Horror Movie Review: Color Me Blood Red (1965)

It’s a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie, so you should know exactly what to expect with Color Me Blood Red. A low budget, badly told, poorly acted, gore-fest with very few redeeming qualities. Which is pretty much what we get with this film, yet, similarly to Blood Feast two years prior, there is something charming about it. It might not be a good film, but it is memorable.

Have you heard the one about the struggling artist who goes a bit mad? Of course you have, and that angle is used to its fullest here. Gordon Oas-Heim (an expressive actor) plays Adam Sorg, an artist who is tired of the response to his work. The critics just don’t like his paintings, in particular his use of colour, and it makes him very angry. Something his girlfriend Gigi (Elyn Warner) suffers the brunt of.

During one argument, she cuts her finger and accidentally stains a broken painting with her blood. The colour is exactly what Adam has been looking for, and he gets renewed inspiration from using his own blood. Of course, cutting himself and using the blood to paint brings with it a problem, and he is unable to finish his latest creation.

After another argument with Gigi, and in a fit of rage, Adam kills her and uses her blood to finish the painting. Taking it to a local gallery where the owner and a critic gush over its quality. They love it so much, they want more. Which is going to be a problem for the locals as Adam needs a fresh supply of blood.

It’s a simple story that runs out of steam around the point when Adam needs to find victims. A bevy of characters who mean nothing are thrown in, everyone acts exceptionally stupid, and Adam finds a way to justify his actions. It’s a rinse and repeat formula that gets more uninteresting the longer it goes on. Which, for a 79-minute movie, is not good, but that’s also par for the course with a Herschell Gordon Lewis film. The stories are often the last thing anyone thinks about. Well, that and the casting. Although, to be fair, Gordon Oas-Heim is quite fun to watch as he plays the role in an over-the-top fashion.

The reason anyone watches a Herschell Gordon Lewis film is for the gore, and happily, Color Me Blood Red delivers on that front. There’s plenty of blood spilled throughout. Fairly tame by today’s standards of course, but quite boundary pushing for the time.

Ultimately, Color Me Blood Red fails to give any solid reason to make it a must-see. Likely only to be enjoyed by the most enthusiastic of Herschell Gordon Lewis fans, but it’s certainly not the worst of his work.