Reel Horror

2001 Maniacs asin: B000E5N6A2

Last night I was one of the few people to see the very first public screening of Robert Englund's 2001 Maniacs, a remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis's 1964 film "Two Thousand Maniacs." Before delving into the film I would like to thank Fangoria and Ain't It Cool News for the screening.

2001 Maniacs follows the story of its predecessor almost exactly. The citizens of the sleepy, southern town of Pleasant Valley lure eight unsuspecting "Yankees", who are of course on there way to Spring Break, into there pro-south town for a time of feast and murder. At first the town seems to be one happy family. Everyone is eating, drinking, dancing and fornicating and happy to share all with there Northern visitors. But as most movies like this go, slowly the eight unsuspecting tourists learn that Southern hospitality comes with a deadly price.

I want to say I liked the movie. I really do. I hate ripping a film apart. I mean who am I? I'm some guy behind a computer. But as a fan it's my job to give an objective opinion. The movie while very entertaining at times is hugely flawed. A bad script and terrible acting (not including Englund who is fantastic) overshadow a great death scenes and a very ambitious production design.

My biggest complaint is the script. You have this awesome premise, I don't want to go into to detail for those who have not seen the orginal but stick around for the Twilight Zone twist. Why must you surround this great idea with generic, cliche, trite crap. Six of the eight "Yanks" lured into Pleasant Valley are on there way to Spring Break. And what do kids on Spring Break want to do.....Get drunk and get laid at all costs. Not one original character in the lot. Three horney college guys - the hero, the nerd and jokester. Two girls. One is the heroine so what must the other be, you guessed it the slutty friend. Now for diversity let's throw in the "I'm gay and pissed off about it" guy. And how about the "angry Black man" and his equally attitude filled Asian girlfriend. Already I am taken out of the film. I don't want to see anymore stupid teens who think with their dicks instead of their brains. The people of Pleasant Valley invite these tourist into their town for a huge celebration. They feed, cloth, and put them up for the night. And how do these people repay them? By mocking them to their faces. I mean literally grabbing food and drink from a table and then calling someone an inbred. Even after the blood starts flowing the survivors still continue to harass the town. One character, after his friends have "disappeared", actually tries to have sex with one of the evilest looking townspeople.

I'm sorry but if my friends have disappeared for a couple days and I suspect the town is full of psychos, I'm not banging anyone. You want to scare us? You want us to come back for more? Give us smart characters. Smart characters that inspite of everything can still be victims. That is what will get to us as an audience. That is what will scare us. Sorry. Back to the script.

The one liners! Oh the humanity! Stop the madness! Get my point. Some of the very worst one liners I have ever heard. Just a quick example. Our three sexually chanllenged college guys drive past a cow pasture and one of them can't help but say, "I love the smell of cow shit in the morning." Insert eyeroll and groan here. I understand the movie is suppose to be tongue-in-cheek. But when you have horrible actors speaking horrible one liners the audience is going to leave. Which is exactly what the couple in front of me did.

The brightest and only redeeming aspect of this film is the ever talented Rober Englund. Englund steals every scene as Mayor Buckman. He's charming, funny and menacing. I swear everytime he was off screen I prayed for him to return. Whether he is giving a rousing speech to his people or punishing those damn Yankees, all eyes are instantly drawn to him. I could go on and on about Mr. Englund's performance. It truly is the highlight of the film. Sadly for the movie, if not for Mr. Englund's involvement this movie would almost be unwatchable. "An eye for an eye, Mr. Lee." That line was echoing in my head all night.

The rest of the cast is easily forgettable. This is my biggest complaint with recent horror movies. Instead of trying to find good actors, it seems filmmakers go for barely passable actors who will take there clothes off. Hell, I like seeing naked women as much as the next guy but I don't go to the movies strictly to see it. I want to be entertained and it doesn't matter how great a writer or director you are if you actors are bad....your film is going to be bad.

I do have to mention Lin Shaye. She is a wonderful actress who has appeared in every Farrelly Bros. film. She is a smart and gifted actress who is vastly underused in the film.

The film's production was extremely well done for an independent flick. The sets and costumes were great. Never once did I question the authenticity of Pleasant Valley. Director Tim Sullivan does a good job of keeping the film moving. There were a few times when the movie could have dragged to a dead stop but Sullivan has a good eye for suspense and kept me invlovled the whole time. However, his cinematography ran flat. His stlye or lack thereof never changed.

Every fan who goes to a horror film looks for one thing...The Death Scenes. Well, 2001 Maniacs definetely delivered on them. Blood, guts, and gore galore. Yeehaw! That's a little quote from the movie. There are some very cool and pretty original death scenes. The guy next to me was jumping out of his seat.

Despite the poor acting and cliche plot devices I would still reccommend 2001 Maniacs for Englund's performance. If you are a fan of Robert Englund (as I am) then you will enjoy his performance but beware the rest of the film.