 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 2019 release Blood and Flesh the real life and ghastly death of Al Adamson That's a long title and that's one of the big things. Well, not a big thing, but that's one of the small things I kind of want to throw out there is this film is done by David Gregory written and directed by David Gregory He's done some well a bunch of other Documentaries some that I've seen well one in particular I've seen and others that I definitely want to see but one of the things that that guy needs to work on is Shaving down the titles of his documentaries. It's just so long and so unnecessary You could even just cut blood and flesh off of this just the real life and ghastly death of Al Adamson Just like cut it down. It's a lot. People are not gonna remember these names got to make them short and sweet But anyway, that's just a small thing for me Now I'm not doing spoilers for this review since it's a 2019 release and it just hit shutter I would definitely recommend people checking it out Especially if you've seen another documentary of David Gregory's that's on shutter right now and if you haven't seen it also see that Also has a long title It's called lost soul the if I can remember it exactly lost soul the doomed journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Murrow very interesting The guy knows how to put together a documentary very well So anyway other films that he's done Texas Chainsaw Massacre the shocking truth the Joe Spinell story the godfathers of Mondo Ban the sadist videos Forget everything you have ever seen the world of Santa santa sangrae What's in the basket master of dark shadows and then lost soul the doomed journey of Richard Stanley's Island Dr. Murrow now if anyone's interested in having a physical copy of this Al Adamson documentary It is available through Severin films. So go there Unfortunately, they had like a special edition I think they only had like 2,000 copies of it where you got the documentary But then you got actually a bunch of old Al Adamson films as well Which I would have loved to get my hands on that but I was too late when I found out about it So kind of a quick synopsis. I mean obviously it's a documentary about a guy named Al Adamson Who made a lot of film throughout decades? Going back to I think he started in the 60s Definitely 70s potentially 60s, but rewatch it and it kind of charts the documentary charts his entire career It starts with his death, which is what most people kind of know about him because it was in in the tabloids basically it was it was a headline situation with him being murdered and So, you know, that's one of those salacious things so a lot of people probably didn't even know what he did for a living and how much of an impact he had on film industry so It's great for these documentaries to come out because it can give people the ability to know more about this person It's very sad when the only thing that it's known about someone is that they were murdered and in what manner it happened Like a crazy story like that There's a person behind that and this documentary goes the distance to tell about this person and one of the great things and the reason that it really plays out well is a Lot of people who worked with Al Adamson throughout his life are interviewed for this like a good amount And it's great because you hear these personal stories Not just about how great of a person Al Adamson was because a lot of people said that are pretty much everyone But also like their personal stories about stuff that went on during, you know, filming of some of these films So it's it's very engaging. It's probably I think it's like an hour and 40 No, I think it's like an hour an hour and a half. It's like an hour and 30 some minutes I think but it's it's good. It's definitely well worth it It leads with the shocking headline That's kind of that attention grabber and like I said, it's what probably most people know about Al Adamson about his shocking death And then it moves over to, you know, people speaking well of Al and then it starts opening up About his career giving the backstory of, you know, the family he was born into how he got interest in film and it's It's a great mapping of his entire life and especially his life having to do with film and I love it They then backtrack or it's the pace of mixing the interviews with film clips is done really really well Excuse me. It's done. Well, and it keeps the film moving at a really nice pace And it's impressive like I was saying how many people they were able to pull in for this film Especially people who are close with Al and I think that kind of speaks to who Al probably was as a person Because if that many people are willing to, you know, go on film and talk about you Most likely they're excited about that like they want to do you justice So because no one really says anything bad about him in this For the most part there are a few things that kind of allude to maybe some stuff But a lot of people who worked closely with Al end up being interviewed which which makes the storytelling feel more intimate That's something I didn't kind of Touch on when I was talking about the great firsthand stories the intimacy aspect of people who knew him is a great touch To the documentary they use interview clips of Al Older interview clips before he died, which I think is really great because it's good to kind of hear from him But it's also a little bit weird because you know what ends up happening to him So it's kind of odd to actually hear directly from him because it's a documentary about him and it's you know What happens in the end so it's pretty Yeah, that's always like in your mind when he's you know talking in the interviews But it's good to hear stuff directly from his mouth The stories of how low budget and fast the productions were are really really cool And you kind of understand how hard working everyone who was working on these films actually were I think they had said that a lot of the the productions were 10 days or less, which is pretty insane. I mean I've done short films What years ago and I mean I've done like this 48 hour film project things But I can't imagine doing like a feature length film in like 10 days or less That's insane and everything was like shoestring budget. Everything was kind of weird the scripts Weren't that great and actually one of the big things they would do is they would adapt scripts basically to you know How they could best market or sell that film at that time period They kind of went for all like the exploitation stuff, you know They went through like the motorcycle portion the black exploitation portion You know horror like all these things so they just keep you know Adapting which you know, it's smart because that's how you stay a lot or stay alive in the film industry You know, you have to you know make that happen Especially if you're like Al Adamson and the people who he was working with in that you were playing Directly to the drive-in theaters mainly that kind of grind house drive-in crowd and they 100% were you know These weren't great films and a lot of people say that in the documentary But they were interesting films and that the Marketing campaigns were good enough and the subjects were good enough and the films were just good enough That it would bring people in to actually make money. They could get these things sold Now one one of the interesting things too Is that they