​Blood Sucking Freak: the Life and Films of the Incredible Joel M Reed by John Szpunar

 
If you’re a fan of trash and exploitation films from the 1960s and 1970s period then “Blood Sucking Freak” is an absolute treasure-trove of delights, if you’re not, you have no idea what you’ve let yourself in for! Whether this book tickles your fancy or not, you have to give author John Szpunar his dues, he spent TWENTY YEARS writing and researching this baby. So, to call his biography of obscure cult film-maker Joel M Reed a ‘labour of love’ would be a huge understatement, it is much more than that. It is an exceptionally knowledgeable and nostalgic love-letter to the bygone age of cheap, fast and one-take film making. 
 
I loved so many things about “The Life and Films of the Incredible Joel M Reed” I hardly know where to begin, from the cheap picture reproductions to the voices of both Szounar and Reed himself. First up, who is this book aimed at? Its potential audience will predominately be old-time fans of trash cinema, if you’re a beginner in this area there are probably better books out there to get you knee deep in filth. I loved the fact that Szpunar does not molly-coddle his audience by explaining who every one of the hundreds of bit-players mentioned in this book are. If you do not already know who John Waters or Hershell Gordon Lewis are, you are probably reading the wrong book. It’s very proudly aimed at fans of sleaze and, quite rightly, makes no apology for it.  
 
The chunky 420-page paperback is mainly presented in interview form and because of that is very easy to read.  Names of films are also in bold text making it very easy to scan for film names or other points of note. The interviews are mainly between Szpunar and Joel Reed, however, there are many others thrown into the mix, including Lloyd Kaufman, founder of Troma. Szpunar first interviewed Reed in the late 1990s and they developed a friendship of sorts and periodically met up when Szpunar was visiting New York. The interviews continued, on and off, for the next twenty years. Most were recorded on old fashioned c90 cassettes and if you remember those you’re showing your age! Those cassettes also give the book an extra level of nostalgia, and old-fashioned research techniques such as using the telephone book to cold-call contemporaries of Joel Reed.
 
Why did it take twenty years to write this amazing book? In a round-about way Szpunar does answer this question. In the simplest of terms ‘life’ got in the way. Although the book is most definitely about Joel Reed and all his crazy stories the voice of John Szpunar is key to the success to “Blood Sucking Freak”. Many of the chapters give some background into what was going on in his life at such and such a time, this was very endearing and worked perfectly in what was such a personal project and journey. To call Szpunar an ‘expert’ on the subject would be an understatement. He knew everything about the guy, and because of this his interview technique was perfect and he just allowed Joel Reed to do his thing with clever leading questions.
 
If you know anything about trash cinema the reason why the book is called “Blood Sucking Freak” is an easy question to answer. If you don’t know the answer then perhaps this book is not for you. Joel Reed is most famous for directing the cult and very violent horror film “Blood Sucking Freaks” which is still trumped as one of the grossest and most bloody horror films ever made. In all honesty I’m not sure how it stands up against the torture porn of the last ten years, but I certainly recall its infamous reputation way back in the 1980s when these films were incredibly hard to find, or illegal, in the UK. Although this is by far Reed’s most famous film, it does not dominate the book, it takes a good 200 pages to be looked at in any kind of detail. It is, however, worth the wait and very funny when it comes up for discussion. Lloyd Kaufman (Troma) explains how they deliberately send out the incorrect, uncut, versions into the cinemas as the cut version was so short it was barely an hour long. At its peak Troma had about eighty prints showing in midnight cinemas or other horror double features in the early 1980s. It is very similar to Hershell Gordon Lewis’s earlier “Wizard of Gore”, however, Reed claims never to have heard of Lewis until after “Blood Sucking Freaks” was already out.
 
Although Reed made a couple of other horror films, and a lot of softcore porn, he will always be remembered for “Blood Sucking Freaks”, which these days seems to be remembered for its misogyny as much as its violence, which is also covered in the interviews. The level of quirky detail of the interviews on how the films were made was truly fascinating, many were made in a few weeks, and multiple scenes were filmed in one take. Quite often Reed used porn-stars as actors or whoever turned up on set, often friends of friends, or guys who owed him a favour. If they could act it was a bonus!
 
Towards the end of the book Szpunar ‘rediscovers’ an old cassette from years earlier and we ger a terrific interview with Don Wallace who had a small part in Reed’s final film “Night of the Zombies”. On numerous occasions I found myself going to my phone and looking up various names being dropped, this was not a chore in the slightest, and I found this only added to the overall experience of the book. Because of the time scale of the project many of the characters interviewed in the 1990s had passed away by the time the book was eventually released. Szpunar’s major regret was his failure to interview a writer called Bill Landis who died in 2008, who Joel Reed had some sort of dispute with, and wrote some unpleasant stuff about Reed in his influential fanzine “Sleazoid Express” which helped bring exploitation films to a slightly more mainstream audience.
 
Over its 420 pages, “Blood Sucking Freak” is loaded with black and white stills, film posters, topless women and clippings, giving the book a truly authentic feel and recreation of both the 1960s and 1970s and the cut and paste fanzines of yesteryear. But above all it shows what a great character Joel M Reed is, you may well think his films are crap, but nobody could ever say he was dull. Szpunar concentrates on the films, but there is some terrific name-dropping, tall tales and even some exploration into the techniques used in Reed’s film-making.
 
In the background there is an overwhelming sense of loss. Both John Szpunar and Joel Reed both lament the disappearance of New York of old, the days of porn cinemas, sleaze and the days of pre-AIDS. Maybe it really was ‘the good old days’, but it that period cinema truly did reach new heights in all areas from westerns, new wave, horror and even trash got slightly classier. One thing is for sure, if you’ve seen “Blood Sucking Freaks” you’re never likely to forget it and this book really captures the spirit of a period in cinema we are never likely to see again.
 
Joel M Reed hasn’t directed a film since 1983 but states he has written a script for “Blood Sucking Freaks 2”, he’s now in his mid-eighties but is still going strong, so track him down and make him an offer!
 
I loved this book, but if you’re new to this kind of trash cinema I would recommend picking up a copy of Michael Weldon’s “Psychotronic Film Guide” (or video guide) as a better introduction. It is bound to feature Joel M Reed as his trash masterpiece “Blood Sucking Freaks” remains a must-see film for anyone serious about obscure and cult cinema. But if you want to explore one of the true characters of cult cinema then John Szpunar’s “Blood Sucking Freak: the Life and Films of the Incredible Joel M Reed” truly brings his crazy story to life. Even if you don’t know much about him you’ll warm to him in no time at all.
 
Never forget it took him TWENTY YEARS to write. Respect John, true respect.
 
Tony Jones