Herschell Gordon Lewis

Directing

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Born — Died

1926-06-15 — 2016-09-26

Place of birth

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

77 titles

Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the 'splatter' subgenre of horror films. He is often called the 'Godfather of Gore' (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though his film career included works in a range of exploitation film genres including juvenile delinquent films, nudie-cuties, two children's films, and at least one rural comedy.

Known for

The Incredibly Strange Film Show poster
8.3

A series of documentaries focusing on the world of psychotronic movies; focusing on the lives of filmakers such as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Saim Raimi, Doris Wishman, Ed Wood Jr, and Tsui Hark. Covers weird movie genres, like Mexican wrestling movies and Hong Kong horror films.

The Incredibly Strange Film Show

1988

Psycho Holocaust poster
2.7

On a scorching summer day 6 friends venture into the mountains for one more vacation before their lives change forever. Unbeknownst to them, their lives would forever be changed anyway. In the shadows awaits a pack of the most evil, the most vile, rejects of humanity that's addicted to violence and thirsty for blood! This is Psycho Holocaust... Written by Rufty, Krist

Psycho Holocaust

2009

Wanted: The Sundance Woman poster
6.7

Katharine Ross repeats her portrayal of Etta Place (from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") in this adventure of the fugitive who, alone and desperate following the deaths of Butch and Sundance, seeks help from Pancho Villa in exchange for guns and ammunition.

Wanted: The Sundance Woman

1976

Divine Trash poster
7.3

The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters.

Divine Trash

2000

The Gore Gore Girls poster
5.4

A young reporter enlists a top notch private eye to solve the murder of a female stripper at a Chicago nightclub.

The Gore Gore Girls

1972

B-Documentary poster
4.0

B-Documentary is about independent filmmakers starting their careers, film vs. digital, how to make it in the business without giving in to Hollywood standards, and much much more. Some of the people that are documented in this film are legends such as Lloyd Kaufman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Bill Johnson, Lisa Gaye, D.J. Calvitto, Patrick Madcox, and Nurse Hatchet.

B-Documentary

2015

Film credits

2010s · 14 titles

B-Documentary poster
4.0

B-Documentary is about independent filmmakers starting their careers, film vs. digital, how to make it in the business without giving in to Hollywood standards, and much much more. Some of the people that are documented in this film are legends such as Lloyd Kaufman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Bill Johnson, Lisa Gaye, D.J. Calvitto, Patrick Madcox, and Nurse Hatchet.

B-Documentary

2015

American Grindhouse poster
6.7

This documentary explores the hidden history of the American Exploitation Film. The movie digs deep into this often overlooked category of U.S. cinema and unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of this popular entertainment.

American Grindhouse

2011

Terror Toons 3 poster
5.1

Picking up exactly where the original left off. This 3rd installment tells the tale of Cindy and her little sister Candy fighting the good fight with the help of their friends against evil Dr. Carnage and his abominable sidekick, Max Assassin. Enter the darken, kaleidoscope colored world of the cartoon dimension where anything is possible. Where everyone is subject to a blood splattered crazy cartoon death

Terror Toons 3

2015

Blood Feast poster
3.9

Fuad Ramses and his family have moved from the United States to France, where they run a American diner. Since business is not going too well, Fuad also works night shifts in a museum of Egyptian culture. During these long lonely nights he is repeatedly drawn to a statue representing the seductive ancient goddess ISHTAR. He becomes more and more allured by the goddess as she speaks to him in visions. Eventually he succumbs to her deadly charms.

Blood Feast

2016

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore poster
6.1

Take an outrageous ride through this wild world of exploitation films with this thoroughly entertaining documentary, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS – THE GODFATHER OF GORE! Featuring cult director John Waters, Drive-In Movie Critic Joe Bob Briggs, Herschell Gordon Lewis himself and a “cast of thousands,” you’ll witness the innocent bare-naked era of Nudie-Cuties before Lewis schocked the world with “Blood Feast,” the first ever gore film!

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore

2010

Under the Scares poster
NR

Cheap scares. Extreme Gore. Loads of nudity. These have been the three staples of low budget independent horror films since the 60's. But what's a filmmaker to do when, thanks to technology, ANYONE can make a film these days? Under The Scares offers an inside look into the production and promotion of an independent, ultra low-budget horror film, while combining interviews and insights from some of the genre's biggest legends - Lloyd Kaufman, Robert Kurtzman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Frank Henenlotter, Gary Jones, and many many more.

