I think 2001 Maniacs might be my favorite movie to watch during the 4th of July season. A great slasher movie with Robert England and Lin Shaye. 2001 Maniacs puts a whole new twist on the “Southern Hospitality” saying. I’ll never think of it the same again.
Released: May 12, 2005
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Tim Sullivan
Writer: Tim Sullivan, Chris Kobin
Actors: Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Giuseppe Andrews
PLOT
Is this some hillbilly reality show type of thing?--Kat
Eight young college students are on their way to Florida for spring break when they all take a shortcut through a southern town who has a strange way of showing southern hospitality.
MY THOUGHTS
I see our barb-a-cuties got the skewering rod raring to go.--Mayor Buckman
We have eight interesting kills. I’m not counting the town people who died over 150 years earlier. We get drawn and quartered, acid funneled down one's throat, a bell crushing someone, and that’s just three of them. One of the more painful ones that had me cringe was when the two girls rammed a rod through Ricky’s ass going all the way through him and coming out his mouth. Ouch! All of the kills were decently made and creative.
We have some great genre actors in 2001 Maniacs. Robert England (known as Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and several other horror movies) plays Mayor Buckman, the mayor of Pleasant Valley, a confederate town during the Civil War days where northern aggressors wiped out the town. And Lin Shaye (known for Critters 1-2, Hood of Horror, Insidious franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and New Nightmare, Ouija, and several other horror movies. She’s also the sister of Producer Robert Shaye.) plays Granny Boone, kind of the matriarch of the town. Both did great with their roles.
The rest of the actors did a decent job with their roles. The college kids were just annoying enough that you rooted for them to die. The exception is Anderson and Joey who you hoped would live but die in the end.
We start with 3 college friends who are heading for Florida for spring break. At a gas station they run into 3 other people also going to Florida. Anderson, one of the guys from the original group has his eyes on the hot blonde from the second group. Joey seems to like him too, but they go their separate ways.
The next day our three guys find a small town called Pleasant Valley that is having a summer celebration called Guts and Glory. They decide to check out the celebration because everyone is so friendly. Soon after they arrive, the other group of friends show up there as well, followed by a biker couple. Somehow the mayor and the townspeople get them to stay overnight. Despite their racist comments about the biker couple who are African American and Asian.
One of the young ladies eyes one hick and she goes off with him to make out. He blindfolds her and when he takes the blindfold off, all her limbs are tied to different horses. He makes a comment and then sets the horses off, tearing off her arms and legs.
For the rest of the movie they are basically singled out and killed. One guy is seduced by a milkmaid and pressured into funneling what he thought was moonshine, which turns out to be acid.
The next day the girls are sent with Granny Boone to get pampered and dancing. We have two girls left when Joey decides to leave and find Anderson. At this point Ricky shows up and joins in the fun. Unfortunately while the girls are singing they don’t pay attention to the words. If they had then they may have lived. The one girl there stands under a bell and Granny Boone pulls a rope, dropping the bell on her, killing her.
Ricky runs off, but is captured by the guy he hooked up with the night before. He gets a pretty painful ending. They have him held over a table while two girls ram a rod up his butt, coming out of his mouth.
Now at this point, why are the remaining people not wondering where their friends are? Finally Joey does when one girl is holding her friend's dog tags that she would never have let anyone have.
The one nerdy friend (which all of these kinds of movies have) finally gets a girl to pay attention to him. Unfortunately, while she is going down on him, she puts in her mouth some sort of metallic teeth. And you can guess what she does. Yep, she bites his dick off.
Now the biker guy is wondering where his girlfriend is when he thinks he sees her run off. He chases her and it turns out not to be her. He gets caught and killed by some sort of press that the townspeople push until his eyes pop out.
It’s down to our last two survivors: Joey and Anderson. She is tied to a chair and Anderson to the table. Anderson gets free and fights the mayor, only to force him to let them go. The mayor gives his word that they can go and the couple drive off on the motorcycle.
The next morning the couple shows up to the police station telling the cops what happened. The sheriff (?) takes them back to the location and it’s just a graveyard. He tells them how over 150 years ago the northern army came through and killed everyone. He explains that every year some drunk college kids pull pranks saying the same thing they were saying.
Anderson apologizes and says they will leave. As they leave the area they end up hitting a wire that beheads them. The final victims of Pleasant Valley that year.
Overall, I found this movie a fun, bloody and gory ride. There were times I was rooting for the college kids to die as well as the townspeople. I found the movie was made really well and if you don’t mind the nudity (LOL), and some of the rather colorful language, then you should check out this movie. If nothing else, for the kills and the great Robert England and Lin Shaye.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Robert Englund and Lin Shaye appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), and Wish You Were Dead (2001).
2001 Maniacs serves as both a sequel, as well as soft reboot to Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1964 cult classic Two Thousand Maniacs.
The plot point of the massacred town in Georgia was loosely inspired by General Sherman’s destructive march through Georgia, which left Atlanta burnt to the ground.
Both Tim Sullivan and Chris Kobin (screenwriter) returned 5 years later to make a sequel, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams. However, Robert Englund was recast without his knowledge.
There were two notable cameos: Kane Hodder plays a man who seizes Anderson right before the big fight between Anderson and Mayor Buckman. And Eli Roth who plays a man whose armadillo is hit by a car near the beginning of the movie. He plays the same character he played in his own feature directorial debut, 2002 Cabin Fever.
Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5
Sex/Nudity: 3/5
Scare factor: 2.5/5
Enjoyment factor: 5/5
My Rank: 3.5/5
