Ok,
we all love Herschell Gordon Lewis but there is no denying that his cult
film classics from Blood Feast to Colour Me Blood Red are complete schlock.
They are terribly acted and shot, the dialogue and music simply appalling,
yet they are strangely intriguing despite these shortcomings. There is
however a film in Mr. Lewis repertoire that can not easily be laughed
off, a film that as silly as it is, begins to slowly get under your skin.
Two
Thousand Maniacs! released in 1964 is in Lewis' own words his, "magnum
opus." This seemingly silly story of a Southern towns revenge against
the north begins with a couple of dim witted hicks diverting northern
travelers to their town. Soon the "Pleasant Valley Centennial" gets
underway and the viewer is treated to various Lewis gore.
Two
Thousand Maniacs! contains a really great bluegrass score including
Lewis' singing the theme The South's Gonna Rise Again (YEEEEEHHHHHAAAAA!),
some hilarious sleazy acting by a bunch of sweaty Southern talking lunatics,
and some ingenious set ups - the boulder teetering, baseball game -
the barrel full of nails ride - the somehow extremely tense getaway.
There
is something exceedingly sinister about this film, wherein you got a
chuckle out of the ridiculous gore in Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs
tends to sicken the viewer. The slow motion mutilation of Bea's thumb
by the seemingly silly and harmless Harper, with its grainy badly lit
composition along with Harper's whooping it up, is extremely disturbing
to say the least. To the uninitiated I will go no further, explore this
work and see for yourself. For those familiar with Lewis' work and think
him a talentless, laughable director, I challenge you to reexamine this
fascinating work.
The
music group 10,000 Maniacs named themselves after this film confusing
the title (Although it was originally going to be Ten Thousand Maniacs,
but of course Lewis and company had basically no money to shoot the
film).
A Debased favorite
