Blood Diner (1987) POSTED BY TERENCE NUZUM, March 31, 2015 Share
So the names, timelines, and continuity have been changed to any characters of Blood Feast living or dead...but lets be honest we all know Blood Diner is the unofficial awesome black comedy sequel to the Herschel Gordon Lewis classic film. I knew it when I saw it, and I know it now. Yeah it's Etar in Blood Feast not Sheetar, and the main character wasn't Anwar Namtut it was Fuad Ramses, but like a good old fashioned film back in the day continuity doesn't need to get in the way of a great story or gory special effect. Written by the B-movie stalwart Michael Sonye and directed by Jackie Kong 1987's Blood Diner is pure horror comedy gold. An intentionally insane cult follow up to an unintentionally insane cult classic.
The best part of Blood Diner is it's off the wall characterizations. Not only are the Namtut brothers completely insane, but the side characters shine too. The food critic, the wrestler Little Jimmy Hitler, and the competing restaurant owner with a ventriloquist dummy are all well fleshed out mayhem. To say nothing of the cops in the film. One detective is Haitian and not only does she look like a Janet Jackson stunt double but her name IS Jackson! The other detective walked right out of Saturday Night Fever. And I haven't even mentioned the brain in the jar! Anwar Namtut now just a brain in a jar is like a cerebral Don Rickles with bad wisecracks to boot.
The films story picks up with the cops chasing Anwar Namtut (originally named Fuad Ramses in Blood Feast). Namtut manages to tell his young nephews George and Michael to promise to carry on his legacy of making the ultimate meal for Sheetar an ancient cannibal goddess. He is shot outside his home, and some 10 years later or so, his nephews now own an restaurant and are killing sluts for their body parts to resurrect Sheetar and killing patrons to prepare for her ceremonial feast! So obviously there is some continuity problems as Namtut was called Fuad Ramses in Blood Feast and Sheetar was Etar. Ramses was also crushed in a garbage truck, not shot in front of his nephews home. Still though this film is worth all the continuity errors it contains.
The gore is tamer than you'd think but is hilarious. Highlights include a slut getting killed via deep fryer, in which she runs around with a giant hush puppy head of batter, before falling down dead. The death of the new wave slut is also classic and the most goriest. After having sex she is attacked by one of the brothers with an axe. Ridiculously she knows karate and fights him off, completely nude, only to be killed by a falling stalagmite! The award winning scene though is the odd inconsequential scene of a hobo being run over by one of the brothers for no reason. He keeps surviving and keeps getting run over, all the while the mad brother George Namtut is grooving to some 1950s mambo, until finally he is just a bloody pulp. And of course the feast/slash party complete with weird Cramps-esque pyschobilly band Dino Lee and the White Trash Revue, hordes of zombie party-goers and Sheetar herself come to life has to be seen to be believed.
If this review seems all over the place that's because this film is all over the place. There are nonstop zany gags in this film, half of which I haven't even covered. If you are a fan of comedy horror see this film. In 1987 this little film flew under the radar but today it is a classic of horror comedy and a far better sequel to Blood Feast than the one Herschel Gordon Lewis himself gave us 15 years later.
"Ghastly Reflections" is ©2015 by Terence Nuzum. All contents of Crazed Fanboy are ©2015 by Nolan B. Canova and Terence Nuzum. Share This Article on Facebook! Email |
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