Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson is a 2019 American documentary film written and directed by David Gregory (Master of Dark Shadows; Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Doctor Moreau; Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth) about filmmaker Al Adamson.
The Severin Films production features Al Adamson, Ken Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, Ewing ‘Lucky’ Brown, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Greydon Clark, Robert Dix, Guadalupe Garcia, Gary Graver, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Samuel M. Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Zandor Vorkov, Vilmos Zsigmond.
Background:
From his early years as the son of a silent screen cowboy, through the production of some thirty lurid, low budget exploitation pictures including Satan’s Sadists, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Brain of Blood and The Naughty Stewardesses, to his bizarre and grim demise, the story of filmmaker Al Adamson is told through first-person recollection from colleagues, friends, family and archival material of Adamson himself.
Go-Go dancers, ageing Hollywood actors on their way out, bikers, Sinema stars, Charles Manson, and an alien being all cross Al’s path before he himself becomes the doomed centrepiece of a true crime story and manhunt…
Reviews:
” …Blood & Flesh is much more than the story of a moviemaking life most unusual. It beautifully captures the worlds of outsider filmmaker communities that existed in California in the ’70s, and the weird ways they intersected with Hollywood mainstream and union indies.” Fantasia
a superb, exhaustive documentary […] It’s a fascinating, enlightening documentary and both Mr Gregory and his co-producer Heather Buckley are to be praised for going the extra mile (in fact several marathons) to get some of the info presented here…” House of Mortal Cinema
“The bulk of the film depends on clips and talking heads relating to the movies – with a wide range of collaborators, enthusiasts and critics – but the last third pulls in witnesses, investigators and true crime folks to rake over a gruesome mystery that in retrospect fits Adamson – who was otherwise not as peculiar personally as, say, Milligan or Mikels…” The Kim Newman Web Site
“A genuine labour of love, the film tracks his career as a filmmaker through the eyes of those who worked with him – still disgruntled or amused about never being paid, mostly chuckling at the sheer audacity of the Adamson working method […] The audience I saw it with – clearly not familiar with Adamson at all for the most part – laughed, gasped and otherwise cried out loud as the strange story unfolded, which seems a pretty good sign of a movie working.” The Reprobate
” …[Adamson’s] methods and experiences provide a wealth of entertainment, and his unfortunate end, unconnected (despite what those sensationalist headlines strove to suggest) to his film work, makes for moving drama as well.” Rue Morgue
“The thing about a great documentary is that the viewer shouldn’t need to be invested in the topic ahead of time to be engaged with it by the end of the film. If the storytelling is good, the doc will draw you in, whether the subject was something you care about or not. Gregory’s Blood & Flesh is one of those documentaries…” Screen Anarchy
Related:
DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (1971) Reviews and overview
BLOOD OF DRACULA’S CASTLE (1969) Reviews and free to watch online
Film Facts:
The promotional title uses two ampersands, thus: Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson
