Initially I tried 2001 Maniacs because the horror master Robert Englund was the star and plastered all over the cover. I should have known that with the exception of playing the infamous Freddy Kreuger Englund's other attempts at horror have fell flat (The Phantom of The Opera, Python, Dance Macabre and so on.) I will say however that I have NO doubt that 2001 Maniacs will thrive as a cult classic and somehow it will most certainly find an audience with horror fans who love complete camp, and utter stupidity and over the top ridiculously humorous death scenes. The film was made with not horror in made but silly stupid blood splattering, breast baring type of slasher flick. And it just doesn't work for this one.
Robert Englund does a decent job as Mayor Buckman, the ghost Mayor a small town wiped out during the civil war. Now he leads his town folk back to the living to get vengeance on anyone who happens into their town. Englund is appropriately deranged although he doesn't directly do much if any of the killing. He is definitely a figure head and used as such but he is one of the better campier characters. Jay Gillespie plays the lead college student who gets him and his friends stuck in this town of horror. He is appropriately handsome and typical for the part and does a decent job being the hero of the story. Gina Marie Heekin, Brian Gross, Mushond Lee, and Bianca Smith I think are all the actors that play the other doomed college students looking for a good time but get picked off one by one due to the usual stupidity like promiscuous sex, following the wrong person to the wrong place and so on. I will give kudos to Lin Shaye, a veteran actress who plays Granny Boone, the horrendously disturbed matriarch of this town who likes to fry up some of her killings and eat them. I saw Shaye recently in the spectacular horror film Dead End and she really does a great job in this film. Wendy Kremer, Ryan Fleming, and Giuseppe Andrews all play main role Maniacs in the film and their characters are great...hilarious, campy, and completely deranged.
So with a cast that is decent and characters that are funny, campy and horrific what is so wrong with this movie?? Story, script, setting, BORING!! It wasn't believable for a second and I know horror films don't have to be but at the same there should be some sort of sense to it. There was absolutely NO reason that these 6 kids would stay in this completely out of the way, no power, no modern appliances little village when they were on their way to Daytona. On top of that there was ZERO suspense, and the death scenes which in a slasher/horror flick should be original, gory, even maybe a little realistic were so stupid they did nothing but cause eye rolls. It is really a shame considering the originality of the cast and killers and what they had was potential for a real series here. Director and co-writer Tim Sullivan slapped together something that felt more like a teenagers class film project and none of it worked. You didn't care about any of them and it was just boring. The nudity, which in horror films is always blatant and overused, was so forced that it was annoying...and I mean hey it's nudity but still it just all BORED ME. I would only suffice to say that this film is only for the true campy horror fan who will probably love the way it was done. If you're just the average movie goer you're gonna think this is stupid and a waste of time and probably give it far less than what I gave it credit for. 4/10
Robert Englund does a decent job as Mayor Buckman, the ghost Mayor a small town wiped out during the civil war. Now he leads his town folk back to the living to get vengeance on anyone who happens into their town. Englund is appropriately deranged although he doesn't directly do much if any of the killing. He is definitely a figure head and used as such but he is one of the better campier characters. Jay Gillespie plays the lead college student who gets him and his friends stuck in this town of horror. He is appropriately handsome and typical for the part and does a decent job being the hero of the story. Gina Marie Heekin, Brian Gross, Mushond Lee, and Bianca Smith I think are all the actors that play the other doomed college students looking for a good time but get picked off one by one due to the usual stupidity like promiscuous sex, following the wrong person to the wrong place and so on. I will give kudos to Lin Shaye, a veteran actress who plays Granny Boone, the horrendously disturbed matriarch of this town who likes to fry up some of her killings and eat them. I saw Shaye recently in the spectacular horror film Dead End and she really does a great job in this film. Wendy Kremer, Ryan Fleming, and Giuseppe Andrews all play main role Maniacs in the film and their characters are great...hilarious, campy, and completely deranged.
So with a cast that is decent and characters that are funny, campy and horrific what is so wrong with this movie?? Story, script, setting, BORING!! It wasn't believable for a second and I know horror films don't have to be but at the same there should be some sort of sense to it. There was absolutely NO reason that these 6 kids would stay in this completely out of the way, no power, no modern appliances little village when they were on their way to Daytona. On top of that there was ZERO suspense, and the death scenes which in a slasher/horror flick should be original, gory, even maybe a little realistic were so stupid they did nothing but cause eye rolls. It is really a shame considering the originality of the cast and killers and what they had was potential for a real series here. Director and co-writer Tim Sullivan slapped together something that felt more like a teenagers class film project and none of it worked. You didn't care about any of them and it was just boring. The nudity, which in horror films is always blatant and overused, was so forced that it was annoying...and I mean hey it's nudity but still it just all BORED ME. I would only suffice to say that this film is only for the true campy horror fan who will probably love the way it was done. If you're just the average movie goer you're gonna think this is stupid and a waste of time and probably give it far less than what I gave it credit for. 4/10