Color Me Blood Red

In this 1965 Herschell Gordon Lewis opus (the final installment of the infamous "blood trilogy"), impulsive painter Adam Sorg (Don Joseph) seems to have it all: a pretty girlfriend, an exclusive gig at the local gallery, and enough sales to live comfortably in his remote, beachfront home. But Sorg wants more. Considered a trendy painter with a poor sense for color, he longs for critical acceptance. He sees his chance when his girlfriend cuts her finger and drips blood onto a canvas. That's it! Blood is exactly the color his paintings were screaming for. Cutting his girlfriend's finger, or even his own, won't provide enough blood for his new masterpieces, though, and his desperate need for more and more blood can only lead to one thing: murder. Despite the self-referential aspects of an artist who can only achieve true fame by using blood, Color Me Blood Red is more exploitation than art, with lingering close-ups of bloody intestines and the like. But what do you expect from Lewis? Joseph is surprisingly good as the painter with the "artistic temperament" in a movie that works better as camp than horror. --Andy Spletzer