28 March 2024
Two Thousand Maniacs (1964)
87 min.
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
With Connie Mason, Thomas Wood, Jeffrey Allen, Shelby Livingston, Michael Korb, Andy Wilson, Bennie Moore, Vincent Santo.
Yee haw! Oh, the South's gonna rise again!

Six unsuspecting northerners are lured to the small Southern town of Pleasant Valley where a jubilant Centennial celebration is underway.

Turns out the Yanks are the pampered guests of honor...that is until they're chopped, nailed, barbequed and smashed to death!

Thoroughly enjoyable splatter from director Lewis is a clever (if odd) reworking of the classic Brigadoon about a mythical village appearing briefly once every hundred years, in this case to exact bloody revenge for the North's massacre of the southern town during the Civil War.

Maniacs manages an enjoyable and easygoing vibe, thanks to a gawky ensemble cast and some spunky gore (check out that homestyle de-limbing).

Best scene: the nasty nails-in-a-barrel death roll. (Does that come with workman's comp?)

Also known as Centennial.

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