There really isn\’t any horror remakes that are better than the original, but if I could name one, it would be Tim Sullivan\’s 2001 Maniacs. Way back in 1964, the late and great Herschell Gordon Lewis gave us the cult-splatter-classic, Two Thousand Maniacs! A silly and gory horror film about a town full of confederate hicks who lure in northern tourists, and brutally kill, then eat them. It\’s truly a cannibal classic, and I love the work of H.G. Lewis, but compared to Tim Sullivan\’s version… there\’s no contest. I mean, finances definitely come into play, since H.G. Lewis was notorious for churning out cheap gore flicks, but 2001 Maniacs did a near-exact remake, and didn\’t skimp on anything when it came to special effects and cast. I\’m absolutely not sorry when I say 2001 is so much more superior to the original, and don\’t worry, I\’ll explain. I might be biased because I truly love this movie, but lets just go into the reasons why I find this movie to be as awesome as it is.
First of all, the cast is fucking awesome. Robert Englund as Mayor Buckman has got to be one of the greatest villains in recent years. What I love about Robert Englund, is that you can give him any role, big or small, and he\’ll just completely fall into it and give you a memorable performance. Not only is Mr. Englund in this film, you have the legendary Lin Shaye (Insidious series, Kingpin, There\’s Something About Mary), the insanely underrated Giuseppe Andrews (Cabin Fever 1 and 2, Detroit Rock City), and a bunch of great cameos from Peter Stormare, Eli Roth, Kane Hodder, Scott Spiegel, and hell, if you\’re a hardcore death-match wrestling fan, you might of noticed Kevin \”MAD MAN PONDO\” Canady play the blacksmith. Everyone gives a hell of a performance, and even though the coeds in this film were plain cheesy as shit, they were still fun too. The black biker guy and his hot asian dominatrix girlfriend were my favorite out of all the victims. They were so offbeat, and they weren\’t afraid of fucking with locals of Pleasant Valley. Honestly, one of the best casts in any slasher movie, ever, in my opinion.
The gore, was top-notch. There were even a few digital effects in 2001 Maniacs, but since they were blended in with lots of practical effects, it worked pretty well. I mean, the movie is 90% practical effects, but a great example of the digital effects in this movie is when the milk-maid forces the character Nelson to drink her \”special\” moonshine. It begins to melt through his throat and chest cavity, and when they show his chest caving in, the digital effects they used to pull it off looked pretty damn good. I\’m not the biggest fan of digital gore, but for this particular effect, it looked incredible. Other than that and other small digital effects, the practical stuff is what I fucking love about this movie. The kills are brutal, and the manner of how all of these people die are incredibly creative and downright hilarious. One of my favorites is when the gay character, Ricky, get\’s a spear shoved up his ass and through his mouth. The amount of shock and laughter that oozed out of me after watching that was insane. There were about a dozen scenes in this movie that I just kept rewinding because the kills were just so damn good.
Lastly, I would just like to talk about the humor behind 2001 Maniacs. All that I can say, it\’s hilarious. These backwood ghouls are stuck in the period they died in, keeping with them the stereotypical southern ignorance of hating non-whites, gays, and \”yankees\”. So hey, let\’s add a bunch on northern folks, throw in an interracial couple, and a guy dude, and then you got the bulk of the humor in this movie. It\’s offensive, but it\’s not at all that bad. I don\’t even think they use any brutal slurs or anything like that, but they do make silly assumptions towards certain races and sexual orientations. It\’s honestly super tame, and most of the silliness comes from the redneck confederate stereotypes. A lot of the locals of Pleasant Valley are depicted as illiterate sheep/cousin fuckers, so it\’s balanced when it comes to ripping on everyone. There are so many memorable lines in this one too, and I find my self saying them here in there. \”Son, one time I had full confidence in a fart. Shit all over myself\” and \”Frankly, Miss Pussy, I don\’t give a damn\” come to mind, and 2001 Maniacs is just one of those movies I can quote from front to back. \”PUSHIN UP DAISY\’S BY MIDNIGHT, BOYS!\”
So yeah… I recommend the fuck out of this movie. I honestly don\’t see too many flaws in this movie, and the movie is so goddamn entertaining that even if there were any, I don\’t think you\’d notice. It\’s fun, funny, gory, and and just one of the gnarliest slasher/splatter films to come out in the last 15 years. Find it on amazon, or fucking anywhere you can find it, because I know for a fact you won\’t be disappointed. I shouldn\’t leave out Two Thousand Maniacs either, so if you\’re interested in checking out the original first, I suggest that too. I think I got 2000, Color Me Blood Red, and Blood Feast all on one blu-ray from Something Weird, and it was about $12-$15 dollars, so it\’s totally worth it. Let me know what you think, because I know you won\’t be disappointed.
@jakeisrepugnant 