#3: Nothing So Appalling in the Annals of Horror: The First American Goremeister
Episode Description: This week, Bad Idea Podcast tackles—and without shoulder pads—Herschell Gordon Lewis’s filmography. In time for Anthology Film Archives’ recent mini-retro of Lewis’s films, we look back at the first acknowledged American goremeister, a man whose reputation precedes him, but generally makes terrible, terrible movies. This is not a point of contention between Steve & Simon, though they do fight about much of everything else in this month’s ‘cast (including Lewis’s carpentry skills). Discussions range from the new documentary Herschell Gordon Lewis: Godfather of Gore, co-directed by Basket Case and Frankenhooker director Frank Henenlotter, to two films that more practically show Lewis’s impact: 2001 Maniacs and Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter director Lee Dermarbre’s Smash Cut. This month’s Netflix Grab-Bag feature focuses on Goyokin, a pensive 1969 samurai drama starring Tatsuya “the man” Nakadai and directed by Hideo Gosha (Sword of the Beast, Onimasa, The Wolves, and many others). Next month’s show will be a double bill of Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla and Gareth Edwards’s Monsters. For real.
