2001 Maniacs

I saw "2001 Manacs" last night at a midnight screening at the Fantasia Festival and I really enjoyed it ... so did the 300-400 other people in the theater with me. Tim Sullivan and Christa Campbell introduced the movie and held a Q&A session after (I had to leave, it was 2am) but I'm sure they were pleased with the audience response. It was great to see Robert Englund again, he always does a great psycho. The movie was funny and gory ... sure the plot wasn't Oscar caliber, but anyone looking for that is going to the wrong movie. If you want to see a good horror movie, the real 'guts & glory' kind, this is the movie for you. I feel confident in recommending this movie and plan on picking up the DVD (especially since the version that was screened hasn't gone to the ratings board yet, so the DVD will probably be the only place to see this exact version).

2001 maniacs is essentially a grind house movie if you look at it. The story is the third most important part of the film, after gore and sex. That being said, i do not really mind that since i am a fan of gore myself.

The plot in the movie is not anything new, a bunch of teenagers gets into trouble with the supernatural. You have seen that several times if your a fan of horror. What makes this movie better than average is the fact that it's self avare of it. It doesn't try to be the shining or something like that, instead we get pure grind house fun. The camera is even outdated for the time, a pretty classic grind house team (since they were made on a shoestring budget).

Robert Englund is great as the main villain (As always), the main cast of teens are bad and the acting overall from them is stale and uninspiring. What makes this movie fun to watch is the interaction of the teens (Bad acting) with the townspeople (mostly good acting). The plot moves along with a decent speed so you are never bored with it, and the climax is pretty good.

Another thing that really make it feel like a grind house aside from the gore and the sex are the fact that it is not scared of taking the low road. It's rare to have such strong language in horror movies that are mainstream produced as this one has. "Boy, Negro, Chinaman (Sorry, Chinawoman) and such. Its a movie that doesn't care at all and is just out to entertain you.

Is it better than 2000 maniacs? No, it is. not Is it a bad movie? Yes it is, but it's also a pretty decent one. Once again, that is if you see this movie as a grind house movie, which it really isn't, but there are strong influence by the grind house cinema in it. The best part of this movie is the kills, that isn't anything strange since that's true 90% of the time when there is a body count. But there is also a pretty fun dark humor in this film that doesn't go unnoticed.

People who do not know the first movie ("Two thousand maniacs" Hershell Gordon Lewis 1964) may have a look.The others should not bother.The first movie was not only Old Dixie's revenge:it was also a spoof on Vincente MInnelli's "Brigadoon",a bloody one.It filled its quota of horror -for the time it was daring ,since we have seen worse- and ,more interesting,black humor.

What does the remake offer? A boring lecture -so boring the students are snoring- on the Civil War in case the audience would not be aware of how horrible that war was (was/is there a war which isn't ?I'd like to know);a party where the students are on the menu,nothing new under the sun;and lots and lots of sex,much more sex than in the Lewis version;one should note that the "heroes" are younger: in 1964,the victims ,if my memory serves me well,were already working,one of them was a schoolteacher.

I bet Herschell Gordon Lewis, having just completed work on his second gore epic Two Thousand Maniacs, never once imagined that in roughly forty years his brainchild would be re-filmed and remade again. Instead of "the South will rise again, " it should be Herschell Gordon Lewis will rise again. Anyway, this film, like the original, has the happy town of Pleasant Valley as its setting: a town that magically reappears every 100 years on the anniversary of its destruction by Union soldiers during the Civil War only to have its hillbilly celebration of maiming, garroting, shivving, castrating, squeezing, quartering, barbecuing, decapitating, and so on of Yankee motorists in the nearby vicinity. Just like in the original, though much more bloodier and believable, nothing here is really frightening. Every gory scene is more like a punchline to a distasteful joke. Also, just like in the original, the South comes off looking like some barbaric civilization that is ages behind the more industrial North. The Southern stereotypes fly in this one though seem not to have the edge in the original film. What this film does have that the original does not are way better actors, lots and lots and lots of sexy women in lots and lots and lots of sexual situations, generous doses of humour(almost all of which were INTENDED), and a tongue firmly planted in cheek mood. Robert Englund plays Mayor Buckman to the hilt, even wearing an eye patch with the Confederate flag on it no less. Englund shows me here, as he has in other non-Freddy roles, that he is a versatile actor with a wide range. His Buckman has charm, grace, and dementia. Lin Shaye does an equally credible job playing Granny Boone(not to my knowledge in original). Everyone else is more than adequate working with this stuff. Johnny Legend and Scott Spiegel had me rolling as two wandering minstrels singing atrocious blue grass tunes with the most inane lyrics. And let's not forget the girls. The film has a bevy of beauties with a free and easy approach to being in front of the camera. Standouts(knockouts might be more appropriate) include Gina Marie Heeken, Bianca Smith, Wendy Kremer, and sultry Christa Campbell as the milk maid. Director Tim Sullivan knows exactly what he wants and goes right for it in this film. No high art here, just an appreciative group of filmmakers remaking a film I too would never have dreamt of being remade. The odd thing is that this film is far more watchable then the original. It has so much more going for it than the original - which does have some charms - don't get me wrong. Sullivan knows his audience and goes with the proverbial flow. He doesn't stray away from the shocking nor the easy, distasteful laugh(like when the black Yankee is presented as "dark" meat as just one example).

Three college students decide to travel to Florida for some fun at Spring Break. After seeing a detour sign, they take the dirt road in hoping to get to their destination a little quicker. Soon they discover a little town called Pleasant Valley. Five more people show up right after them and decide to stay the night for some celebration.

2001 Maniacs sounds promising for the old school B-horror movie fans. A bunch of young college kids, go to this town and the residents decide to kill them and eat them. Crazy isn't it? Well, what should have been and what could have been is missing in 2001 maniacs. Call it a sequel or a remake of the 1964 film Two Thousand Maniacs, 2001 maniacs suffers from trying to be over the top but failing to do so. The deaths are good to watch and with a little bit more blood, then the fun time that is suppose to be had by this film could have been achieved. You're suppose to laugh with this movie and in some cases you do, but in others you are wondering why am I watching this?

What could have, what should have, is exactly what 2001 maniacs is. With a premise such as this film has, you would expect over the top gory funny and unique deaths. You do get these qualities in the deaths, but they are not anything that one would expect. When you are about to see a women lose all their limbs from horses running in opposite directions, you get excited a little bit, if you're into that sort of thing, but in Maniacs it losses it touch.

The goal of this film is to be a throw back to the old cheesy bad horror movies, and it achieves this goal. The dialogue is cheesy, the deaths are gory (although you'd expect more), there's nudity from young hot chicks, and of course the villains are crazy as hell, so crazy that you may even root for them in their evil goals. Some things you may question in the film, such as why would such a young and hot woman, known as Kat, be attracted to a southern hillbilly with awkward teeth, or even why the one character arms wrestles another to see who will give or receive in some homosexual sex. This film definitely pokes fun at the south, having some characters chase after animals with that twinkle of love in their eye.

Maniacs has a good build up but the delivery is kind of weak. The ending horrible and tries to take the film in a whole other direction. If there were a different ending then this film would have been graded a bit higher. I can see a future for Tim Sullivan in the horror genre, if he had some better material.

So how can I give this flick a recommendation, well it lies in the over the top performance from Robert Englund, who is the highlight of Maniacs. His role is so juicy and fun to watch that every time he isn't on screen you feel bored by the flick. I recommend this flick for fans of Englund and fans of the genre. If you're into some cheesy dialogue and violence just for the sake of violence, then 2001 Maniacs is right up your alley.