any monster you can think of. This one is probably Lewis's best and he agrees. (I just met him last week at a Convention and spoke to him at length about this film). "Maniacs" moves along at a brisk pace, features a few very memorable death scenes and provides some laughs as well... start with this one if you'd like to see what this guy is all about.
Fulci is much more explicit (and realistic) as far as gore is concerned.
But Lewis got there first. (Though I would argue that it was Franju's "Eyes Without A Face" from the 1950's that really broke open the flood gates).
Lewis was the first American director to place the gore upfront and in our laps though. Hence his title.
Hope this helps! Enjoy!
-Greg
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