Herschell Gordon Lewis

Legendary pioneer in the arena of "gore" or "splatter" flicks, Herschell Gordon Lewis moved smartly from the strictures of academia (he had been a literature professor at the University of Mississippi) to the shadowy world of 1950s "nudie" films to the wide open spaces of regional exploitation filmmaking in the '60s and early '70s. He was not a naturally talented filmmaker; indeed the direction, scripting, performances and production values of even his "best" films could often be remarkably amateurish. However, Lewis has earned a place in the history of American independent filmmaking for upping the ante on the representation of violence (as well as gratuitous sex) in film while demonstrating that commercial genre fare could be produced on a shoestring totally outside the Hollywood system. Lewis became the guru of movie gorehounds because his films retain their power to shock. Furthermore, if one can deal with the carnage, they can be screamingly funny. Herschell Gordon Lewis died on September 26, 2016 at the age of 87, having returned late in life to directing films aimed at his still-substantial fan base.