October 1, 2018
Written by: Hershell Gordon Lewis
Starring: Connie Mason, William Kerwin, Jeffrey Allen
Budget: $65,000
Quote: "Well then you tell me why would a southern town want northerners as guests of honor at the centennial. It must has something to do with what happened a hundred years ago. So, something is very wrong with this town."
Trivia: This film inspired the name of American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs.
Hershell Gordon Lewis, the master of gore, does it again with Two Thousand Maniacs! Lewis delivers the gore, some great laughs, and cements a certain image of the southerner in cult cinema that continues today (although there is some anger and controversy with respect to this). Earlier, Lewis invented the splatter exploitation movie genre with his 1963 movie Blood Feast (reviewed here). With his follow up movie, Lewis continues with the gore fest and over-the-top characters but with a much better narrative. Whereas Blood Feast's plot was an afterthought to the gore, Two Thousand Maniacs actually has a really fun revenge story about the south rising again.
One day in 1965 two cars arrive at the southern town of Pleasant Valley. The first car carries two married couples, John and Bea Miller and David and Beverly Wells and the second car has a woman named Terry and a hitchhiking teacher named Tom trying to make his way to Atlanta. Upon entering the town they are swarmed by the townsfolk who celebrate them as honored guests during their centennial. A bit confused and overwhelmed by the excitement of the town, the six northerners accept their invitation. What ensures is a revenge plot in which the town attempts to lavishly murder each northerner as justice for a massacre that occurred in the town at the end of The Civil War. As they are murdered one by one, Terry and Tom discover the plot and narrowly escape but when they bring a sheriff from a nearby town to investigate the town has disappeared.
While the story isn't the most complex story in the world, it dose demonstrate the growth of the filmmakers and that there can be more to their films than just gore (Note: I absolutely love Blood Feast! It is one of my favorite films that I continually quote to my wife! I don't want anything written here to be taken as a slight against that film. It is perfect the way it is. I am just using it as a comparison tool to highlight aspects of this film). There is some character development as Terry and Tom become romantically closer making them highly sympathetic characters. We also get a peak into the troubled marriage John and Bea Miller, their extramarital affairs and John's drinking problem. It is these "sinful" indiscretions that will cause them to be the first two killed by the townsfolks.
Alright, now for the reason for watching this film, seeing people be killed in really messed up with with a ton of phony looking blood! In the movie the rednecks decide to divide and conquer easily seduce the Millers. Bea goes with some hunky southern guy who after showing him his pocket knife, slices off her thumb. She is then taken to the mayor where she's chopped up by his assistants using an axe. The blood is insanely red (doesn't actually look like blood) and plentiful. There is also a disturbing quality to this part of the film since everybody is so gleeful, cracking jokes, while this poor woman is so terrified. Meanwhile, the town hottie (and she is suuuupppper hot) gets the husband drunk and they put him in a barrel lined with nails and roll him down a high for the whole town to watch. The most powerful killing scene involves the beautiful wife Beverly. She is tied under a throw the ball to hit the target game, except instead of winning a stuffed animal a boulder will fall on her. For this scene the entire town is there to watch giving it a carnival like atmosphere. After a few failed attempts to hit the target, one of the yokels is able to land it and the rock crushes her instantly killing her and leaving her lying in blood. At this moment, and the only moment in the film, we can see confusion, fear and disgust in the eyes of the townsfolk. A few are still smiling and having fun, but most of them seem very disturbed. This is one of the few scenes where we get close shows of random townie's faces, the rest are faraway shots. The reality of the violence was apparently not what the townsfolk were expecting.
Two Thousand Maniacs was one of the first films to caricaturize the southerner as backwards, inbred, and violent, spawning a new exploitation genre: the redneck exploitation or hixploitation film. The two most famous movies to come from this exploitation genre are Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper even cites Two Thousand Maniacs as inspiration for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However there are numerous others and there is even a growing number of hixploitation parody movies, Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil and Cabin Fever being two of them. Sure, it's a silly low budget shock-and-awe film, but it had a huge impact on the cinema world for over fifty years, so far.
The film is not without its downfalls, especially since it was allegedly made for only $65,000. The sound quality and film quality is poor. Sound cuts in and volumes change particularly when it goes from background music to dialogue. The video is blurry with long faraway shots without audio. The acting isn't great either. Oddly enough it is the straight couple's acting that comes off as phony and mechanical. I think Lewis did not know how to direct straight forward characters because the townsfolk, especially the mayor are absolutely great! They are comical and what is now recognized as a southern stereotype, but they are fun to watch. According to trivia, much of the extras were the actual residents of the town in Florida where the movie was shot. Subtlety is not one of Lewis' strengths, but we love him for it all the more.
I'm saving this final note for the end because it is a spoiler, so if you don't want the twist at the end ruined don't read ahead, but since the movie came out half a century ago, it should be safe. In the end of the film we learn that the town was actually a ghost town of the 2000 residents that were killed by a renegade group of yankee unionists who haunt the place. Every 100 years they rise to seek revenge. The film ends with three of the townies, appearing as ghosts talking about 2065 and how much fun they are going to have. This was a pretty cool little twist and kind of fun that the filmmakers added a touch of supernatural to their film.
The movie gets two bloody thumbs up! Can't wait to watch the next Hershell Gordon Lewis movie. Maybe finish out the blood trilogy with Color Me Blood Red?
...what's your thoughts?
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