Do you like blood? Violence? Freaks of nature? Well, here at Arrow in the Head, we love all of those things – and that has inspired us to put together this list of some of The Goriest, Bloodiest Films Ever Made. Some of the movies are on here due to their historical significance, some are due to the amount of fake blood that was used during the production, and all of them are quite messy. Here we go:
This is where it all began. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, independent filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis and his producing partner David F. Friedman were looking at the major movies of the day to find what they could offer the moviegoing public that the studios weren’t providing. They started out with “nudie cutie” sexploitation movies, meeting the demand for bare flesh. After taking note that violence in movies had always been rather tame and/or relatively bloodless, even in Alfred Hitchcock’s recent proto-slasher hit Psycho, they decided that, with the next stage of their careers, they would bring gore to the movies, in vibrant color. Armed with animal parts collected from butcher shops and a blood mixture with the secret ingredient of Kaopectate, Lewis and Friedman brought the world Blood Feast. It tells the story of caterer Fuad Ramses, a devotee of the ancient Egyptian goddess Ishtar. 5000 years ago, Ishtar’s followers would offer up human sacrifices to their deity, sacrificing female virgins to appease her and then feeding on their flesh and blood. Fuad Ramses believes it’s time to bring back the old ways. After booking a job to cook up an Egyptian feast for an unsuspecting woman, Ramses sets out to collect the ingredients he’ll need to make a traditional feast in the name of Ishtar. He stalks the Miami area, killing nubile girls and hacking off body parts from his victims – a leg from one, the tongue from another, a brain, blood collected from whip wounds, etc. Lewis made several more blood-soaked movies after this one, most notably Two Thousand Maniacs!, earning himself the nickname “the Godfather of Gore” along the way. And every time we’ve seen a slasher make a bloody mess of their victims since 1963, we’ve had H.G. Lewis and Fuad Ramses to thank for it.
Asian horror films and Japanese horror in particular have a ton of entries where the blood flows freely and impressively. One of the goriest movies to come out of Japan is Tokyo Gore Police, as you might have guessed from its title. Just a quick look at its trailer will be enough to convince anyone who loves to watch insane bloodshed to order it ASAP. The film has some of the most insane set-ups in terms of characters having body modifications and the blood shed by some of them is just beautifully insane in quantity. The film was shot in just two weeks and the total amount of fake blood used is not clear, but it definitely was a whole lot. This film is over-the-top in just about every aspect and it appeals only to a very specific audience, but for those folks, it’s a beauty to behold. Director Yoshihiro Nishimura is better known as a makeup effects artist with films such as Meatball Machine Kodoku, Mutant Girl Squad, and the Tomie series on his filmography. His movies feature some gooey, juicy, and gory stuff, so having his name attached to this can only be a good omen for those who have yet to see the film.
Whether you call it Braindead or Dead-Alive, this horror comedy from Peter Jackson is a longtime favorite for many horror fans, both for its sense of humor and for the sheer amount of blood, gore, and practical effects seen throughout the film. The moment where an ear falls into a bowl of soup may be the grossest scene in the film, but it’s definitely not the bloodiest. One of the most famous gore sequences in cinema history is the one where lead Lionel, played by Timothy Balme, faces a horde of zombies that just keep on coming, forcing him to use whatever he can to dispatch them as fast as he can. In this moment, he gets his trusty lawnmower and just decimates the horde of zombies with blood and limbs flying in every direction. Three hundred gallons of fake blood are said to have been used in the final scene of the film alone. And to think, everything that happens in this movie was all caused by a little Sumatran Rat Monkey.
If any Evil Dead movie were to show up on this list, you might have expected it to be Sam Raimi’s original, with its messy demon meltdowns, or Evil Dead II, with its blood flood… but it’s actually the 2013 Evil Dead, directed by Fede Alvarez, that holds the unofficial record for the largest amount of fake blood ever used on a movie production. Alvarez has said in interviews that 50,000 gallons of fake blood were used just during the climax of the film, which features blood literally raining from the sky. Other reports have the total amount of fake blood used at 70,000 gallons for the whole film. The original had about 300 gallons used, so the filmmakers really upped their blood game on this one. Adding to that, this Evil Dead was mostly shot in order, so the blood sprayed on the walls, props, and actors could remain and help with continuity, avoiding having to have the crew re-spray the same places later or go back and adjust blood on previously shot scenes. Most of the blood may not come out of human bodies, but when bringing the violence to the screen, Alvarez made sure to include moments that are likely to make pretty much any viewer cringe.
This low budget, independent production beat all odds and became a box office success with only a few screens and word of mouth to get tickets sold. Writer/director Damien Leone went into Terrifier 2 wanting to make one of the goriest, bloodiest films of all time. Some absolutely love the result and others just hate it; there seems to be no middle ground when it comes of the adventures of supernatural serial killer Art the Clown. In this sequel, Art had to increase his bloodshed and thus causes all kinds of mayhem and murder, allowing the viewer to see a cat o’ nine tails used on two people, mashed potatoes used in a whole new way, a very particular birth sequence, and more death and mayhem than the first film could ever have dared. The amount of blood and guts here caused the film to earn torture porn accusations and a boundary-pushing NC-17 rating.
Let us know your goriest film favorites in the comments below!