A person can agree with horror master Stephen King on the worst horror movie of all time or they can keep their own opinion since to be fair he is just another person. But the thing is that he’s an award-winning writer that’s been around long enough and written enough horror stories to know what makes a great horror story and what’s just a bunch of gore and horrible dialogue slapped together to produce a vomit-inducing experience. Thinking that he would give voice to any displeasure over a movie such as Blood Feast, a 1960s-era schlockfest that is all about the gore and just barely has a plot to it, isn’t hard at all, since the idea that a lot of horror movies have any sense to them is kind of hard to say without laughing. But this one, in particular, is pretty bad since it’s about an Egyptian caterer dicing up women for ritual sacrifice. In other words, it’s a blood and guts type of movie that was made for the sheer effect that it has on people, and not much more.
It sounds a little bit elitist to trash another movie for certain since as I keep saying, every story has validity until it doesn’t. This is one of those cases when it might not be as valid since Blood Feast was about little more than shock value since all it turned out to be was a way to gain a reaction from the audience. It managed to do this, and obviously, some people thought it was worthwhile since it hasn’t disappeared entirely. But the facts that remain are that storytellers such as King, myself, and many upon many others might agree that the elements needed for a story simply aren’t that present in this movie since it’s quite self-serving and doesn’t add to the cinematic experience all that much. Some might want to argue and disagree, and they’re right to do so since free thought and expression are needed to help some stories survive.
There’s no doubt that there are quite a few people who might agree with King simply because of who he is and what he does, but the fact is that a story does need more than some poorly scripted dialogue and a lot of blood and gore to come off as anything other than an amateurish attempt to get attention. Bashing it any further isn’t really needed, but justifying King’s stance on this matter is something that one can’t help but take as an admission that he could be right. Someone that’s spent a huge part of his life writing horror and even teaching it to others is what would be known as an expert on the subject and the fact here is that he does know something about it. Those that enjoyed the movie or didn’t think it was that bad, well, that’s a matter of personal taste, and some actually enjoy the splatter and blood and guts that come with such movies. There’s nothing wrong with gore, but there is a point when it becomes excessive and is no longer helpful, but instead tends to overwhelm the movie in a big way.
Good dialogue can plot can make a huge difference and even things out, but since this movie doesn’t have either of those it kind of flops hard to the blood-soaked ground without any hope of redemption. King is entitled to his opinions as much as the next person, and it’s fair to think that someone out there will think that Blood Feast is in fact worth noticing, but it won’t be gaining much more recognition at this point since horror has moved on in a big way, and while the blood and guts style that some people like is still around, the idea of creating a horror story that’s not dependent on the visceral reaction gained by the butchery that some movies take pride in happens to be one of the best ways to scare people since implied violence can be even more terrifying. Where visceral horror shocks and astounds people and can traumatize them without a doubt, cerebral horror is far more insidious and is harder to get away from since it can appear to vanish, but will eventually pop back up again thanks to the right trigger.
King and many other horror writers are to be given at least a moderate amount of respect when it comes to their opinions on horror movies since they’ve been in the business long enough to understand what scares people and what only works for a couple of minutes, tops. The blood and guts that some people love to see in movies isn’t necessarily the wrong way to go, but when used in such a gratuitous manner, it kind of negates any chance of taking it seriously.
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