BOOK REVIEWS: Two Cult Classics
It’s a Herschell Gordon Lewis fest, with one book by Lewis and the other about him. Besides inspiring a cult following as DIRECT’s very own Curmudgeon-at-Large, Lewis is a respected auteur in cult cinema.
First, Lewis the copy chieftain. A new edition of his “On the Art of Writing Copy” has just been released (Amacom, $29.95). This is Lewis in a serious mode, even if he touches on some of the same issues he discusses tongue-in-cheek in his DIRECT column.
His point of departure for the craft of copywriting is “Will it sell?”
For example, his advice to the typical e-commerce site: “Don’t waste time with dull statements about who you are. Convert hits to buys by making an offer.”
What makes this book important for DMers in general – and copywriters in particular – is that Lewis mixes critiques of existing ads with clear explanations of how to write good copy. That’s what Lewis calls the Umbrella Rule: clarity, benefit and credibility.
Lewis doesn’t discuss his other career in his book. “A Taste of Blood” by Christopher Wayne Curry (Creation Books, $22.95) fills in some of what’s missing.
In the ’60s and early ’70s, Lewis made 37 films. The films for which he is best known among cultists include “Blood Feast,” “2,000 Maniacs” and “The Gore-Gore Girls.” His works have influenced such filmmakers as Tom Savini (“Dawn of the Dead”) and John Waters (“Pink Flamingos”).
Although “the grandfather of gore” – as Lewis is sometimes called – is best known for having launched the horror/slasher/graphic gore movie, he actually made exploitation movies. “An exploitation film is a motion picture in which the elements of plot and acting become subordinate to elements that can be promoted” in a marketing campaign, Curry quotes Lewis as saying. Among Lewis’ elements are: drugs, teenage gangs, rock and roll, bikers, birth control pills, wife-swapping, psychic phenomena and television news coverage.
Curry notes that Lewis’ current business is a perfect extension to his exploitation days. Given that a frequent criticism of current films is that they are made for exploitable high concept, it’s a shame Curry didn’t delve further into this idea.
“A Taste of Blood” is well researched and well organized, but it’s merely a cultist’s compendium. Each film gets a summary and an overview of behind-the-scenes production details. But it provides neither serious history nor analysis of Lewis’ work.
