Blood-Sex (1985, Charles Necrorian)

 

When people tell you that you can't judge a book by it's cover, they sure weren't thinking of this book. Blood-Sex was the 5th in the 'Gore' series of books published in France by the Fleuve Noir imprint from 1985 to 1989. Distinguished by some of the most revoltingly eye catching covers you're ever likely to see, the series began with a severely abridged version of John Russo's Night of the Living Dead novelisation. Subsequent entries in the series included Herschell Gordon Lewis' novelisations of Color Me Blood Red, Blood Feast and 2000 Maniacs, as well as French editions of books by Shaun Hutson, Guy N. Smith and John Halkin. Flying the flag for France were authors like Christian Vila and Charles Necrorian, whose contributions to the series don't ever appear to have been published outside of France. Presumably because places like the UK and American had enough of their own trashy horror paperbacks to contend with. None of these books have to my knowledge ever been officially translated into English, but I've been fortunate enough to read a few of them recently, with the help of a website that converts foreign language PDFs into English. 

'Nightmare on Staten Island' (1986) is a likeable, unpretentious slice of 1980s pulp horror about an ex-cop trying to alert the authorities to the existence of cannibalistic fishmen on the shores of Staten Island. 'Wild Camping' (1989) sees Hells Angels rise from their graves, 15 years after being massacred by vigilante locals. 'Blood-Sex' though really gives the likes of Hutson and Guy N. Smith a run for their money when it comes to extreme content, and manages to pull off the monumental achievement of actually living up to its title. Delivering two twisted stories for the price of one, Blood-Sex combines elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Russ Meyer's Up, whilst anticipating American Psycho by a number of years. The first storyline concerns the aptly named Stephen Murderren, a spoilt, sociopathic, trust fund heir who is putting the finishing touches to a horror novel called Blood-Sex. In order to get the creative juices flowing, Stephen has to also get the blood of others flowing as well. Teaming up with his lover/sister Vanessa ('only she could understand him, help him in his long quest. Other women were nothing but smelly genitals') the duo sadistically kill everyone from a black streetwalker to a nervous rich kid who wants to swing with Vanessa and Stephen...and pays dearly for it. The second storyline, is in fact the story that Stephen is attempting to write, and finds two redneck brothers abducting women and chopping up their menfolk with meat cleavers. Sam is the smarter, mustachioed of the two. Willie is the Leatherface of the duo, with an unfortunate penchant for letting his dick hang out of his pants. As a child, Willie was accidentally shot in the head with a pellet gun, causing him constant headaches, which his mother attempted to relieve by jerking him off on a regular basis...it didn't help much. The influence of Russ Meyer appears in the form of the square jawed sheriff, who when not trying to solve the murders that the brothers are committing, has a hard-on for the big titted waitress who works in the local redneck bar. The waitress tips the Sheriff off about the two brothers "The eldest has a hick mustache, hick clothes, a hick dick... The other one, the nutcase, he makes me uncomfortable sometimes. When he's here, he's always playing with his dick and I don't know a single girl who would go and polish it for him, even for money, assuming he had any". Only for the Sheriff to then effectively tell her that such behavior is all her own fault, since her body excites men too much.

Blood-Sex, and in fact the entire 'Gore' series, illustrates the influence that US grindhouse cinema had on France, leading to the likes of Meyer and H.G. Lewis being recognized as auteurs there. As well as French cinema catching the splatter movie bug in the form of Devil Story, Mad Mutilator and Revenge of the Living Dead Girls. What's surprising about the 'Gore' books that I've read so far is that they sidestep the chance to put a French perspective on the horror/exploitation genre and instead have an American obsession going on. Blood-Sex's characters are an outlandish collection of amplified American stereotypes...the Stetson wearing sheriff, the horny hitchhikers, the beer guzzling truckers, the Chicano hating old timer, the do-gooding female journalist who ends up renouncing her liberal ways. Everyone lives on a diet of hamburgers, but given the nature of the book, usually ends up vomiting them up at the sight of mangled corpses. The jury is still out on whether all the Americana in these books is a case of the French paying homage to their influences, or the French not wanting to take a shit on their own doorstep. I can't help but recall Bill Landis, who became quite anti-French towards the end of his life...seemingly due to the fact that a couple of Joel M. Reed movies had been released on DVD there...and his accusation that France was 'a nation obsessed with anything making America look ridiculous from Jerry Lewis to Blood Feast'.

Author Charles Necrorian, real name Rene-Charles Rey, also devised the gore scenes for the Jess Franco film 'Faceless'. Judging by what he was getting up to in print, his contributions to the Franco film were a model of restraint. In one revolting scene, one of the captured girls goes along with the two brothers' insistence that she help them make a handbag for their mother as a birthday present, until she realizes that they require her to provide the raw materials to make the handbag. In the other storyline, Stephen opens a man's chest up, plays about with the entrails, before thoughtfully tossing the man's liver at Vanessa, which practically causes her to have an orgasm.

Overall I'd say that the 'story within a story' is the more entertaining of the two parallel storylines, and in a wise move is the one that rightfully dominates the book. The antics of the dimwitted brothers providing some much needed comic relief, given the morbid and nihilistic tone of the Murderren storyline. Needless to say, strong stomachs are required for Blood-Sex. It's a worthy French entry into the bad taste Olympics, that leaves other extreme horror novels looking like nothing but 'smelly genitals' in comparison.