From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Two Thousand Maniacs!
Two Thousand Maniacs!
Two Thousand Maniacs! The film and its director attracted a following, largely
due to the over-the-top quality of the violence and the
villains. The film starred 1963 Playboy Playmate Connie
Mason. It was remade in 2005 as 2001 Maniacs, starring
Robert Englund.
The film’s title song was written and sung by director
Lewis. The movie would later inspire the name of the
band 10,000 Maniacs.
In the restrospective of Lewis’ films, A Taste of Blood:
The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, by Christopher Wayne
Curry, the author notes the particular fondness the di-
rector had for Two Thousand Maniacs!: "The prop plaque,
bearing "Pleasant Valley’s Epitaph", hung for years in
Lewis’ Chicago home in remembrance of one of his finest
film achievements. Released in 1964, Two Thousand Mani-
acs "was one of my favorites," [1]
Synopsis
Promotional poster for 2000 Maniacs The story of the film is inspired by the 1947 Lerner and
Loewe musical Brigadoon.[2] Six Yankee tourists are lured
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis into the small southern town of Pleasant Valley by the
Produced by David F. Friedman redneck citizens to be the guests of honor for the cen-
tennial celebration of the day Union troops destroyed
Written by Herschell Gordon Lewis
the town. The tourists are separated and forced to par-
Starring William Kerwin ticipate in various sick games which lead to their gory
Connie Mason deaths. The methods employed by the festive townspeo-
Jeffrey Allen ple include:
Music by Larry Wellington • Dismembering a woman with an axe, and thereafter
roasting her in a barbecue pit;
Cinematography Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Staging a "horse race" in which a man is ripped limb
Editing by Robert Sinise from limb;
• rolling a man downhill in a barrel embedded with
Distributed by Box Office Spectaculars
nails;
Release date(s) March 20, 1964 • Crushing a woman with a boulder held aloft in a
Running time 87 min.
contraption resembling a carnival-style dunk tank.
After discovering the nefarious plans of the townspeople,
Country USA the two remaining tourists manage to escape; they then
return with a local sheriff, only to discover that the town
Language English
has disappeared. The film ends with two of the towns-
Budget $65,000 (estimated) people looking forward to the next centennial in 2065,
when Pleasant Valley will rise again to resume its vendet-
Two Thousand Maniacs! is a low budget 1964 splatter film ta against the Yankees.
directed and written by Herschell Gordon Lewis. It is the
second part of what the director’s fans have dubbed "The
Blood Trilogy", including Blood Feast (1963) and Color Me Production
Blood Red (1965). The film has since become known as a Two Thousand Maniacs! was filmed in 15 days, early in
classic of the drive-in theater era. 1964, in the town of St. Cloud, Florida. According to a
The film is known for its scenes of full color gore and contemporary report, the entire town participated in the
torture, as well as for B-movie type direction and acting. film.[3]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Two Thousand Maniacs!
Critical Analysis by us today – but here the possibility of southern hos-
pitality is transformed into a cruel joke: the visitor be-
Two Thousand Maniacs! introduced drive-in theater audi- comes victim [8]. ” Throughout the film, the "Yankee"
ences to the formulaic plot-line of southern gore films: victims are simultaneously celebrated as “guests of hon-
northern outsiders who are stranded in the rural South or” while being tortured. Together, with the theme song
are horrifically murdered by virulent, backwoods south- The South’s Gonna Rise Again and other twists on South-
erners [4] This subgenre of Grindhouse peaked with the ern tropes, like the cannibalistic communal barbecue of
release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) ten years the northern outsiders, the film alludes that region’s his-
after 2000! Maniacs. torical conflict and intractability towards modernization
During the Civil Rights Movement, television and are still unresolved.
mainstream narrative films opted for a less realistic de-
piction of redneck than the televised news of the era.
