2001 Maniacs : Field of Screams
Two Thousand Maniacs franchise
Hol
y crap this looks cheap. 2001 maniacs Field of screams was recommended on my Tubi list right after I finished 2001 maniacs. I didn’t even know that this was a thing! But I saw Bill Mosley and Lin Shaye in it and thought “OK fine”. But wow does this look cheap. 2001 maniacs Had a budget behind it… And quite frankly, they understood the source material. They got that this was a ghost story even if it went in some weirdly modern directions…
Field of screams feels like something else. Admittedly, they open with a familiar detour attempt, but it looks like it’s been failing these last few seasons, and they’re going to have to content themselves with the local sheriff as their victim. The sheriff then gets to be the participant in the “barrel roll“. Again, we’ve got a legitimate call back here to the first film… A very similar style, stuffing somebody into a wooden barrel that’s got nails pounded in all around it… but it’s done far more cheaply. Out in the middle of a woodsy nowhere, with 
less pomp and circumstance… And vulgarity that is played for laughs. Mayor Buckland, recast with Bill Mosley (though it’s not the only recast here by the way, town hunk and heartthrob Harper has also been recast with Nick Ogre, the former front man from skinny puppy) This time screams to the crowd “roll out the what?“
“Roll out the barrel!“
“I can’t hear you!“ He shots back, riling them up. And a child Young yells back in reply;
“Kill that mother fu…,” (well, you get the picture).
Yeah, I suppose that’s funny… But it’s not southern. I already 
feel like somethings gone wrong here.
Even the opening credits… With the conceit that the ghosts are all boarding an old school bus and heading up north since there’s no Yankees coming to town to sacrifice… It’s a montage of photos that look more like frat boy Hijinx on the bus then they do sinister southern ghosts. The entire point of 2000 maniacs is the fish out of water… Northerners heading into southern territory that feels like it should be familiar but enter been almost alien. This group just feels like a bunch of cheap slashers… It’s exactly the sort of thing that Bill Mosley 
does well, but I don’t know if it’s suited for this particular genre. It’s really strange because it’s still Tim Sullivan. It’s still the same writer Director everything… But it’s way less money… about 400 grand, down from the 1.5 million that 2001 maniacs reportedly had. Literally The production companies literally “Tax Credit Finance@ … It’s bizarre. It’s not helped any either by the fact that Robert Englund couldn’t make it back for this one… Schedules just couldn’t line so they just recast him with Bill Mosely and went on thier way.
So the crew road trips up a little bit until they hit a D list celebrity reality show to crash and find victims at. It’s supposed to be kind of like the simple life with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie (the original pitch was in fact, supposed to be for this to happen in LA… But the budget could never have afforded that, so they just moved everything to Iowa instead) with a couple of dead on lookalikes and a crew of sufficiantly d
iverse cardboard cutouts to murder.
We get beginning trailers for the reality show and it’s as insipid and vapid as you would expect… Basically, I’m kinda looking forward to watching these girls get sliced and diced . The Reality stars are headed to Georgia, but there bus breaks down in Iowa, but discovers Pleasant Valley crew camped out. Discovering that they’re from Georgia, reality stars decide to mingle and see if they can shoot their show around them…
And we got our set up done.
This is bad. I mean it’s really bad. It’s almost cartoonish in its execution and lacks a lot of the visceral blood and gore that we got from the last movie. We got a scene of one of the girls 
tied up in the medical tent and suddenly a buzzer starts coming up between her legs. We know that she’s about to be sawed in half, but they cut away… I don’t just give us the reaction shot of the maniacs killing her and blood spraying on them. Like I said, cheap. Then there is the flash dance music video about the main cannibals… I kid you not. What is Lin Shaye doing here anyhow? She’s embarrassing herself. From the horribly awkward sex scene with the mayor, to the flat out dumb one-liners and aforementioned musical interlude, I just don’t know what to do with her. It’s not the Lindsey that I know, it’s not the dignified actress that
can send shivers up your spine in stuff like Insidious.
And then there’s Ahmed Best. Does that name sound familiar? If you’re my age it probably should but you may have a hard time placing him, especially looking at his face. That’s because we’re not used to looking at his face… Where are used to hearing his voice coming out of the mouth of Jar Jar Binks. And yet, he’s managed to find in this movie a role that lowers and degrade him even further than the pariah of Star Wars. He is the token black dude of Pleasant Valley, and it’s just ugly.
In fact, all of the stereotypes are kind of ugly. Look, I’m really not that kind of guy… I don’t get in an uproar over characters or stereotypes… But it’s played so garishly here… With the J
ewish TV Director literally having the curls of hair protruding from his hat, and them having a token Asian hooker among the people of Pleasant Valley with the most egregious accent as she croons “Twenty dolla, make you Holla!“.
I will admit that as we go on, the kills do you get better, and someone there knows how to create busts and props and set dressing. That’s not the same however, as being good at make up and Gore FX… Which is really what is this movie REALLY needed. You don’t have any kind of a real story here. You have director Tim Sullivan drifting from disjointed set piece to unrelated set piece, while poking fun at whatever comes to mind. It might be forgivable if those set pieces were 
spectacular in their gore, but They’re not, and all he has to offer really is as many topless shots as he can cram into the movie without going strictly pornographic.
