I didn't want to believe this one. This morning, Something Weird Video, the distribution company that put out gore classics like BLOOD FEAST and THE WIZARD OF GORE reported that the Godfather of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis has passed away. Unfortunately the news has been confirmed by producer James Saito via the official Twitter account of Lewis' now final film, BLOODMANIA:
Lewis was born on June 15th, 1929 in Pittsburgh, and he made his first step into the exploitation genre as a producer on 1959's THE PRIME TIME. Working in the juvenile delinquent, "nudie cutie," and gore-horror genres for the bulk of his career, he made a massive impact on genre filmmaking, pushing the envelope with every over-the-top, blood-splattered film he made, including the classics TWO THOUSAND MANIACS!, THE GORE GORE GIRLS, and COLOR ME BLOOD RED.
Although he retired from filmmaking in the early 70's, he returned to direct a pair of films in the 2000's (BLOOD FEAST 2: ALL U CAN EAT and THE UH-OH SHOW) and his final project, BLOODMANIA, is currently in post-production.
His reach is so great he was even mentioned in the 2007 comedy hit JUNO, where Jason Bateman and Ellen Page decide he's the true grand master of splatter filmmaking and take in a screening of WIZARD OF GORE.
His films will always be fondly remembered and live on in the hearts and nightmares of horrorhounds all over the world. Our hearts go out to Lewis' friends, family, and fans.