Under the Scares

2010

Produce Your Own Damn Movie! poster
NR

When it comes to producing, no one speaks with more authority than Lloyd Kaufman creator of The Toxic Avenger and founder of the longest-running independent film studio, Troma Entertainment. Over the years he has discovered talents such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park, The Book of Mormon) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) to name a few. Candid interviews, tips, tricks and tidbits scattered throughout the DVD give filmmakers practical tools for getting a movie shoot off the ground, keeping it afloat and seeing it through to the end - Lloyd Kaufman shows you how it's really done.

Produce Your Own Damn Movie!

2011

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore poster
1.0

In 2009, Sean Baker sat down with the Godfather of Gore himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis, to discuss his legendary career as an exploitation pioneer and creator of the splatter movie. In 2019, the footage formed the basis for this documentary produced by the Criterion Channel.

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore

2019

They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé poster
5.6

Savage! Sadistic! Thrill hungry! When it came to independent filmmaking in the sunshine state, William Grefé was the wildest of the wild! During the 1960s and '70s, the Miami-based producer/director transformed the darkest corners of the Florida swamps into his own personal backlot. From rampaging crocodiles possessed by an ancient Seminole witch doctor (DEATH CURSE OF TARTU) to a slithering serpent named STANLEY, William Grefé would grind out low-budget exploitation films for drive-ins and hardtops around the world. Now, without the benefit of cages or other protective devices, the untold story of Florida's most daring moviemaker comes to the screen...IN PSYCHEDELIC COLOR!

They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé

2016

That's Sexploitation! poster
5.9

Before the advent of modern-day pornography, a vast and rapidly-paced world of smut peddling was the norm, complete with its own secret history. This documentary reveals the untold story of American cinema's gloriously sordid cinematic past. Starting in the 1920s, expert exploiteer David F. Friedman and Henenlotter navigate us through more than five salacious decades of skin flicks. It's the true story of dirty movies, traced in elegant detail from the bizarre locations where these nudie shorts were screened to the ongoing legal battles fought by their promoters. And of course there are the stories of the innovators themselves, people who often risked their own security and livelihood to make these films, believing in some way that what they were doing wasn't a 'bad' thing - and that it could rake in some dough.

That's Sexploitation!

2013

Killer Campout poster
3.7

Two youth counselors bring a group of emotionally troubled teens deep into the woods for a weekend of solitude and confrontational therapy. The trip turns deadly when they are terrorized by a cannibalistic hermit with a thirst for blood.

Killer Campout

2017

BloodMania poster
3.2

A horror anthology of four distinct segments featuring a raucous combination of satirical humor, horror, gore, and enough surprises to satisfy film enthusiasts and horror fans alike.

BloodMania

2017

Tonight You Die poster
NR

The sun rose on the campsite, shedding light on the hellish carnage. A young woman's lifeless body was slumped against a tree, slashed open. Her husband lies nearby, in a mutilated heap. The fire flickers, revealing the charred remains of their unborn child. Who would commit such an atrocity? The police are clueless, but someone knows the truth. Fueled by a savage lust for revenge and a brutal appetite for death, they set out to find the killer in a blood-drenched quest for retribution

Tonight You Die

2011

No artwork available
NR

Lewis discusses his early work in nudie cuties and the making of The Adventures of Lucky Pierre.

How Herschell Found His Niche

2016

2000s · 9 titles

Psycho Holocaust poster
2.7

On a scorching summer day 6 friends venture into the mountains for one more vacation before their lives change forever. Unbeknownst to them, their lives would forever be changed anyway. In the shadows awaits a pack of the most evil, the most vile, rejects of humanity that's addicted to violence and thirsty for blood! This is Psycho Holocaust... Written by Rufty, Krist

Psycho Holocaust

2009

Divine Trash poster
7.3

The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters.

Divine Trash

2000

Smash Cut poster
3.7

Television news celebrity April Carson turns to the services of private investigator Isaac Beaumonde to seek her missing sister, a stripper known as Gigi Spot. Carson assumes a role in a horror movie in the process, eventually learning that the movie's director, Able Whitman, is not only the culprit, but that he has rendered her sister's body into props for the production.

Smash Cut

2009

Chainsaw Sally poster
4.0

Sally is a young woman living two lives: a calmly librarian by day, and a brutal serial killer by night where she randomly targets any man or woman whom even slightly upsets her. Sally lives with her reclusive, transvestite younger brother Rudy whom assists her with the killings. Both Sally and Ruby were traumatized as children when both of them witnessed three lunatics murder their mother and father before they, with 'Daddy's' help, killed the three murderous psychos.

