2001 Maniacs (2005)

October 15, 2018

Directed by: Tim Sullivan

Written by: Chris Kobin, Tim Sullivan

Starring: Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Guiseppe Andrews

Budget: $3,000,000

Quote: "The way I see it... if we drive through the night we'll be quaffing beers by noon and boffing chicks by 5:00."

Trivia: In Producer Eli Roth's cameo, he plays the same character he played in his own feature directorial debut, Cabin Fever (2002)




I am a huge fan of Hershell Gordon Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs (review here) and I love Robert Englund (actually I'm a fan of everything Lewis and Englund do), so I figured it was time to give the remake a shot. The movie stays true to the spirit and the story of the original with enough changes and additions to make it an really fun and original remake. Produced by horror fanboy Eli Roth (and I mean that with all due respect) this movie continues what Hershell Gordon Lewis began forty years earlier. Robert Englund now plays the mayor that Jeffrey Allen played in the original. If you thought Allen's character was too much, wait until you see Freddy Kreuger as the town's mayor. They also continue the use of live music throughout, even playing the The South Will Rise Again song from the original (A Hershell Gordon Lewis original). Finally, there is an even more deliberate attempt to make southerners look like a bunch of cousin humping hillbillies continuing the rednexploitation genre that Lewis created. Oh, and there's nudity in this one too!

The movie begins with a car full of beer drinking college bros being told they are going to be kicked out of school if they don't write a great history paper over spring break (ignore this scene because it does not come back into play... I guess it was just to help develop the characters as partier college bros). The three of them head out on spring break to Daytona beach but end up in Pleasant Valley where they are being celebrated as honored guest for the town's "Blood and Guts" jubilee celebration. Another car comes with three more people, a gay guy and two hot chicks. A final third car arrives with a Black guy and his Chinese girlfriend creating a funny scene where the mayor stammers about trying to reconcile his southern racial pride with his southern hospitality. The next part of the movie has the characters trying to (and many successfully) have sex with each other. Then the killings. All the characters except two are killed by the residents as revenge for a massacre that happened by Yankees on the spot during the Civil War. The two manage to escape and when they return with a sheriff they discover that Pleasant Valley is nothing more than a graveyard and all the people they met were ghosts from the Civil War. As the two speed away on a motorcycle they are decapitated by a trip wire let out by one of the ghosts. The South Will Rise Again.

First, this movie is so chocked full of film references that it makes this horror junkie's heart swoon. We have references to what are probably the two most iconic "Southern" movies: Gone With the Wind and Deliverance. The first being an idyllic view of a war ravaged south and the second a terrifying look at the backwardness, inbred, hillbilly stereotype (which the movie helped create). 2001 Maniacs is a combination of the two (although much closer to Deliverance). When the college bros first enter Pleasant Valley, one of them has a guitar banjo playing session with an inbred looking kid, almost identical to the one from Deliverance. Later, the one character tells a girl before killing her, "Frankly Miss Pussy, I don't give a damn," parodying Rhet Butler's iconic line from Gone With the Wind. Later another character says as they are about to cannibalize someone, "As God as my witness, we'll never be hungry again," another quote from Gone With the Wind. Then there are several references to Cabin Fever, Eli Roth's first movie. There is a poster of the film in one of the kid's rooms. Eli Roth's character from the film even makes an appearance here with his dog Dr. Mambo (FACED!). Finally, the character that plays the seductive southern gentlemen is Giuseppe Andrews, who played the party cop in Cabin Fever (here is a Party Cop super cut for your enjoyment!). There are so many more references, but you get the point.

Hershell Gordon Lewis is also responsible for creating the Splatter film with Blood Feast, an exploitation genre that focuses on blood and gore, and this film continues that tradition. The first person killed is drawn and quartered having her limbs ripped off one by one in a bloody and dramatic fashion. Another person is force-fed acid which dissolves his insides ripping a hole right through him and the bed (the killer then exclaims into the camera, "I prefer a nonsmoker"). A huge bell is dropped on another character splattering her body across the screen. A guy gets skewered and barbequed. There is even a cannibalism scene which is a recreation of the Eddie feast scene from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Although the gore is intense, it also has a comical element to it. The lightness and silliness of the film make it more like a dirty comic book than a splatter movie.

Robert Englund does a great job as the over-the-top mayor intent of providing southern hospitality while seeking Southern revenge. Kane Hodder, the guy who played Jason in the last Friday the 13ths, makes a cameo as a killer named Jason. Overall, a really fun remake the continues the absurdity of Hershell Gordon Lewis' original splatter masterpiece. Oh, and there is a sequel to it too!

...what's your thoughts?