Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

Who payed the critics

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Two thousand people live in the town of Pleasant Valley, an out-of- the-way place on a back road, somewhere on the way to Atlanta. All of them are maniacs, which is a decent premise for a film, and which illustrates Hershel G. Lewis's talent for what it takes to make a memorable exploitation film. Rather than being Confederate sympathizers these folks are like the ghosts of the town, which had been the scene of a Union (or Yankee) massacre exactly 100 years to the day on which all the action occurs. It's a film whose premise is a borderline sickening vengeance the maniacs inflict on four northerners (two young couples) who are detoured by two of Pleasant Valley's leading citizens, into its trap to make them the town's special guests for its one-hundred year anniversary of the massacre. Things get increasingly gory, in a kind of gratuitous way, but the storyline is almost substantial enough to hold it all together. Lewis also did the cinematography, which has many Confederate-flag drenched scenes to go along with bright red blood and a pretty blue sky.

This follow up to the seminal Blood Feast seems to be regarded by many as the best film that H. G. Lewis ever directed. Personally I can't agree with this view seeing as I just can't see past Blood Feast, a film of much more excessive gore, belly laughs and sheer trash value. That said, Two Thousand Maniacs! ain't bad. It's a more expansive film, although anyone familiar with Lewis's output will know that this is a very relative statement because despite having a more elaborate set-up this is still an ultra-cheap drive-in movie. What keeps it interesting though is the combination of inventive murder set-pieces, demented humour and an overall deranged feel. Its Southern town of Pleasantville gives the movie a sense of place which adds nice detail as well. Not only that but there is also the highly infectious title song 'The South's Gonna Rise Again!' by The Pleasant Valley Boys. Yeeeeha!Like all of Lewis's other gore films this one has a curious mixed tone. It combines broad comedy with pretty mean-spirited violence, usually in the same scene. It's a bizarre thing to see and it gives Lewis's movies an edgy sensibility that remains compelling no matter how unrealistic the gore might actually be. His films are all comedies as much as horror films, maybe even more so. There's never really any suspense in the build up to the acts of violence. They're just presented in front of us in a way that must've shocked early 60's audiences due to their draw-dropping audacity. This one could maybe have done with a little more carnage for it to have been entirely satisfying but there sure is enough here for trash movie enthusiasts to lap up.

A group of "yankees" from "up north" are driving on the highway when they are purposely diverted by detour signs into a small "backwoods" Southern town where a joyful local gathering invites them in with welcome cheers to be their very special, "selected" guests for a Centenniel celebration commemorating past history not revealed. Two different cars, one carrying two married couples, another with pretty Connie Mason(..as Terry Adams)and her hitchhiking passenger, William Kerwin(..referred to as Thomas Wood in the film's credits;portraying Tom White), whose car broke down as he was on his way to a teacher's convention, are removed from their vehicles pretty much against their will, set up in a hotel with food free, not knowing that they are actually to be the entertainment for their celebration festivities, victims of gruesome games arranged as a "blood revenge" for a dark period in Civil War history. This Southern town, Pleasant Valley, was actually slaughtered by Union soldiers and the vengeful spirits of those killed participate in the celebration of destroying yanks. While the other northerners are unable to see what horrors lie ahead, Tom is suspicious almost immediately and coerces a confused Terry into planning an escape..it won't be easy with hick crazies all over the place.Considered by his beloved fans as director Herschell Gordon Lewis' masterpiece, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS!, his second film, is much better than BLOOD FEAST, in that the black comedy works to a greater extent, and he's operating completely tongue-in-cheek. While the camera work is still suspect, there are some overhead set ups early on which are effective, and the film doesn't drag as much as in BLOOD FEAST, where scenes would often linger tediously. The non-actors in the film are not as dreadful as in HGL's previous flick, and the cast portraying the "rednecks" really get into their roles, particularly when the victims are about to be executed. Jeffrey Allen, as the blustery mayor, is memorable as the overseer of his town, really relishing along with the folks over executing the yanks one at a time, mocking each victim as they are about to die. The gory set-pieces are certainly shocking such as one poor soul whose limbs are pulled apart from his torso by four different horses going in opposite directions, a woman's finger(..taken off by a knife)and arm(..chopped off by an ax)being removed, another victim bound as contestants attempt to drop a boulder on top of her by hitting a target with a softball, and one victim is rolled down a hill in a barrel with nails hammered inside. The twisted imagination for coming up with such grisly set pieces, HGL deserves credit for setting a standard others would soon surpass as demand for such movies increased with talented make-up artists and production values emerging. Still, the film features crude photography and bad sound(..sometimes, the dialogue is a bit drowned out by bluegrass music)..and I wouldn't say the acting is of superb quality, far from it. But, there's an irresistible energy and a method to the madness, with some terrific bluegrass numbers to entertain as well. In order to appreciate a sick gore comedy such as this, you must gloss over HGL's inadequacies as a filmmaker, still learning his trade, but the man has a knack for repulsive murder sequences. As a gorehound, I admire his contributions to the artistry of graphic violence, even if I find his cinematic prowess lacking.

Writer/director/cinematographer Hershell Gordon Lewis is considered by bad movie fans to be one of the few "autors" in film history to have equaled or at least come close to equaling the abysmal work of Ed Wood, Jr.. While it's debatable which was worse or if another small-time film maker (such as Ray Dennis Steckler or Al Adamson) was the worst, no one in the know would argue that Lewis was a brilliant film maker! However, even the most inept can occasionally get lucky and TWO THOUSAND MANIACS is Lewis' moment in the sun. Unlike previous films such as BLOOD FEAST (which were all amazingly bad), there was enough good about TWO THOUSAND MANIACS that I actually recommend you watch it--particularly because it proves substantial budgets or consistently good acting aren't necessary to make a decent film! The film begins with two very stereotypical hillbilly idiots tricking two cars full of Yankees off the highway and into their town. There the locals declare that these outsiders are their guests of honor for a centennial celebration and they are convinced to stay. Now the audience knows this is a very bad idea, but the six folks don't yet suspect that these hicks mean to do them great bodily harm. Of course, that might also be because they didn't see the folks running around town with nooses in preparation for their arrival! One by one the Yanks are brutally killed and the ways they did it were pretty clever and the gore was amazingly realistic for 1964. It's amazing to think that with a budget of $46.28 that they were able to achieve these effects, as the blood actually looked like blood and the killing was quite shocking for the mid-1960s.Two of the six are reasonably bright and guess what is in store, so the last part of the film consists of showing their efforts to leave this deathtrap. Oddly, despite the budget, the acting of these two was pretty good (particularly William Kerwin) and the last 15 minutes of the film turned out to be by far the best. There were several wonderful twists and turns that showed Lewis could actually write a clever script and despite the stupid hillbilly acting earlier in the film, the film was surprisingly good. I won't ruin it, but it sure was nice to see that things only improved as the film progressed. Plus, every time I thought that the movie SHOULD have ended sooner, the additional portions kept building on an excellent "Twilight Zone" style script.By the way, the film offended many when it debuted--though it also became a cult favorite. The gore and offensive portrayal of Southerners as crazy morons must have made many at the drive-ins have heart attacks! I sure wish I could have been there to see it!