You know, I don’t understand what happened here either. It’s weird, because it’ a Tim Sullivan film. He’s the same Director and writer… It’s the same vision. It’s been the same guiding hand from the remake to the comic book to this ill-fated sequel. But this thing is so bad, easily one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen… And having watched more than a little bit of Neil Breen’s work… That’s not a judgment I pass lightly. This one is a pass. In fact it’s not just a pass, it’s a flee, run, burn it with fire recommendation. If someone offers to give you a copy for free? Slap them in the face and tell them you’re not their friend anymore.
In fact, all of the stereotypes are kind of ugly. I’m really not that kind of guy… I don’t get in an uproar over characters or stereotypes… But it’s played so Gerrish Lee here… With the Jewish TV Director literally having the curls of hair protruding from his hat, and them having a token Asian hooker among the people of Pleasant Valley with the most egregious accent as she croons $20 make you Holla.
I will admit that as we go on, the kills do you get better, and someone there knows how to create busts and props and set dressing. That’s not the same however, as being good at make up and Gora facts… Which is really what is still needed. You don’t have any kind of a real story here. You have the Director drifting from disjointed set piece to unrelated sap piece, while poking fun at whatever comes to mind. It might be forgivable if those set pieces were spectacular in their gore, but They’re not, and all he has to offer really is as many topless shot says he can cram into the movie without going strictly pornographic.
You know, I don’t understand what happened here either. It’s weird, because it’ a Timm Sullivan film. He’s the same Director and writer… It’s the same vision. It’s been the same guiding hand from the remake to the comic book to this ill-fated sequel. But this thing is so bad, easily one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen… And having watched more than a little bit of Neil brains work… That’s not a judgment I pass lightly. This one is a pass. In fact it’s not just a pass, it’s a flea, run, burn it with fire and if someone offers to give you a copy for free? Slap them in the face and tell them you’re not their friend anymore.
2001 Maniacs : The Curse of the Confederacy
Two Thousand Maniacs franchise
Wh
at do you mean there’s a 2001 maniacs comic book??? Man, that’s kind of wild. But once I got my hands on it, you can see for sure that this absolutely fits in with the reboot. That’s definitely Robert Englund visage on the front cover, and the writer on the comic is the same as the writer in the movie.
This isn’t strictly a new story, but it’s also not an adoption. It’s basically a prequel to the movie, showing the actual overrun of Pleasant Valley by the union in great and gory detail. You’re gonna recognize the characters here, not just that their voices are correct, but the likenesses are dead on as well. Somebody studied the actors and knew exactly what the costumes look like… They’ve got everything set to match up not only with the first movie, but with the second as well… At least as far as costume design had gotten by that point. It’s still Robert Englund face as the mayor, at the time, no one knew he was going to be replaced by Bill Mosley in field of screams. However, a lot of this art would be reused in the title credits of that film, with mostly his head drawn over Englunds.
The style fits right in as well, there’s absolutely as much gore and nudity going on here as what you see in the films. If you’re really digging this revival series, then the comics going to be a perfect companion piece, and it’s really a must have.
2001 Maniacs
Two Thousand Maniacs franchise
200
1 maniacs is one of those movies that I keep meaning to get to. Robert England I patched visage has been staring back at me from the shelves a video stores for at least a decade and a half… And my consistent thought was “it’s interesting how he’s upgraded from the son of 100 maniacs to the mayor of 2001 maniacs…“ The Freddy connection never quite left me.
Still, it’s southern horror which doesn’t do a lot for me, and when this first came out I’m reasonably certain I haven’t discovered Herschell Gordon Lewis yet.
Lewis was in the middle of a revival in the early 2000s, with a whole new generation rediscovering his work, and getting him back into the film world. He do a few conventions around this time, most notably similar wasteland, where they really celebrated his tomography, old and new. Around this time as well, he’d start seeing remix kick off in addition to new work. Truth be told, the original film the Uh Oh show I thought was far superior to the remake of the wizard of gore, but the principal is solid. Is he, while Louis his films are classics, with him really pioneering the whole Gore hound trend, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re great films. More than once you’ve probably seen me write in this blog about how much I’d like to see an average or not quite good film remade with more resources and a little more experience. Lewis’s films are 
ideal candidates for that.
We get a very similar story told as the first movie. The inhabitants of Pleasant Valley set up detours to lure unsuspecting northerners into their charming little southern town to participate in their annual Jubilee. The Northerners are the guests of honor… Which is to say they’re the victims, about to be murdered in spectacular and horrible ways, and then devoured at the town barbecue. It’s a simple set up with the opportunity to employ plenty of gore and throw plenty of blood at the screen. This is important, because of course, the Godfather of Gore is a genre unto itself, and demands certain criteria. No quality per se, but a level of gore And exploitation mixed in. The characters are far more villainous … With a lot more topless scenes, and a temptress with iron jaws ready to attack… Even the town Lothario, Harper Alexander… a character from the first film… Is a lot more polished and slicker looking. They’ve kept Rufus and Lester from the original film as well, and somehow made them 
look even more ridiculous and cartoonish than the first film!
