2001 Maniacs

The almighty Hershell Gordon-Lewis already promised us through a very catchy song that the South was going to rise again... and it did! Slightly more than forty years after the Godfather of Gore's terrific splatter-classic, energetic director Tim Sullivan gathered quite an impressive cast and updated Lewis' screenplay with new gory sickness and nowadays sleaze 'n swearing! I'm usually not this enthusiastic when it comes to remakes of classic horror films, but "2001 Maniacs" simply is a fun & unpretentious little movie that clearly intended to please horror fans first, rather than to hit big at the box office. The original story is preserved, as a whole bunch of young party animals on their way to the Southern beaches are detoured the peculiar little town of Pleasant Valley where they're given a warm reception as honoree guests to a local jubilee. The townsfolk, with one-eyed mayor Buckman in charge, all soon turn out to be deranged killers that are still very rancorous about the Southern Civil War casualties and, one by one, the Yankee tourists are butchered in very imaginative ways. Some of the killings are strangely similar to the ones in Lewis' original, some of them are completely new...but they ALL are utterly grotesque and exhilaratingly gross! Whenever there isn't any gore on display, we're treated to absurd dialogues, morbid jokes and – oh yeah – loads of naked flesh supplied by the most ravishing babes of nowadays horror flicks. Of course, purely talking cinema, this isn't much of good film because it totally lacks tension and it's tasteless, offensive and completely ridiculous. Personally I couldn't care less about this because A) you pretty much know what to expect here and B) it's a splendid throwback to the rancid 60's and 70's; the times when horror cinema didn't necessarily had to justify its exploitative tendencies. Robert Englund clearly hasn't had this much fun portraying a mad character than since the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" and Lin Shaye once again proves she's a sadly underrated but great actress that delivers no matter how silly her lines are. The younger cast members perform adequately and Sullivan's directing is fairly surefooted as well. Although the additional maniac in the title never really gets introduced, I suppose it relates to the little silent girl who dissects rats for fun. "2001 Maniacs" is one of the most entertaining horror films of the past couple of years and I recommend it highly!

In the 2000s, it seemed a fad to take old cult horror movies and remake them. Sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn't. This one at least went out of its way to expand on the mythos of its predecessor

Should anyone be given the role of Mayor Buford, one should devour the scenery. Robert Englund, bless his heart, does just that, and in the most delightfully cheesy manner. The victims, downgraded from rational adults to a bunch of obnoxious college students, deserve no sympathy to the point that in the first five minutes, you just want all of them to die.

The violence is admirable, only one of the death scenes is a callback to the original. Blood effects are standard 2005 slasher movie level but they're gruesome all the same. The writers got creative and they get props.

In this modernized version, minority victims are introduced, an African-American man and an Asian woman, both of whom are subject to racism. But this is expected as the antagonists, after all, are Civil War era Southerners. That said, this movie is in no short supply of Southern popular culture references, mostly to Gone with the Wind.

All in all, when comparing to the 1964 Herschell Gordon Lewis cult classic, 2001 Maniacs is simply a contemporary upgrade but watch it as a standalone, it's okay.

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).

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).

Let this be a warning to you right off the bat, dear reader and horror fan: if you have the kind of 'political correctness' meter that sounds the alarm at fart jokes, you will want to stay VERY FAR AWAY from the likes of 2001 MANIACS. If you're a hardier horror buff who likes your flicks to follow the "Triple-B" Rule, (Babes, Boobs and Blood), then YEEEE-HAAAW, Bubba! Y'all jest struck GOLD! There's more swingin' jugs and spurtin' jugulars here than you'd find everywhere else, plus the 'bestest 'finger-lickin' good' barbecue this side of a Texas Chainsaw Family Reunion!

If you know your horror history, you know that 2001 MANIACS is the lovingly-rendered redo of the gore-tastic Herschell Gordon Lewis' signature grue-fest 2000 MANIACS, here given the full-tilt millennium 'makeover.'

The good-humored ghouls of Pleasant Valley, GA. (population: well - look at the title, genius!) are 'DIED-in-the-wool' Southerners who don't take too kindly to stray Yankees who trespass on their turf. It probably doesn't help that over 200 years ago, every inhabitant was slaughtered by Sherman's army as he and his men raped, razed and rip- snorted their way through to HOTLanta. So their vengeful, zombiefied ghosts return each year for a little payback. A fake detour sign misdirects unwitting travelers to Pleasant Valley, where every day is the celebration of the "Guts And Glory Jubilee", and the lost tourists are always the 'guests of honor' at the Jubilee barbecue...where they also do double-duty as THE MAIN COURSE!!! But in-between those two plot points, seduction and slaughter of every imaginable kind abounds.

This time, eight friends who are classmates from the same college are on their way to Daytona Beach for Spring Break...and all the babes, booze and beer they can handle! Thanks to a wayward short cut that gets them lost, and that rigged "detour" sign that points them right into the heart of Pleasant Valley, there's one element they can add to that list - BLOOD - as in their own!!!

Once the kids hit town, it would take a moron not to figure out that there is something unpleasantly weird about these grinning, welcoming, backwoods "hell-billys" (led by a gleefully demented Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund.) But then for college students, none of these guys (or girls) are particularly the brightest light-bulbs in the pack.

What they are, are the soon-to-be 'entrées'...er, I mean 'guests of honor' welcomed to the Valley by the overly friendly Mayor Buckman (Englund), who are at first as charmed as they are freaked at this little backwater burg, where they seem to take dedication to the whole "Civil-War era reenactment" thing a little too seriously. Of course, they learn all too late...it's NOT an act.

Director Tim Sullivan, scripting here with co-writer Chris Kobin, knows that 'Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun' - and that includes the audience. Those movie watchers who would be profoundly outraged and insulted by 2001 MANIACS probably wouldn't (and shouldn't) be renting or going out to see this anyway. For the rest of us...well, we know what we want and what we like to see in our horror films, and thankfully, Tim provides it in abundance! Not content to merely rehash the Lewis original, he surprises with hysterical references to other movies, while keeping the action going and the blood flowing! (Think of a couple of scenes here as DELIVERANCE by way of AIRPLANE!, and you get the tone of it!)

The death scenes, if not completely original in some ways, are still delivered with gruesome effectiveness, and there is a nice "Tales From The Crypt"-style ending to wrap it neatly with a pretty, dripping-red bow.

Oh, and BTW, did I mention that this is unofficially a 'musical'? That's right, gore-hounds! A couple of ZZ Top-types, (just with banjos and 'sharp-dressed men' for the 1700's) deliver some spicy song commentary on the action! But thankfully, the ditties are inserted in a way that is terrific and not tiresome.

All in all, for an evening of blood and boobs, you might think you can do better than 2001 MANIACS, but that's debatable. I know you can do worse! And I have - trust me.