Color Me Blood Red

The first film to reach Britain made by the notorious Lewis, who shocked the US drive-in audiences of the '60s with some of the goriest films ever made, notably Blood Feast and 2000 Maniacs. If this one is anything to go by, Lewis' films make Friday the 13th, etc, look like they were directed by Orson Welles. The narrative - about an artist who paints with human blood - is so token that it verges on abstraction, the acting is unspeakable, even the sound-track sometimes disappears. Set as it is in no kind of context, the mindless, sadistic gore seems all the more depressing, and the film itself becomes unwatchable.