The Film (4/5)

    Would it be too much to say that Herschell Gordon Lewis is among the pantheon of truly great, and timeless American filmmakers? For even though his films were shot on shoe string budgets, with actors of limited quality, and FX that aren't always the best. These are truly time capsules of great American exploitation cinema, and the beginnings of the splatter film.

    Arrow Video previously put together the MASSIVE H.G. Lewis' FEAST box set which contained 14 films by the director in double feature presentations, all as nicely restored as possible with the condition of the various elements being what they were. It also showed a Criterion level regard for Lewis as a director and brought together extras, new and old to truly create something comprehensive.

    As the box set was limited, and has been out a number of years Arrow Video has been sporadically releasing the films contained within as individual releases. These releases contain the same discs from the set, each as a double feature, with the same extras the only exclusion being the extras disc which was exclusive to that set. It is August 2018, and Arrow has now seen fit to release H.G. Lewis' original swansong as a director (he came back to make Blood Feast 2 among other things in the 2000's) The Gore Gore Girls, which could very easily be considered his best film as far as splatter is concerned. It is paired with This Stuff'll Kill Ya for a very fun and interesting exploitation double feature.

   The film follows detective Abraham Gentry, who has been hired by a news reporter Nancy Weston to help solve some murders going on in their city. The murders are all strippers who work at a specific club, and Gentry works to get to the bottom of it, while Weston is on the sidelines waiting to write the exclusive story.

   The film is loaded front to end with splatter, some of the best of Lewis' whole career. The film as a whole has an awesome sleazy vibe to it, due it's strip-club setting, and the overall tone of the killings. The pacing is off, but that's usual for a Lewis film, but is more noticeable here, where the feature is around 90 minutes and every once in a while just drags. Of course, this isn't my first time watching the Gore Gore Girls, and won't be my last as the film like Lewis' other seems to draw me in every time.

Audio Video (3/5)

    Gore Gore Girls is presented in a 1:78:1 1080p transfer that looks quite rough, but keeps the aesthetic look of the film, while giving it a very solid film like presentation. There is damage from the source material throughout, but other than that, the transfer offers a solid film like amount of detail, nicely reproduced colors, and a solid organic grain structure.

    Audio is handled with an LPCM mono track which offers a solid audio presentation. I did not detect any major issues.

Extras (4/5)

    Arrow presents a 2nd feature This Stuff'll Kill Ya both with introductions by the director. We get a commentary on each film, and 16 minute piece by Stephen Thrower (Nightmare U.S.A), and additional Lewis related featurettes.

Overall

    The Gore Gore Girls is an early splatter classic. The Blu-ray sounds and looks quite solid, and comes with an awesome slate of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.