Horror filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis, known as the “Godfather of Gore” for his bloody exploitation movies like “Blood Feast” and “Two Thousand Maniacs”, passed away at the age of 87.
Lewis died on Monday, his longtime distributors The Something Weird Video shared on Facebook, reports variety.com.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1929, Lewis studied journalism in college and became a professor of English literature at Mississippi State University.
“Blood Feast”, made in 1963 in Miami, was considered to be the horror genre’s first splatter film.
Lewis’s films supplied grindhouse cinemas and drive-ins with titles including “A Taste of Blood”, “The Wizard of Gore”, “The Gruesome Twosome”, “Scum of the Earth!” and “She-Devils on Wheels”.
In addition to being a filmmaker, Lewis taught college literature, worked in radio and produced and directed TV commercials. He wrote several books on marketing and copy-writing.