Chainsaw Sally

2004

Horror Business poster
6.3

The movie covers the careers of five up-and-coming horror-movie loving directors – Mark Borchardt ('Coven'), Ron Atkins ('Necromaniac'), Dave Stagnari ('Catharsis'), John Gora ('Chirpy'), and Brian Singleton.

Horror Business

2005

Bits and Pieces: Bringing Death to Life poster
7.7

Documentary focusing on the history of splatter cinema from the theatre of The Grand Guignol to the cutting edge work of "Final Destination 2." Produced for the "Final Destination 2" DVD.

Bits and Pieces: Bringing Death to Life

2003

The Uh-oh Show poster
4.8

Contestants on the titular trivia game show play for money but appear to be dismembered for every wrong answer.

The Uh-oh Show

2009

7 Deadly Sins: Inside The Ecomm Cult poster
1.0

Cults are real...this 'mockumentary' isn't. Godfather of Gore movies Herschell Gordon Lewis plays a detective who tells the story of the Ecomm Cult, operated by the polygamist Doctor Smoke.

7 Deadly Sins: Inside The Ecomm Cult

2009

Book of Lore poster
NR

When Rick's girlfriend is found brutally murdered, he and his friends must band together to solve the mystery. Strange circumstances lead them to a bizarre encyclopedia of local murders. As the bodies pile, Rick must come to terms with his town's unspeakable past.

Book of Lore

2007

1960s · 10 titles

Something Weird poster
4.1

An accident victim makes a deal with a witch, in which he receives extraordinary ESP powers; he uses these powers to assist the police in solve crimes.

Something Weird

1967

Blood Feast poster
4.8

In the sleepy suburbs of Miami, seemingly normal Egyptian immigrant Fuad Ramses runs a successful catering business. He also murders young women and plans to use their body parts to revive the goddess Ishtar. The insane Ramses hypnotizes a socialite in order to land a job catering a party for her debutante daughter, Suzette Fremont, and turns the event into an evening of gruesome deaths, bloody dismemberment and ritual sacrifice.

Blood Feast

1963

The Gruesome Twosome poster
4.8

A demented elderly woman has her mentally incompetent son kill and scalp various young women to use their hair for her wig shop while a persistent co-ed tries to link various killings on a local Florida college campus to them.

The Gruesome Twosome

1967

Scum of the Earth poster
5.3

An innocent teenager is blackmailed into nude modeling for a photographer in league with a gang boss who sells illicit photos of terrorized young women.

Scum of the Earth

1963

The Alley Tramp poster
4.4

A teenager sets out on a sexual odyssey of having affairs with various men, including her mother's secret boyfriend.

The Alley Tramp

1968

Jimmy, the Boy Wonder poster
3.0

A spoiled boy makes a reckless wish, and everybody in the world stops moving. A wizard's daughter tries to help him get the world restarted.

Jimmy, the Boy Wonder

1966

A Taste of Blood poster
4.9

A businessman becomes a vampire after drinking brandy laced with vampire blood and sets out on an odyssey of killing Dracula's executioners' descendants.

A Taste of Blood

1967

Goldilocks and the Three Bares poster
4.1

Nightclub singer Eddie and comedian Tommy, working in a roaring twenties style club, meet and being dating publicist Allison and photographer Cynthia, respectively. They soon discover that the women spend weekends at a nudist club which the guys disapprove.

Goldilocks and the Three Bares

1963

How to Make a Doll poster
2.6

A nerdy, unlucky professor builds beautiful female robots to satisfy his sexual desires.

How to Make a Doll

1968

Living Venus poster
4.0

Jack and his photographer partner start up a men's magazine called 'Pagan'. The magazine becomes a success, he leaves his fiancée, marries his star model, and complications ensue.

Living Venus

1961

Series credits

Behind the camera

Wanted: The Sundance Woman poster
6.7

Katharine Ross repeats her portrayal of Etta Place (from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") in this adventure of the fugitive who, alone and desperate following the deaths of Butch and Sundance, seeks help from Pancho Villa in exchange for guns and ammunition.

Wanted: The Sundance Woman

1976

The Gore Gore Girls poster
5.4

A young reporter enlists a top notch private eye to solve the murder of a female stripper at a Chicago nightclub.

The Gore Gore Girls

1972

The Gore Gore Girls poster
5.4

A young reporter enlists a top notch private eye to solve the murder of a female stripper at a Chicago nightclub.

