Available at Amazon.com

Directed by Tim Sullivan
Starring Robert Englund

Review by Brian LeTendre

The South will rise again! “2001 Maniacs” is a remake of goremeister Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1964 film “Two Thousand Maniacs”. Robert Englund plays the mayor of a southern town that was destroyed during the Civil War, where the residents come back from beyond to take their revenge on unsuspecting Northerners. In this case, the Northerners are a group of college students traveling to Florida for Spring Break. They take a wrong turn and find themselves in the town of Pleasant Valley, where they become the guests of honor at the town’s “Jubilee Celebration”. You can probably guess where the plot goes from there.

This movie is a throwback to gore flicks of the 1980’s–and I mean that in a good way. You know, the days when movies weren’t afraid to mix naked co-eds and buckets of blood? The days when how high a movie was rated depended on how outrageous the kill scenes were? You remember. And speaking of kill scenes, this movie has some great ones. Victims are decapitated, crushed, drawn and quartered, and eaten from the inside out by acid. What more could you ask for? A guy getting his johnson chomped off by a chick with a set of steel dentures? You’re in luck—this movie’s got that as well!

As expected, Robert Englund steals the show. His over the top portrayal of the mayor is great. Perhaps I’m biased, but I can’t help thinking that Robert Englund is the Ian McKellan of horror movies. Someone should knight him. It doesn’t matter what material he’s working with, he always gives a solid performance. You can tell he truly enjoys the camp-horror genre, as he relishes his roles for all they are worth, and this movie is no different. There’s some great cameos in here as well, from Eli Roth to Jason Voorhees himself, Kane Hodder (although if you blink, you’ll miss him).

All in all, “2001 Maniacs” is great time. It’s funny, gory and it’s exactly the kind of movie that they don’t make enough of these days. Highly recommended!