You can tell that Tim Sullivan has a genuinely good working knowledge of the film, because while he’s definitely making his own movie, he’s taking care to homage wherever he can… In so far as it doesn’t impede his own storytelling, going as far as to even give us its own take on one of the kids from original film… The horse race which involve someone and limbs and then the horses racing away to pull them apart.
In addition to the horse race, we also have another kill that feels route very reminiscent from the first film. In the first film one of the women is set up under what’s sort of like a dunking 
tape… Only instead of having water dumped on you when somebody hits the target, you end up with a gigantic rock falling and crashing to death. We have a similar crushing on one of our other female victims, only it’s a giant brass bell rather than a rock. Nevertheless, with all the homage going on here, it feels just a little too similar to just be a coincidence!
It’s got its own character as well though. Between the participation of Robert Englund and just the very composition of the cover, you can see going in that were going to be dealing with a sort of heightened reality. It’s still every bit the ramshackle town that we see in Lewis’s original Two Thousand Maniacs, but it has its own quality. It’s more of a stereotype, 
caricature style of rundown southern architecture as opposed to the plain and gritty entropy that we see in the original. Indeed, while Robert Englund is playing Mayor Buckland, a character from the original film, he plays it with just a touch more exaggeration and caricatures. I can still recognize the character. Indeed, England actually resembles the original actor a bit, albeit with the additions of the beard and eyepatch, but don’t let that throw you. For me, this is less a remake as it is a far flung sequel. The same ghosts still taking vengeance another 40 years later… The change in appearance is easily explained away by the idea that their memories and their perceptions have corrupted over the past century and a half, ghosts don’t have to appear the same all the time. And some of them might not even be the same ghosts… I can wholeheartedly embrace head cannon that would suggest some of the ghosts finally move on as the northern body count rises… that every victim of their spring Jubilee releases another trapped maniac, and others take their 
place. Who knows? Perhaps we’re not even dealing with the same 2001 maniacs… What if other ghosts find Pleasant Valley and join their horde, finally finding a home? These are all interesting ideas that I really would love to see explored elsewhere. This is the kind of thing that could really expand and enhance the franchise. And oh yes, it is indeed a franchise and not just a remake. Stick around, we’ve got a few more of these coming!
Two Thousand Maniacs
Two Thousand Maniacs franchise
Se
e, one of the things is about 2000 maniacs is that the whole 1964 aesthetic and the silly country song. Everything looks reasonably normal… Especially for the southern time in the 60s. You have no idea what kind of carnage is in store for you.
One of the things that I find distracted watching this original with more after watching the remake is the year. In the remix they’re very much caricatures, but if you look at the folks in town in the original, they all look pretty normal. To be fair it’s Mayberry. sure, and Rufus and Lester are a bit cartoonish, but like I said, it’s 1965…You would still see some people like this in the deep south.
Out on the road, these two cartoon characters set up a detour to lure a couple of unsuspecting carloads of victims into Pleasant Valley for their centennial. Pretty young Betsy Lewis a husband away from his wife so townsfolk can abscond with 
her and turn her into BBQ.
One of the other Yankee guests is a hitchhiking teacher, and he starts to get suspicious when he thinks about the date… 1965… What happened 100 years ago? The end of the Civil War of course… So why are these Southerners celebrating it? But when he tries to contact a colleague who is an expert in the Civil War, he finds that there’s no phone lines out of the town. There’s no getting in touch with civilization, but he soon find a plaque that commemorates the tragedy of Pleasant Valley. In April 1865 renegade union soldiers laid waste to the village and killed emulated many of its citizens the markers memorial to the gallon citizens who gave their lives and testament to the vengeance pledged in their memory.
Uh-oh. They’ve stumbled into centennial blood vengeance… and the killing is about to start in earnest.
The kills themselves are clever… Horse race, barrel roll, seemingly innocent things that turn very deadly. The whole country fair atmosphere also serves to make sure you know the hometown is involved. Meanwhile the teacher in his driver I’ve had enough and then making a break for it.How to do that properly, just gotta figure out where they hid her car. They tricked one of the local kids into feeling the location and find the keys and race out of town, kicking up clouds of dust on the dirt road.
“What if they make it to the state police?“ Lester asks nervously.
“Doesn’t matter, centennials almost over,“ Mayor Buckland replies. “Ain’t no one gonna be around here anyhow… They may find themselves in the loony bin!“
That
’s some good foreshadowing just before the end… Because you see, when they do find their way out, and bring back the police…All they find is weeds and the monument. Pleasant valley has been populated full of ghosts all along. It’s a genuinely clever twist that I didn’t necessarily see coming… And really liked.
Between the twist and the gore, you can really see why this is a classic among horror bands and completely incomprehensible to the general public. Still, Lewis always said this was his favorite of all his films and I can absolutely see why. It’s genuinely creepy, and well put together, giving me every bit as much blood as I crave, but never abandoning the rigors of storytelling as well. This is a high recommend, and despite the reboots and remakes that would follow, it’s still the best of the bunch.
Argo City Comics 