To celebrate the appearance of one of the genre’s greatest names on The Calling Hours Horror Podcast next week (2/3 at 8 PM EST), I am going to remind the old school fans and educate the newer generation to the films of “The Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis, the innovator of the Gore film…
“Mrs. Pringle and her son Rodney run a wig store which they stock by scalping young coeds who show up to look at the “room for rent.” Meanwhile at the local college, Kathy is determined to figure out who is killing her classmates, much to boyfriend Dave’s irritation. When her friend Dawn disappears, Kathy gets closer to the truth as she begins investigating the Pringle’s lair.”
After a couple of other blood soaked films (including Something Weird (1967) and A Taste of Blood (1967)), Lewis came back to the sickening high end gore that the audiences craved. Mrs. Pringle and her son are in the business of killing young women and selling their hair as wigs. Rodney has mental deficiencies and his slow mindedness translates to his methods of killing. His slow and deliberate scalpings are unpleasant to watch for sure, and the joy he takes in using an electric knife to slit the throat and stomach of a victim, all to play with the innards, is still certainly enough to the weak of stomach barf. Elizabeth Davis’ portrayal of Mrs. Pringle is highly spirited and in many ways breaks the mythical “fourth wall”. With all the subtly of a drug induced haze, The Gruesome Twosome has enough cheesiness and gore to make it another film that helped to lay the foundation of the genre Lewis built…
Directed: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Produced: Herschell Gordon Lewis, J.G. Patterson Jr. and Fred M. Sandy
Written: Allison Louise Downe (as Louise Downe)
Starring: Elizabeth Davis, Gretchen Wells, Chris Martell
Music: Larry Wellington
Cinematography: Roy Collodi
Edited: George Regas
Blu-Ray and DVD Editions
The Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection from Image Ent (2004)
The Gruesome Twosome from Image Ent (2000)