would sometimes take the exact same film Rename it change the marketing campaign and then release it So I mean, I know okay, so this is making me think I know I said like no spoilers but I mean there's a lot to this documentary so I apologize but That's one of the things that struck me as being particularly crazy is they would they would remarket these same films But just change the titles and and the marketing campaign stuff so It's interesting and when you hear that or when I hear that at first my initial reaction is Uh, that's very dishonest. That's kind of crappy, but then I'm like But you're probably drawing a different crowd though So I guess it's kind of okay and especially because these guys were doing a solo budget. They were so independent Um, you know if people want to see it I'm sure there were people who had seen it in a different iteration They go and see it and they're like wait a minute. I've seen this before this is just like this one Uh, but I'm sure there were plenty of people that that was not the case So they were seeing it for the first time. How do you get films in front of as many eyes as possible? And that's one of the ways um The films often had extra scenes inserted when they realized things didn't actually make sense Or when they needed to pivot to the different material to you know hit that broader audience That's one of the interesting things that they talk about in depth that I found fun Is talking about those examples of you know, we did our 10 or less days shooting of this and then we realized Um, you know, we're missing some stuff part of the story doesn't make any sense So we went back and we inserted this and we inserted that and sometimes it ends up changing The whole Story of the film or it ends up making things so convoluted that the film just doesn't even make sense anymore Or it's not even what it was initially supposed to be And those are the cool stories in this documentary for me personally I love hearing that type of stuff and then just the the personal stories about this is what was going on On set. This is what this person's personality was like. I love those types of things and david gregory lays it out in a very good way The charting of adamsons films through time Reflects the changes in popularity of different types of films because adamson, you know was playing to that. So it's cool While the documentary is going on to realize that when they're citing these time periods and what films Adamson was making that's what was popular in film at that point So you really can kind of like chart the popularity of what types of films during those those time periods Based off his his films, which I thought were cool He also was very well known for stretching a buck People said all the time he was very frugal with making his films hence, you know, such a quick production period but There was something kind of Talked about a few times and they did not dive deep into it And I think it's because they just wanted to talk in a favorable light only about ow And that is that he wasn't really paying people He was kind of just getting people to come and work with him and from what you can tell from the documentary These people were working hard, you know, they they weren't just Doing crew or doing acting a lot of these people were doing both of those things But these people even though they weren't really getting paid always were saying they had a great time They kept going back and working with owl again because they liked him so much But one of the things that occurred to me is that it seems like he was doing just fine Financially, but other people kind of weren't Being included in that so I think that's kind of a part that maybe they should have gone down that road a little bit more Just to explain, you know, is you know What's what's the validity behind some of these comments that are made like Was he actually not really paying people and he really should have been like was he very wealthy at any point And he should have been sharing more of that money or is it a situation where You know, these people were just kind of saying that he actually was paying people. I don't know but That was one of the negative things that I kind of pulled out of it Uh, the end of the film is kind of the more serious portion which brings you back down So it's it's kind of this emotional roller coaster in a way where you start with like that attention grab of the salacious headlines And you're just like, oh, that's terrible And then it it get quickly he goes to a lighter situation where you know People are talking about Al in such a good way and then you learn his backstory and learn about his filmography a bit And then it's all fun and it's it's super fun And then all of a sudden they kind of circle back around to what they started with and The mood comes way down it gets very serious It comes way down and it almost plays a little bit like Some of these crime documentaries out there and it's done well and if you're into that You should also be into this so it's it's It's well done, but be prepared for that kind of emotional roller coaster to a degree Okay, so the last thing I want to say is just about all the films covered seem like they could be pretty popular now As those so bad. It's good films So while they were coming out people were you know, recognize them as not great films But I think people should really be hitting these al-adams and films a lot if they aren't already I didn't really look I know some of them. I've seen available here and there but Yeah, people should really be going after these al-adams and films especially after the release of this documentary To try and get them out there and make money because now is definitely the era of Old films coming back and being popular because they're so bad that they're good And from what I see in this documentary these al-adams and films are those films And I mean my interest is severely peaked with this and I really want to check out some of this stuff So, uh, yeah, so that's all I have to say about the documentary definitely watch it I really liked it. So out of five stars with half stars in play I'm going to give it a four star rating very very solid very good And like I said, if you also haven't seen the doctor Island of dr. Moro documentary it is I think it's still on shutter at this time So you could even do a double feature the al-adams and one the richard stanley one That'd be a good one. I will give you a warning though Listening to richard stanley be interviewed is a little bit tough at times because he's very monotone And he runs a lot of his sentences together together. So it's Kind of ends up being a little bit like being in a lecture hall In college you get a little bit sleepy But pay attention. There's some interesting stuff in there. But anyway, uh, love to hear your comments If you've seen this documentary or if you're excited to see it put the comments down there We can definitely go deep into spoilers in the comments. That's fine with me Do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe button If you like this video or any video I've ever done that is the best way to repay me and I really appreciate that So, um, yeah, that would be wonderful Also hit the uh notification bell because then you'll know whenever I'm putting up any new video We're doing a live stream or anything like that. But regardless, thanks for taking your time to watch this and until next time Keep it brutal