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'Blood Feast' B-movie producer David Friedman dies

ANNISTON, Ala. – David F. Friedman, the B-movie producer of the 1960s and '70s who turned out the cult classic "Blood Feast," died Monday at age 87, his niece said.

Bridgett Everett said her uncle died of heart failure at a nursing home in Anniston, Ala.

Friedman worked with director Herschell Gordon Lewis to create 1963's "Blood Feast," a roughly acted film that depicted the dismemberment of attractive women. The film is considered one of the first of the so-called "gore" movies, said Mike Vraney, owner of Something Weird Video in Seattle.

"Blood Feast" cost a paltry $24,500 to make — and netted a $6.5 million profit, Everett said.

Friedman was born in Birmingham, Ala., and spent much of his youth in Birmingham and Anniston. After working with carnivals, he became a press agent at Paramount before leaving in 1958 to try his hand at independent movies.

Some of his adult-oriented B-movies, such as "Goldilocks and the Three Bares were shot in nudist colonies. Others combined sexual themes with horror and crime, including "The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide" and "The Defilers." His other drive-in fare included "Two Thousand Maniacs!" and "Color Me Blood Red."

Friedman was involved in every aspect of marketing his movies, including writing lines for the always titillating posters.

Vraney said Friedman always sold more sizzle than he actually showed in his movies, and each movie included a provocative trailer for his next film. But he thought his days as a moviemaker were over when hard-core pornography began to catch on in the mid-1970s.

"He said when it got to the point you showed it all, there was no more sizzle," Vraney said.

Friedman moved to Anniston in 1988 to be near his late wife's family.

"He thought all of his movies were forgotten," Vraney said.

In 1991, Vraney tracked him down and began reissuing his films. His films found new markets and he was invited to speak at film festivals, where he delighted audiences with his promoter-style personality.

"He was bigger than life," Vraney said. "He could drink like a fish and he smoked giant cigars."