| Film Title: 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams | Year Released: 2010 | |
| Reviewed By: Steven West |
|
|
| Movie Website: Click Here | ||
| Overall Stars: *** | Scare Factor: * | |
|
Like Tim Sullivans terrific 2005 original, this shot-in-12-days sequel (with a new punning title replacing the long announced BEVERLY HELLBILLIES) is an extended cinematic love-letter to Grindhouse exploitation movies, specifically the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Even more so than its predecessor, this one drops any pretence of seriousness and becomes a cartoonish, relentlessly un-PC living comic book whose tone is reflected by the framing device promoting the Avatar publications spin-off. Given the nature of the antagonists, Sullivan could effectively keep making these movies for years, without a need to change much except the protagonists, the creative death sequences and the backdrop and / or time-frame. FIELD OF SCREAMS amiably follows the structure of the original, even delivering a similar stinger-ending - meting out a deservedly splashy fate for the two that (apparently) got away. In less affectionate or enthusiastic hands, this ran the risk of being merely obnoxious, but Sullivan - who started out as a young genre enthusiast working on the sublime indie gore comedy THE DEADLY SPAWN - knows the territory and knows his intended audience. Catch it in the right frame of mind, and it s a blast. This time out, Pleasant Valleys flamboyantly twisted one-eyed Mayor (George Dubya) Buckman - now essayed by Bill Moseley, a well cast replacement for Robert Englund - and the ever-crazy Granny (Lin Shaye) are disappointed by the absence of the usual stupidly unwitting Northerner visitors from their annual Guts N Glory Jamboree. For fresh meat, they are forced to head to Iowa, where a pair of air-headed sub-Paris Hilton blonde heiresses (Katy Marie Johnson, Asa Hope - both on-the-money) are at the centre of a predictably dire reality TV series entitled Road Rascals.The use of the faux-reality TV show as a backdrop for the unfolding carnage may now be old hat (it felt like old hat even in WRONG TURN 2), but Sullivan has a lot of fun with his broadly sketched ensemble of stereotypes, from the penny-pinching Jewish director to the moody, womanising Latino, an obvious closet-gay and Johnson & Hope s hot but startlingly vacuous babes, who express their sadness at the avalanche in New Orleans. Save for a couple of bum notes - Andrea Leon is just terrible as the shows producer, and not even in a fun way - the fresh Northern meat in the cast is cannily chosen.Like its cameo-heavy predecessor, FIELD OF SCREAMS sure boasts an eclectic cast, with Moseley perfect for this kind of tongue-in-cheek, OTT villainy and is reunited with his REPO co-star, Ogre, an engagingly off-the-wall screen presence here channelling Crispin Glover. Hold-overs from the original include buxom Milk Maid Christa Campbell and sheep-shagging simpleton Ryan Fleming. The two fans of Jar Jar Binks will appreciate the offbeat role for Ahmed Best, though its Sullivan regular Lin Shaye who, true to form, steals the whole thing.Shaye s latter-day entry into playing indefinable supporting grotesques in a range of movies from mainstream gross-out comedies (THERES SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) to genre flicks (the underrated DEAD END) has been astonishing to behold. Even more so than before, Sullivan lets her cut loose with her inner lunatic, and she responds with incredibly demented meat-cleaver shenanigans, an awesome 80s style full-blown music number entitled Cannibals (complete with mock-MTV credits) and a literally off-color punch line involving corn-on-the-cob. This 66 year old actress, whose horror film career dates back to 1982s ALONE IN THE DARK and has always been a little bizarre, could well be the movies craziest, most memorable facet.Infectious in its eagerness to offend, the flick has no shortage of gags about rug-munching and bestiality, with a cute BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN reference and a bigger titty count (fake or otherwise) than any genre flick in recent memory. (If you re in this for hot bodies of either gender, you wont be disappointed). The regular gore set pieces are staged with the same old-school ιlan that highlighted the original. Lewis notable spiked-barrel set piece is re-enacted and the splatter show-stopper has an almost naked blonde strapped to a table getting tormented with a feather before her lady parts are rudely violated by an enormous buzz saw. Dont expect the latter to show up in the Blockbuster-friendly R-rated cut.-Steven West
|
||
|
The Horror Review © Copyright 1999/2008 - Present. All rights reserved. All Reviews on this website are strictly the opinion of The Horror Review team and do not express the opinion of any one else but their own. All films reviewed are copyrighted with their respected owners and the United States Copyright Office. Please do not take anything from this site without the permission of The Webmaster |
||

Click here to buy movie posters!![]()