''2001 Maniacs'' is a 2005 American

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

film directed by Tim Sullivan and starring

Robert Englund Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Class ...

Lin Shaye Linda Shaye (born October 12, 1943) is an American film, television, and theater actress. In a career spanning over forty years, she has appeared in more than a hundred feature films. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as Elise Rain ...

, Jay Gillespie, Dylan Edrington, and Matthew Carey. It is a remake of the 1964 film ''

Two Thousand Maniacs! ''Two Thousand Maniacs!'' is a 1964 American horror film written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and starring 1963 ''Playboy'' Playmate Connie Mason. It follows a group of Northern tourists who are savagely tortured and murdered during a ...

'' written and directed by

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though hi ...

. The film is distributed by

Lions Gate Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...

. It was filmed in Westville, Georgia.

Plot

Six prep college students and a biker couple travel south towards

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

for Spring Break, but a detour leads them into the seemingly idyllic Georgia town of Pleasant Valley, which is holding its annual "Guts and Glory Jubilee" in honor of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. While they stay in the town, completely isolated from the outside world, they are systematically separated and killed in gory fashion by the town's residents. Two students manage to escape, but upon alerting the authorities they learn that "Pleasant Valley" is nothing but a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

- a memorial for 2001

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

villagers who were massacred 140 years earlier by renegade Union troops during the Civil War. A plaque reveals that the town's residents will not rest until the crime has been paid back: 2001 villagers were killed, 2001 Northerners must be killed - an eye for an eye. As the two students drive away on their

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

, they are

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

. The heads are picked up by Hucklebilly who walks down the road and fades away.

Cast

Production

Filming took place on November 3, 2003 in Westville, Georgia and ended on December 1, 2003.

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, having directed the films '' Cabin Fever'' (2003) and ''Hoste ...

, who produced the film, reprised his role of Justin from his own film, ''

Cabin Fever Cabin fever is the distressing claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended time. A person may be referred to as stir-crazy, derived from ...

''.

Release

The film was released May 12, 2005. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in 2007.

Sequel

On the official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page for the film, the sequel ''2001 Maniacs: The Beverly Hellbillys'' was announced (later renamed to '' 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams''). Mayor Buckman and Harper Alexander are now portrayed by

Bill Moseley William Moseley (born November 11, 1951) is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's ''Firefly ...

and

Nivek Ogre Kevin Graham Ogilvie (born December 5, 1962), known professionally as Nivek Ogre, is a Canadian musician, performance artist and actor, best known for his work with the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded with cEvin Key. Sinc ...

respectively.

References

External links

* * *
''2001 Maniacs'' at FEARnet
{{Tim Sullivan 2005 films 2005 horror films 2005 LGBT-related films American comedy horror films Remakes of American films American LGBT-related films American splatter films Films about race and ethnicity Films produced by Eli Roth Films scored by Nathan Barr Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Horror film remakes LGBT-related horror films 2005 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Tim Sullivan 2000s American films