Two Thousand Maniacs (1964)

 

Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis

Screenplay: Herschell Gordon Lewis

Cast: Connie Mason as Terry Adams; William Kerwin as Tom White; Jeffrey Allen as Mayor Buckman; Shelby Livingston as Bea Miller; Ben Moore as Lester MacDonald; Jerome Eden as John Miller; Gary Bakeman as Rufus 'Rufe' Tate; Stanley Dyrector as Harper Alexander

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies)

 

Following on from Blood Feast (1963), the most telling thing about his follow-up in the eventual gore trilogy is that Two Thousand Maniacs is how much of a step up in production this turned out to be. Set up as a group of six Northerners welcomed into a Southern town called Pleasant Valley, four in one car and a hitchhiker played by Blood Feast star William Kerwin with a female driver in another, you can tell from the get-go the budget and production of the film, even if still lower budget, was improved, taking the splatter film template Lewis created a year before and placing it within a full narrative.

The immediate thing to talk about is its theme song. Outside of its original context, it is a difficult song to digest, as its lyrics are from the perspective of Southerners threatening that "the South will rise again", an issue in the same way as a Confederate flag is because of how, to express Southern culture, unfortunately this has involved using the symbolism of the Confederates who practiced slavery. As an earworm, sung by Herschell Gordon Lewis himself as well as written by him, this makes this a guiltier issue to deal with, because it is a damn good song in terms of being stuck in the brain. In context though, it is perfect, as even if this is a splatter film first, the choice of its subject, and looking at both stereotypes of the South, and the uneasy relationship in culture between the Northern states and the South since the Civil War, is prominent and deliberate even as an exploitation film. Set in 1965 at the bicentennial of the end of the Civil War, the film is still meant to be a splatter film for entertainment at heart, but it is distinct touch from Herschell Gordon Lewis to tackle the conflicting emotions of the North and the South post-Civil War even within this film's playful tone, [Plot Spoilers] how the Pleasant Valley town is full of literal ghosts out for revenge for what Northern soldiers did to them when alive during the conflict [Spoilers End].

This is still a very goofy film, openly so with a sense of humour, for how many films has one such murder among its string of them being a game of hitting a tiny target to drop a giant rock onto someone? That or the sequence involving a very dangerous version of a barrel roll, played for sick humour as with Blood Feast and the director's other films? It still presents moments that, in context, are pretty nasty, as this feels like the cousin of Blood Feast with someone getting an arm axed off, but as with that film, it managed to be almost charming in spite of this. Unlike Blood Feast, the humour here is far less unintentional but deliberate, part of many tonal changes which transpire in just a year from the previous production. A considerable change of emphasis onto a plot, with dialogue scenes and more fleshed out characters, is found here even over some later films. The plot too, imaging the ghosts of the Confederate deciding to get their revenge on the Northern Yankees a hundred years after the end of the Civil War, is also tantalising even if this still, as an early Herschell film, a string of gore scenes first as priority. It is a loaded one, and how this bothers to even have an epilogue, where the ghosts leave to where they go to, is definitely something distinct from the director's filmography.

Out of a lot of Lewis' films, this is conventional and well put together, in that it is a narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end which even people likely to be put off by his productions would appreciate. It also establishes many of his best virtues being how, when possible, he could pull resources when needed. It may seem odd not to immediately talk about the gore, but instead the music turns out to be the film's best virtue, where this is indeed a film where the virtues of the soundtrack are to be found. With talented musicians hired in the cast, playing members of the town who play jovial songs even over victims' remains being ritually barbecued, you do not expect a splatter film to be memorable for its traditional folk songs. Two Thousand Maniacs however has a ribald energy just from this music alone.

Arguably this tone could be unintentionally darker due to, unfortunately, a more complex question with depiction the South, entirely because the history of the American South and its idealised past. It is poignant here, in the slow burn ending, where the dead literally came back to haunt the modern day, which cannot be dampened even in the film of over-the-top performances and humour. Most of the cast have the right type of pulpy energy that one would like and, even if the film's structure means some not-surprising predictability in the pace, this is a film that became one of Herschell Gordon Lewis' most well regarded for a good reason. Hell, I think the knowledge of what this inspired says a lot of how well regarded the film is, that this not only inspired a 2005 remake but also the least likely band to take their name from them, 10,000 Maniacs an alternative rock band capable of very poetic songs on the likes of the In My Tribe album but still naming themselves proudly after the two thousand maniacs here. I like other, weirder films from later in the director-producer's filmography, but I see the virtues with Herschell's film here as clear as day even if there is fake blood over the skyline.