2001 Maniacs - The South well and truly rises again

‘2001 Maniacs.’ You could sort of leave the review there.  If the title alone doesn’t tell you everything you’ll need to know about the film then nothing will.  It’s a film like ‘Snakes on the Plane’ where you should know whether you’ll like it or not before you even sit down.  Basically, it’s a pretty ludicrous premise – a handful of those annoyingly good-looking American teens end up in the wrong town at the wrong town where – guess what – they come a cropper up against 2001 complete nut-jobs.

The stars, i.e. those we’re supposed to root for, are pretty run-of-the-mill.  They’re basically there to be dismembered in as many gruesome ways possible.  The real stars are the people we hope we never have to meet (and yet still enjoy seeing on screen).  The town is filled by Americans from the ‘North versus South’ era of U.S. history and they’re not too pleased with the way the war turned out.  Therefore, now led by the ever excellent (and possibly insane) Robert Englund and Lin Shaye, they’re looking to reap revenge on those stuck-up ‘Northerners.’

It’s effectively a slasher film, only the town is basically one great home to slashers.  You don’t watch this sort of film for its character development or deep and meaningful story arcs.  You watch it because it’s daft and silly (and pretty damn gory – it does have some pretty inventive death scenes).  If you’re into your gore-fests then you’ll probably enjoy it simply on Englund and Shaye’s performances alone. 

Just put your brain on hold and appreciate it for being a very low-brow and completely twisted piece of entertainment.  But, whatever you do, don’t go near the sequel.  This is one film that’s best left on its own.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that