hellraiser7 Warning do not read unless seen film.This film is another of those guilty pleasures of mine and strangely it's actually a favorate of mine from Herchell Gordon Lewis. Yeah, I'm a fan of the director whom is considered the "Godfather of Gore" and rightful so because he was the first or one of the first to utilze Gore effects at a time when it wasn't common. And yes, as usual it's low brow entertainment but the best kind (or as good as it can get).There really isn't much to say, I feel like what seperates this film from most of his past works is that it has an actually story line. This film is loosely based on a supernatural legend on a town that appears and disappears every year. I think that kinda a cool premise and shows you can do more with the supernatural subgenere, most of the time the ghost action is confined in a house, abandoned institute, or any other confined space, but here it's a whole town which means tons of ghosts, which also means the odds are not in the protagonists favor. This film is also more of a black comedy than horror as it really doesn't take itself too seriously, though there are horror elements as it has it's share of suspense and kills.Characters they serve their functions, let alone they act as best they can with whatever ability or lack there of they have (Herchell's film always had unknowns). However, to me the one's that stand out are the Mayor, Rufus and his friend with him, I really like how they play off of each other their both funny, menicing and clever. I really like how they put themselves out at first making themselves seem like typical friendly stereotypical town yokels but that's all an act just so their victims easily drop their defenses and maneuver them right where they want them, which can be kinda scarry. But they have a lot of really memorable and fun lines and despite each of them not really trained actors or just local talent all three of them actually did very well.I even like that twangy theme song which is fun, it's a hick song but it fits the film. However like in all of Herchell's films were all really in it for the gore effects and kills which it delivers in spades. I won't say too much but I like how each of the kills are made of as games which are by their nature colorful executions; let alone the fact that the effects are all practical and still look good to this day. Two of my favorates are one the barell roll where nails are hamered and the person takes a one way train straight toward their doom. And another kinda like the dunk tank only it's not water that coming down it's a boulder. This in a way is a different kind of horror because like in the slacher films your glad your not in the person's position but also you can't help but want to see the outcome of the person's circumstances, dispite how repulsive and bloody it is you can't look away because theres a repulsive beauty in the destruction, if you catch my drift.If your a gorehound and either have or have not heard of Herchall Gordon Lewis then this film is worth a look.Rating: 3 stars

JoeB131 This movie was produced by Gordon Herschell Lewis, the "Splatter King" of Hollywood who made a lot of the grind house exploitation films of that period when the Hayes Code was disintegrating.The plot is that six Northerners are detoured into a town that was wiped out during the Civil War, but somehow the ghosts of the victims are able to manifest themselves in contemporary clothing for the purpose of killing six northerners in gruesome ways. They in fact only kill four, but somehow, that's good enough.I'm guessing the kills are supposed to be impressive for the time, but are tame by today's standards. The victims are as dumb as people in these movies always are.So I give this movie a few props for being the first movie to come up with the "Deranged rural folk kill stupid urban folk" meme. Not sure if that's something to be proud of, given how quickly the genre degenerated into illogic.

Red-Barracuda This follow up to the seminal Blood Feast seems to be regarded by many as the best film that H. G. Lewis ever directed. Personally I can't agree with this view seeing as I just can't see past Blood Feast, a film of much more excessive gore, belly laughs and sheer trash value. That said, Two Thousand Maniacs! ain't bad. It's a more expansive film, although anyone familiar with Lewis's output will know that this is a very relative statement because despite having a more elaborate set-up this is still an ultra-cheap drive-in movie. What keeps it interesting though is the combination of inventive murder set-pieces, demented humour and an overall deranged feel. Its Southern town of Pleasantville gives the movie a sense of place which adds nice detail as well. Not only that but there is also the highly infectious title song 'The South's Gonna Rise Again!' by The Pleasant Valley Boys. Yeeeeha!Like all of Lewis's other gore films this one has a curious mixed tone. It combines broad comedy with pretty mean-spirited violence, usually in the same scene. It's a bizarre thing to see and it gives Lewis's movies an edgy sensibility that remains compelling no matter how unrealistic the gore might actually be. His films are all comedies as much as horror films, maybe even more so. There's never really any suspense in the build up to the acts of violence. They're just presented in front of us in a way that must've shocked early 60's audiences due to their draw-dropping audacity. This one could maybe have done with a little more carnage for it to have been entirely satisfying but there sure is enough here for trash movie enthusiasts to lap up.

Karl Self At first I was stunned by the predictability of the plot and the low production values, the cheesy acting and the grinding ominous organ music that lets up, but Two Thousand Maniacs! somehow managed to hold my attention right until the credits. Maybe I watched it for the same base reason that one watches "Cops" or "The Worst Carnages -- Of The Universe!!!", or maybe director Herschell Gordon Lewis has a knack for keeping the attention up juuuuuust enough, but this movie ain't all bad. Most of it is, though: the acting is at best hammy, or clearly nonexistent. The dames have wrinkles and fat arses. The oldest one is of course murdered first because she's a slag -- just to make sure this movie doesn't even earn a Brownie point for political progressiveness. The Southron stereotypes are difficult to bear even for the most biased of Yanks. And yet: this movie never bored me.This is the movie that "Manos -- Hands Of Fate" was trying to be.