2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams

Train wreck of a film and before the hate mail starts - no budget is no excuse - I could have done a hell of a lot more with 400 grand (any takers :) The film looked like it was shot on video (HD is fine but needs to be graded properly) thrown together in about a week or so and featured some truly diabolical performances.

The only saving grace and giggle this crap got out of me was from the fabulous Lin Shaye (who was slumming here) and Bill Mosely please get your agents to read the scripts before doing the films - YOU deserve so much better than this - sheesh - and I enjoyed the first one. It's independent efforts like this one that are going to sink the indie horror scene not re-invigorate it. Unfortunately due to the offensive nature of most scenes it'll probably make a good return on investment and there'll probably be a third but for God's sake at least work with a script that doesn't seem like it was written on the back of a piece of toilet paper, and hire an editor who can grade your picture properly.

A wasted opportunity.

This movie is just inexplicably awful. I watched the first one. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one. I absolutely LOVE campy "B" movie horror films, with whacky over the top acting and violence. This movie had none of that. Zero. Ziltch. Nada.

I'm not some "fanboy" speaking out against a sequel that didn't match his preconceived notions of what a proper sequel should be. I'm speaking out against a terrible terrible movie, that has 20 something positive reviews which are obvious plants by people involved in the production. There's no possible way anyone, no matter how die hard a horror/camp fan could rate this a 10. It's a mockery.

Starting off, this entire movie takes place in a field with tents. That's the entire set...an empty field with tents. There's no old southern feeling town, there's no old southern people. No, it's tent's set up in a field. That's the ENTIRE MOVIE SET.

Secondly, almost all of the sound is dubbed in. They apparently didn't have the budget for an actual sound crew, so all spoken bits and sound effects are dubbed over the video. This doesn't come off as cheeky, campy, original, funny, etc. It comes off as cheap and irritating. The dialogue, volume, and emotion doesn't match the physical acting. It's pathetic.

Third, the plot. There is no plot. They took the fantastic premise of the original movie, and meshed it with some ridiculous mockumentary of "A simple life", that Paris Hilton reality show from 5 years ago. They took an RV of horrible actors pretending to be this reality show, and they crashed into a random field, and happened to meet 10 or so southern weirdos. With tents. There were maybe 3 or so returning actors, which was somewhat amusing, but overall the horrible dubbing ruined it all. Scenes just randomly lead into the next with no lead up. There is NO direction whatsoever.

Fourth. The so called "gore". The budget is so shoe-string that almost all of the gore is actually shown off-camera. That's right, a horror movie, with a terrible plot and budget, terrible acting, no set budget, absolutely nothing to offer but that "shock value" gore...DOESN'T HAVE GORE.

Fifth and last. Boobs. Yes there are some boobs. But they're not the boobs that you want. Some are very nice, yes. I love boobs. They make bad movies watchable at times. Not this time. A few of the boobs are bad boob jobs. The especially nice boobs don't get near enough time to shine.

Finally, this movie is an insult. I don't mind low budget horror. I personally try to find those "B" and "C" movie gems that are out there. This movie takes a solid dump on anyone who would ever pony up the money to purchase it. I can't believe that they got a couple of established actors to work in this crap. There is literally no redeeming point in this movie. It didn't deliver on any point. The humor, while attempting to be "shocking" is shoved down your throat, it's obvious and tedious. Avoid at all costs.

This movie is terrible. Nothing like the first. If you haven't seen either...watch the first, and avoid, NEVER NEVER WATCH THIS ONE. I want to say more terrible things about this movie, but I'll just be wasting space. Just please believe me that I love this genre of movies, and that this one does not deserve a viewing.

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams is bad. Very bad. It lacks the originality of its source material, the 1960s Herschell Gordon Lewis film 2000 Maniacs, and is crippled by largely poor production values.

This sequel takes the maniacs out of the South, as a lack of victims forces them to go on the road to Iowa. There, they encounter a pair of Paris Hilton / Nicole Richie clones and their reality TV entourage. Carnage follows.

Perhaps the most glaring problem of the film is its death scenes. Although they shed plenty of blood, at least in the unrated edition, they are not particularly creative. Only one of the killings is at all original or entertaining. In a franchise that prides itself on outlandish deaths, this is a fatal flaw.

Furthermore, due to the extremely low budget, the movie lacks in some of the basic areas of film making. The sound quality is terrible, so that I had to turn my television up to top volume just to make out the dialogue, some of which is clearly dubbed. Aside from Bill Moseley and Lin Shaye, the acting is bargain basement variety. Even more damning for an unrated horror film, one of the deaths-a hanging-occurs off screen, one suspects because the filmmakers could not afford the safety equipment or stunt person to safely simulate it.

The previous 2001 Maniacs was pretty good. I was surprised that the parts between the murders were just as fun the deaths themselves (unlike HG Lewis's original). This sequel to the remake, however, is an absolute travesty where NOTHING works.

I'm all for a bad movie, but this one made me angry. The characters are the definition of cliché, the dialog is miserable, and the actors do nothing to even slightly improve upon the crap they're given to work with. Everyone puts on an accent or persona they simply can't pull off. Even Bill Moseley stinks. Every one of his lines comes off as something you'd find on the gag reel. He laughs through each line as though he no longer wants to laugh.

The worst part of this wreck is the merciless attempt at comedy. Trust me, there is nothing funny about this movie! When one joke fails, the viewer moves on. When every joke fails, the viewer gets enraged, especially when each stone aged joke relies too heavily upon multicultural racism and flamboyant homosexuality.

This movie is worse than bad. This movie is, by and large, a sheer waste of time and energy.

First off, the viewer should be aware that the movie they are about to watch is not going to be anything even remotely resembling a "good" horror flick. It's more or less a "just for fun" piece, the bulk of its appeal being in all the hot young skin (of either gender) being shown all over the place. Lots of yummy eye candy if you're up for that sort of thing, but there's no real quality to it. This is a film that you can tell was thrown together by people who were more interested in having fun making a movie than they were in making a high-quality movie.

That might sound like a criticism to some, but it isn't. There's nothing wrong with getting a crew together to throw something like this together once in awhile - I'd love to have been on the crew of this flick, in fact. :-) But the fun they surely must have had making it doesn't quite entirely translate into an equally enjoyable viewing experience. It is fun, that's for sure, and if you have time to waste and are not in the mood for serious or deep, "meaningful" horror, this is a good flick to watch. So little attention is paid to the actual plot & dialog, that it's really more the type of flick to have playing on background TVs in dance clubs and the like - what appeal is present is almost entirely visual.

The 5 stars are only because I don't honestly think they were trying to make a great movie - and they didn't. It's a good thing, though - that means they didn't take themselves too seriously, which you can tell when you watch it, which is why the silliness and craziness isn't as annoying as it is when more "serious" movie makers try similar tactics. It's a trashy, low-budget, low-quality "just for fun" eye candy flick. Nothing wrong with that, so long as you know what you're getting. I enjoyed it, might even watch it again sometime.