Is Blood & Flesh – The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Severin / April 21, 2020

‘Horror Film Director Found Slain, Buried Under Floor’, screamed the 1995 headlines read around the world. But the truth behind the wild life of Al Adamson – including the production of such low budget classics as SATAN’S SADISTS, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN and THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES – and his grisly death reveals perhaps the most bizarre career in Hollywood history. Told through over 40 first-person recollections from friends, family, colleagues and historians – plus rare clips and archival interviews with Adamson himself – BLOOD & FLESH is the award-winning chronicle of bikers, go-go dancers, porn stars, aging actors, freak-out girls, Charles Manson, Colonel Sanders, alien conspiracies and homicidal contractors that House Of Mortal Cinema calls “brilliant stuff…a superb documentary and one of the top films of the year.”

Jamie’s Take (4.5 / 5)

Being a fan of documentaries as well as exploitation films of the 60’s and 70’s, I couldn’t wait to sink my fangs into 101 minute documentary about the career of filmmaker Al Adamson and his untimely and mysterious death in 1995. However, I wasn’t expecting such a captivating documentary that stuck with me hours after I viewed it.

For those that do not know who Al Adamson was, he was born in 1929 and was the son of Denver Dixon, a silent film star of low budget Cowboy films. Born into the industry, it was inevitable that Denver’s son would soon get bitten by the acting and directing bug and follow in his father’s footsteps. Al’s first foray into film was helping out his father as director and producer of the 1953 western Halfway to Hell. But westerns wasn’t Al’s foray: he wanted to make action films and horror films and biker films. He wanted to fill the screen with as much action and blood and babes for a cheap cost. Much like Roger Corman, Al wanted to film his movies on the cheap and get as much bang for the buck. But unlike Corman, Al’s movies were more similar to low budget fare much like the works of Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs) and Ted V. Mikels (Astro Zombies, The Doll Squad). If you are familiar with Lewis and / or Mikels, you should know what you will getting into when watching an Adamson film.

Al’s producing partner and friend Samuel M. Sherman is interviewed extensively and offers some great stories about working with Al along with Adamson regulars like Robert Dix, Russ Tamblyn, Gary Kent, John Bud Cardos, Greydon Clark, and Sharyn Wynters. The stories about how Al made films on such a low budget are both hilarious and fascinating. I was actually in awe on how he was able to work so cheaply and yet churn out film after film after film, employing older actors who were no longer in the lime light (John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr).

Adamson’s films were not for everyone. He was always criticized for making exploitation films that had poor acting, shoddy editing, ridiculous plots, cheap sets, and above all poor direction. Yes, Adamson wasn’t much of a competent director and most of the people interviewed admit this and have some hilarious and fascinating stories about the film maker such as employing porn stars, convincing Colonel Sanders to act in his one and only movie, dealing with Charles Manson and his followers who would wonder onto his sets, and his numerous arguments and disagreements with his cast and crew.

But the documentary also offers a softer side of Adamson as the man not only loved film but also loved dogs (he was often holding his dog(s) while directing) as well as his actress wife Regina Carrol who was in a lot of his films and his partner in crime. The two were inseparable and Adamson was devastated when she succumbed to cancer in 1992.

And it is here when the documentary takes a very dark turn as police officers, his maid, and girlfriend are interviewed about the last moments of Al’s life and how he was murdered in such a bizarre and ultimately disturbing way. Warning here: this is where the film not only takes a dark turn but can be quite gruesome which thankfully director David Gregory (Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) blurs out some rather gruesome images. Without giving anything away, art imitates life as Adamson’s death seems like something right out of one of his movies.

My only real complaint with the documentary is that there is talk about Adamson working on a UFO documentary right before his death that hints that there was some government conspiracy in stopping the film from being made which to this day, a lot of the footage of this film has never seen the day of light. Sherman even seems uncomfortable talking about this never completed film and his girlfriend even claims Adamson saw an actual alien to which she soon stops speaking suddenly and asks if the camera was running, starring blankly at the camera like a deer caught in headlights. But as soon as this is brought up, it quickly goes forgotten as the film shifts focus to Adamson’s disappearance and ultimately his death.

The blu ray by Severin is great and offers some nice deleted scenes as well as an interview with Tamblyn (he’s a strange and interesting bird) and other little segments. The blu ray also includes the Adamson film The Female Bunch which is a mediocre film about a modern day western of an all-female gang who hates men. While the film is high on the boob count, it’s cheap production and stretched out story that drags is a perfect example of why Adamson was both loved and reviled. The Female Bunch also marks the last appearance of Lon Chaney Jr who looks awful. A known alcoholic, he even drinks vodka throughout most of his scenes and speaks in a gravely voice that is just sad to see. Still, it was a nice inclusion to have this film included.

Even if you are not a fan of exploitation films, Blood & Flesh will fascinate and entertain anyone interested in the art of film making as well as crime stories. Amazon Prime is even offering this documentary currently as well as a few of his other films such as The Female Bunch, Satan’s Sadist and Death Dimension.

Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?

Jamie says: Hidden Treasure!

Jamie's Take:	(4.5 / 5)
Blu-ray Extras:	(4.0 / 5)
Average:	(4.3 / 5)

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