Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) is a low budget
splatter horror film written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis. It is the second part of the informal "Blood Trilogy", following
Blood Feast and followed by
Color Me Blood Red. It is known for its scenes of full-color gore and torture, which together with its
B-Movie quality direction and acting earned the film a cult following.
Six Yankee tourists are lured into the quaint southern town of
Pleasant Valley, invited to be the guests of honor in a centennial celebration of the day
Union troops destroyed the town. They soon discover, however, that the festivities are nothing like they expected, as they are forced to take part in a series of extremely violent and gory games.
Two Thousand Maniacs! was remade in 2005 as
2001 Maniacs, starring
Robert Englund. A direct-to-video sequel, entitled
2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams (
which replaces Robert Englund with Bill Moseley), was released in 2010. It had the town going on a road trip due to the fact that there weren't enough fresh Yankees coming into town for them to kill, and coincidentally running into the cast of a reality show centered around
wealthy socialites Rome and Tina Sheraton.
The name of the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs is a
Shout Out to the film.
This film and its remake contain examples of:
- B-Movie
- Bond One-Liner: In both the remake and its sequel, Huck says this after killing the last two survivors:
"Damn Yankees."
- Bury Your Gays: In the remake, the gay character dies in a cruel and sadistic manner, but not without a hint of dark irony. He's bent over a table and has a giant skewer shoved up his rear until it comes out of his mouth. The old woman tasting the blood is bad enough, but if you look closely you can see bits of corn on the tip of the skewer. He had just been having a picnic minutes ago.
- Deep South
- Excited Show Title!
- Exploitation Film
- Eye Scream: In the remake, it's explained that Mayor Buckman lost an eye in the massacre of the town. He now wears an...
- Eyepatch of Power
- A Fête Worse than Death
- Freudian Excuse: In Field of Screams, after Val says that her mother was a prison guard (when explaining how she knows how to handle a gun), Black Cherry says that that explains a lot.
- Gorn: People getting drawn and quartered, getting sliced in half, getting their faces ripped off, getting a skewer up the ass... yessir, there is gore here and then some!
- Kill 'Em All
- Lipstick Lesbian: TV producer Val Turner in Field of Screams. She indulges in filming scenes of Rome and Tina wrestling in bikinis, and her death involves her getting seduced by one of the town's women.
- The Other Darrin: Field of Screams replaces Robert Englund with Bill Moseley for the role of Mayor Buckman.
- Road Sign Reversal: The diversion sign with which it all starts.
- The Savage South: It's hard to call these proud southerners "civilized"
- Too Dumb to Live: Rome and Tina in Field of Screams. Strangely, they're the Final Girls. Or not — they get splattered by Huck's truck at the end.
- Town with a Dark Secret
- Vanishing Village: Pleasant Valley.
- War Reenactors
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