I haven’t had so much fun watching a horror film in a long time, I’ve been waiting patently for years to see “2001 Maniacs” I first got wind of it a few years back and after reading the synopsis, I was very eager to see it. We I did wait a few years and finally I got to see it on DVD this week. It was well worth the wait. In great B-movie fashion “2001 Maniacs” delivers.
The plot is kind of “Out of this world” it is completely crazy and wacky. But that’s what I loved about it. The film is about a bunch of college kids whom are driving down to Florida for spring break when they hit a detour in the road, this detour brings them into a small southern town that seems to live back in the times of the Civil War Era. The college students along with African-American tough guy on a motorcycle and his Asian girlfriend wind up in the town where they are considered “The Guests of Honor” little do they know that the “Guests of Honor” are really dinner for a yearly cannibalistic festival held by the 2001 citizens of Pleasant Valley.
You can tell that I was a big fan of this script. The idea is actually based on Herschell Gordon Lewis’s 1964 version titled “Two-Thousand Maniacs”, which actually has a very similar plot. I did think that some of the dialogue was a bit cheesy, but I overlooked it as the plot itself was very wacky. I found the character development to be pretty decent, although there was a lot of characters to touch on in this film. I think director Tim Sullivan did a great job to give us some information on each and every good and crazy character in this film.
The acting is pretty good, I was kind of shocked actually because most b-movies that get the direct to video release or get the short theoretical run, usually have acting that is kind of a toss up between just plan bad and alright. With this film I was feeling it with the actors, I think that each and everyone of them wanted to make this film and had a great time doing it. So they worked hard to get the film made right.
As far as effects go, in this film they were alright, I mean there was a lot of blood and guts to go around. A lot of limbs flying all over the place, people getting cut up, acid poured down their throat and eating though their bodies. A guy get speared in the ass, A bell is dropped on someone’s head. So in a nutshell yes there are a lot of effects in this film, some look good and some of them will remind you of the effects in “Evil Dead”.
Overall, I think that the world needs some good clean fun horror films like “2001Maniacs” It’s not a serious horror film in the sense that it will scare the crap out of you. Although being that I’ll be heading down south in two days does kind of leave a psychological mark on me. But it’s overall a great classic good time horror film.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