Films that tried to comment on the issue of race relations
References
were commercial failures [5] . However, Herschell Gordon [1] Curry, Christopher. A Taste of Blood: the Films of
Lewis’ plotline in Two Thousand Maniacs! focuses on the Herschell Gordon Lewis. [London]: Creation, 1998.
ghost of a violent, vengeful Confederacy, and is aware of pg. 67 ISBN. 1-871592-91-7
the region’s violent history and place in the anxiety of [2] Doll, Susan; and Morrow, David. Florida on Film: The
the rest of the United States [6] Although the film was re- Essential Guide to Sunshine State Cinema & Locations.
leased in 1964, in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida,
issues of race relations and segregation are never inter- 2007. ISBN 978-0-8130-3045-6. p. 163.
rogated in the film. Despite the lack of African Ameri- [3] Romer, Jean-Claude, Silver Alain (trans.) "A Bloody
can characters, the racial element of the violent South New Wave in the United States" (July 1964), in
does not lurk far beneath the surface. By returning to cel- Silver, Alain & Ursini, James (eds.) Horror Film
ebrate the centennial destruction of Pleasant Valley by Reader. New York: Limelight Editions, 2000. ISBN
Union troops, the redneck ghouls take part in ritualistic 0-87910-297-7. p. 63-64.
acts of revenge that is indicative of the South obstinate [4] Graham, Allison. Framing the South: Hollywood,
refusal of desegregation and Civil Rights in the 1960s. Television, and Race during the Civil Rights Struggle
The film dictates the anxieties the rest of the nation held Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2001. ISBN
towards the South’s, and its white inhabitants, history 0-8018-7445-9. p. 168-169.
of extra-legal violence, perceived primitivism, and unre- [5] Graham, Allison. Framing the South: Hollywood,
solved regional conflict [7]. The 2005 remake, 2001 Mani- Television, and Race during the Civil Rights Struggle
acs, explores some of these same themes. While the orig- Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2001. ISBN
inal film’s “Yankees" were strictly white, the remake fo- 0-8018-7445-9. p. 168-169.
cuses on the race relations, Gender equality, and Sexu- [6] Szczesiul, Anthony. "Re-mapping Southern
ality and gender identity-based cultures of the outsiders Hospitality: Discourse, Ethics, Politics." European
as they are slaughtered and turned into barbecue by the Journal of American Culture 26.2 (2007). pg.133.
residents of Pleasant Valley. This suggests that while the [7] Szczesiul, Anthony. "Re-mapping Southern
original parodied the images of the virulent, rural South- Hospitality: Discourse, Ethics, Politics." European
erner, or redneck, the remake posits the nation’s anxi- Journal of American Culture 26.2 (2007). pg.132.
eties towards the reactionary backlashes against race and [8] Szczesiul, Anthony. "Re-mapping Southern
sexuality in the new millenium on, and working through, Hospitality: Discourse, Ethics, Politics." European
motifs of Southern redneck. Journal of American Culture 26.2 (2007). pg.132.
The film is also an ironic commentary on the myth
of Southern hospitality, and how it elides some of the
ethical dimensions and historical atrocities imbedded in
External links
its discourse. In his essay entitled "Remapping Southern • Two Thousand Maniacs! at the Internet Movie
Hospitality", Anthony Szczesiul explains the film’s use Database
of Southern hospitality and other Southern stereotypes: • Two Thousand Maniacs! is available for free download
“The film’s ironic parody of southern hospitality high- at the Internet Archive [more]
lights the performative nature of the discourse. When • Two Thousand Maniacs! at AllRovi
Mayor Buckman delivers his promise of southern hos-
pitality in his thick, cartoonish accent, the reference is
immediately recognizable to all – the characters in the
film, its actors and director, its original audience, and
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Two_Thousand_Maniacs!&oldid=458582940"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Two Thousand Maniacs!
Categories:
• English-language films
• 1964 films
• 1960s horror films
• Films directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
• American horror films
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