Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

October 1, 2018

Directed by: Hershell Gordon Lewis

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.

Blood Feast (1963)

August 25, 2018

Directed by: Hershell Gordon Lewis

Written by: Allison Louise Downe (Hershell Gordon Lewis)

Starring: William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason

Budget: $24,500

Quote: "Have you ever had... an Egyptian Feast?... A feast like this has not been performed in 5000 years."

Trivia: Producer David F. Friedman came up with some very effective publicity stunts for "Blood Feast" which included giving theater goers vomit bags reading "You may need this when you see 'Blood Feast'" and obtaining an injunction against the film in Sarasota, Florida, which of course only generated more interest in the film.


"Have you ever  an Egyptian feast?" And so begins Hershell Gordon Lewis' move from sexploitation director to the king of gore. Blood Feast came out in 1963. Let's just take a minute to let that sink in. The Beatles were playing Ed Sullivan. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lawrence of Arabia will win best picture at the 1963 at the Academy Awards that still have two different awards for Black and White and Color films. In the midst of this, came Blood Feast. The first gore film (double check on this, I could be wrong). I can just imagine how insane this film must have seen to viewers in 1963. The acting is atrocious, the film itself is not made particularly well, but what it does have going to itself is gore. Hershell Gordon Lewis will go on to make a good dozen other gore films throughout his career, but this was the first one and the one that won him the throne as the King of Gore.