The Gore Gore Girls

1972

Bridger poster
10.0

The story of famous frontiersman Jim Bridger, who is given 40 days to cut a trail through the Rocky Mountains to the California coast and told that if he can't do it, the territory will be lost to England.

Bridger

1976

The Ecstasies of Women poster
3.4

Harry's friends throw him a night-long bachelor party, and he flashes back to his many female 'conquests' with the go-go dancers who remind him of his array of past lovers.

The Ecstasies of Women

1969

The Ecstasies of Women poster
3.4

Harry's friends throw him a night-long bachelor party, and he flashes back to his many female 'conquests' with the go-go dancers who remind him of his array of past lovers.

The Ecstasies of Women

1969

The Wizard of Gore poster
5.4

A talk show hostess and her boyfriend investigate a shady magician who has the ability to hypnotize and control people's thoughts in order to stage gory onstage illusions using his powers of mindbending.

The Wizard of Gore

1970

The Wizard of Gore poster
5.4

A talk show hostess and her boyfriend investigate a shady magician who has the ability to hypnotize and control people's thoughts in order to stage gory onstage illusions using his powers of mindbending.

The Wizard of Gore

1970

Something Weird poster
4.1

An accident victim makes a deal with a witch, in which he receives extraordinary ESP powers; he uses these powers to assist the police in solve crimes.

Something Weird

1967

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In poster
4.2

A series of short sketches featuring the topic of sex, including a French governess who paints faces on her breasts; a middle-aged couple having sex on a film reel loop that a man tries to pay for; Lord Fauntleroy exploring a female body; a 'Great White Hunter' captured by an African woman; a nude female spy trying to decode a secret password; and two exotic dancers experimenting with a new 'dance'.

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In

1970

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In poster
4.2

A series of short sketches featuring the topic of sex, including a French governess who paints faces on her breasts; a middle-aged couple having sex on a film reel loop that a man tries to pay for; Lord Fauntleroy exploring a female body; a 'Great White Hunter' captured by an African woman; a nude female spy trying to decode a secret password; and two exotic dancers experimenting with a new 'dance'.

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In

1970

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In poster
4.2

A series of short sketches featuring the topic of sex, including a French governess who paints faces on her breasts; a middle-aged couple having sex on a film reel loop that a man tries to pay for; Lord Fauntleroy exploring a female body; a 'Great White Hunter' captured by an African woman; a nude female spy trying to decode a secret password; and two exotic dancers experimenting with a new 'dance'.

Miss Nymphet's Zap-In

1970

She-Devils on Wheels poster
5.0

An all-female motorcycle gang hold races, as well as terrorize the residents of a small Florida town, and clash off against an all-male rival gang of hot-riders.

She-Devils on Wheels

1968

She-Devils on Wheels poster
5.0

An all-female motorcycle gang hold races, as well as terrorize the residents of a small Florida town, and clash off against an all-male rival gang of hot-riders.

She-Devils on Wheels

1968

Blood Feast poster
4.8

In the sleepy suburbs of Miami, seemingly normal Egyptian immigrant Fuad Ramses runs a successful catering business. He also murders young women and plans to use their body parts to revive the goddess Ishtar. The insane Ramses hypnotizes a socialite in order to land a job catering a party for her debutante daughter, Suzette Fremont, and turns the event into an evening of gruesome deaths, bloody dismemberment and ritual sacrifice.

Blood Feast

1963

Blood Feast poster
4.8

In the sleepy suburbs of Miami, seemingly normal Egyptian immigrant Fuad Ramses runs a successful catering business. He also murders young women and plans to use their body parts to revive the goddess Ishtar. The insane Ramses hypnotizes a socialite in order to land a job catering a party for her debutante daughter, Suzette Fremont, and turns the event into an evening of gruesome deaths, bloody dismemberment and ritual sacrifice.

Blood Feast

1963

Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat poster
4.8

A cannibal caterer kills various young women in preparation for a ritual feast for a long-dormant Egyptian goddess that has him under its control.

Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat

2002

Color Me Blood Red poster
4.7

A crackpot painter kills people to use their blood as his new crimson red color for his art.

Color Me Blood Red

1965

Color Me Blood Red poster
4.7

A crackpot painter kills people to use their blood as his new crimson red color for his art.

Color Me Blood Red

1965

Bell, Bare and Beautiful poster
4.0

Obsessed with a woman he doesn't know, a young millionaire investigates, and discovers that the girl of his dreams is a finely endowed stripper who spends a lot of time in a nudist camp.

