SPOILER DISCUSSION

1. Lewis primarily shoots the film with a stationary camera but actively utilizes pans to demonstrate the power of the ritual qua feast coming to fruition. The first of these pans happens early on in the film at the 10-minute mark when Fuad first introduces us to Ishtar. He walks across his meal set-up and offers a prayer to her. By this point, the ritual is already in action as he’s murdered multiple girls, but now Mrs. Fremont’s request for an “Egyptian Feast” has provided the perfect backdrop (and last ingredient) for the finale.

The second pan happens at the 20-minute mark after Fuad kills the women at the beach. This movement isolates Fuad and the statue of Ishtar in separate frames as the latter comes closer to “reviving”.

The third pan occurs at the 47-minute mark and goes from left to right unlike the previous two occurrences. This time the movement starts at the preparation on the (dinner) table to Fuad and Ishtar united again; the pieces are coming together and the penultimate ingredient (the kidnapped girl on the wall) has arrived.

The final pan happens at the 53-minute mark when the detectives finally come upon the hidden room and discover the penultimate victims remains scattered on the table: the “feast” has been discovered and human flesh has been revealed to be the birthday party’s main ingredient. Noticeably, this final movement does not showcase either Fuad or Ishtar in it as their fates are now contingent on the final sacrifice being enacted; consummation of the ritual is near.

While I wish there was slightly more formally to justify the direction of the pans (the 1st, 2nd, and 4th movements from right to left, while the third is left to right), the consistency in their utilization is worth admiring.

2. There’s a nice transition at the 26-minute mark when Mrs. Fremont talks about hiring Fuad Ramses for her Suzette’s party and the film cuts to a bust of the pharaoh Ramses; the connection between the past and the present is cemented at this moment. The professor then describes the nature of the blood feast and its religious significance as an ethereal demonstration of the ritual plays out; a freeze frame showcases the removed heart, the final step of the ritual. This moment of violence then cuts to Suzette and Pete talking underneath the bust of Ramses; Suzette is positioned directly underneath him as she’s meant to help facilitate this final step through her unknowing sacrifice. The past is ready to intercede into the present.

This leads into Suzette and Pete driving off from the lecture. At first, their drive is nicely lit by the blue skies. But then, as is custom within the film’s dream logic, the skylight changes into a pitch darkness. The two flirt with one another as Pete tries to take advantage of the romance in the air. The sudden blackness and the romantic encounter hearken back to the murder at the beach and we immediately assume Fuad will manage to “appear” and take the final piece of the ritual. But then the radio reveals that a murder has happened elsewhere. Fuad interrupts the moment with violence but does so from another location, the radio once again serving as an agential conduit for him like in the opening of the film.

3. The finale is a fantastic culmination of the film’s dream-like logic and its farcical tone. Fuad’s desperate pleas to get Suzette to acquiesce and play out the ritual play out like a joke as she refuses to take any part of it seriously. She may be interested in Egyptian mythos but refuses to grant it any legitimacy. Meanwhile, Fuad is insistent on fulfilling his duty and reviving Ishtar even at the cost of making himself seem like a sad, senile man.

Just when he’s about to finish his duty, Mrs. Fremont enters the scene ever so casually, dissipating any notion of possible tension and stopping him from reviving Ishtar. She’s less upset about the murder than the fact that she now has to serve burgers to her guests; the terrors of the past are completely nullified.

Fuad attempts to escape the scene; now that he’s failed in his final sacrifice, the police are able to track him down and catch him, no small part due to the absurd “Itar” to “Ishtar” epiphany that Detective Pete experiences. He jumps into a garbage truck and is crushed thereby becoming the final kill. This is the only death in the film where the excessive gore fails to be the focal point; we’re unable to fully engage with the carnage or take pleasure in its process and are left with only a small shot of the aftermath.

The film ends with a cut to another close-up/insert of Ishtar’s face as blood drips down; the ritual could not be consummated and her agency remains stifled; the magic is now over.

4. As someone who thoroughly adores Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, a scathing indictment of horror viewers’ enjoyment of gore and violence in media, it’s interesting to note Blood Feast’s responsibility in inviting said critique. The film is one of the key drivers behind carnage becoming “candy”, via its positioning of the viewer as gore-enthusiast and practitioner.