Review of Blood, Boobs & Beast (2007) by Jason D — 07 Apr 2009

Blood, Boobs, & Beast is an interesting documentary on the film career of low budget horror director Don Dohler. Always wanting to be a filmmaker, Don finally went after that dream after a chance encounter with a robber with a shotgun to Don's head (thus leading Don to reevaluate his life).

With that, Dohler set out to direct his small array of low budget sci-fi/horror films including such cult hits as The Alien Factor, Fiend, and Nightbeast (a personal favorite of mine). Plenty of people who grew up around or idolizing Dohler, as well as Dohler himself, give some poignant anecdotes about the films and his family life around the films.

There's also an interesting theme of how Dohler's movies would be nothing as well as financial bombs if they did not incorporate 3 important components that distributors and producers were looking for (and still do to this day): blood, boobs, and beasts.

Throughout the documentary, there is a small side story that captures the ups and downs of Dohler and partner Joe Ripple making Don's final film Dead Hunt. A couple of interesting moments include an appearance from J.

J. Abrams (creator of Lost, Cloverfield, and the newest Star Trek) who was the composer (at age 15) for Dohler's Nightbeast film, as well as interviews with two Dohler fanboys who hilariously wear different head pieces each time they show up on screen.

I kinda wish there was more story towards the end where Dohler is battling cancer, but emotional effect was traded in for harsh realism. Dohler was a very simple and conservative person, and will be missed.

Exceptional documentary.