Review of 2001 Maniacs (2005) by Paul T — 07 Jan 2007

Finally, a horror remake that was actually justified! Herchell Gordon Lewis' original Two Thousand Maniacs was one of his better films, but that wasn't saying much as it suffered from the same terrible acting, atrocious pacing and bad scripting as his other movies. However, it did have some inventive gore scenes and sense of fun that helped a lot.

This remake inevitably replaces the orignal's adult protagonists with college kids, but sets itself off from the start as simply being a fun gore movie. It delivers on both fronts - it is funny (if rather cheesy at times), and the gore is very effective. Eli Roth has a short cameo, reprising his role from Cabin fever, but unlike Roth's Hostel, this manages to combine the gory fun and frat-boy humour successfully.