Bell, Bare and Beautiful

1963

Two Thousand Maniacs! poster
5.5

Six people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents kill them one by one as revenge for the town's destruction during the Civil War.

Two Thousand Maniacs!

1964

Two Thousand Maniacs! poster
5.5

Six people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents kill them one by one as revenge for the town's destruction during the Civil War.

Two Thousand Maniacs!

1964

The Gruesome Twosome poster
4.8

A demented elderly woman has her mentally incompetent son kill and scalp various young women to use their hair for her wig shop while a persistent co-ed tries to link various killings on a local Florida college campus to them.

The Gruesome Twosome

1967

The Gruesome Twosome poster
4.8

A demented elderly woman has her mentally incompetent son kill and scalp various young women to use their hair for her wig shop while a persistent co-ed tries to link various killings on a local Florida college campus to them.

The Gruesome Twosome

1967

Suburban Roulette poster
3.7

A newlywed couple falls into a dangerous game of parties and swapping spouses with two other swinging couples after moving into a seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood.

Suburban Roulette

1968

Suburban Roulette poster
3.7

A newlywed couple falls into a dangerous game of parties and swapping spouses with two other swinging couples after moving into a seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood.

Suburban Roulette

1968

The Prime Time poster
4.5

A bored young girl looking for excitement gets involved with nude modeling, drugs and a rock band.

The Prime Time

1960

Scum of the Earth poster
5.3

An innocent teenager is blackmailed into nude modeling for a photographer in league with a gang boss who sells illicit photos of terrorized young women.

Scum of the Earth

1963

Scum of the Earth poster
5.3

An innocent teenager is blackmailed into nude modeling for a photographer in league with a gang boss who sells illicit photos of terrorized young women.

Scum of the Earth

1963

Moonshine Mountain poster
3.1

A country western singer returns home to the Carolina hills, where he gets caught up in a feud between some homeboy moonshiners and 'the Revenoores'.

Moonshine Mountain

1964

Moonshine Mountain poster
3.1

A country western singer returns home to the Carolina hills, where he gets caught up in a feud between some homeboy moonshiners and 'the Revenoores'.

Moonshine Mountain

1964

The Uh-oh Show poster
4.8

Contestants on the titular trivia game show play for money but appear to be dismembered for every wrong answer.

The Uh-oh Show

2009

The Uh-oh Show poster
4.8

Contestants on the titular trivia game show play for money but appear to be dismembered for every wrong answer.

The Uh-oh Show

2009

Monster a Go-Go! poster
2.3

A space capsule crash-lands on Earth, and the astronaut aboard disappears. Is there a connection between the missing man and the monster roaming the area?

Monster a Go-Go!

1965

Monster a Go-Go! poster
2.3

A space capsule crash-lands on Earth, and the astronaut aboard disappears. Is there a connection between the missing man and the monster roaming the area?

Monster a Go-Go!

1965

The Great Chicago Conspiracy Circus poster
7.0

This bizarre amalgam of "Alice in Wonderland" and the transcripts of the Chicago 7 Trial makes for an interesting commentary on the American judicial system. - IMDB A feature film made at the time of the trial, based on the trial transcript and distributed by New Line Cinema, The Great Chicago Conspiracy Circus, by Cannes-winning director Kerry Feltham, was released in January 2008 on DVD. The film won the Berlin Film Festival jury prize, as well as positive reviews from the New York Times and Newsweek. - Wikipedia

The Great Chicago Conspiracy Circus

1970

Daughter of the Sun poster
4.2

When her nudist lifestyle is discovered, a schoolteacher must defend herself before the Board of Education. A male colleague accompanies her to the nudist camp to see for himself exactly what goes on there.

Daughter of the Sun

1962

Daughter of the Sun poster
4.2

When her nudist lifestyle is discovered, a schoolteacher must defend herself before the Board of Education. A male colleague accompanies her to the nudist camp to see for himself exactly what goes on there.

Daughter of the Sun

1962

Just for the Hell of It poster
4.0

A teenager, blamed for the terror befalling a Florida neighborhood, sets out to find the real culprits, who are in fact a punk gang leading local delinquents on a nihilistic spree of destruction and mayhem.

Just for the Hell of It

1968

Just for the Hell of It poster
4.0

A teenager, blamed for the terror befalling a Florida neighborhood, sets out to find the real culprits, who are in fact a punk gang leading local delinquents on a nihilistic spree of destruction and mayhem.

Just for the Hell of It

1968