The session: "Blood for Blood's Sake"
We watch Herschell Gordon Lewis' blood trilogy as well as a film by one of his associates.
Week 2: Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
My Impressions Going In:
I'd heard of this, primarily because of it's theme song "Robert E. Lee Broke His Musket on His Knee." I also had some familiarity with the plot, though not the finer points.
Plot:
The residents of a Southern town lure Northern tourists to a centennial celebration. Unbeknownst to the Northerners, the celebration involves some brutal revenge killings.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
In the interests of full disclosure, I need to acknowledge that I didn't see this movie with the rest of the class. Ethan and I were both unable to attend. As such, neither of us rated the film. I did watch the movie on my own (Thanks, Tubi!), and my comments are based on that viewing. But I still don't feel right about rating the film.
Maniacs is a surprisingly fun romp (assuming you have sufficient tolerance for gratuitous gore. There is a lot of red in there. But the deaths are cleverly done -- there's a barrel roll, a quartering, and of course a variation of an old carnival game. Of course, this is a movie from the 1960s. So the blood and gore, as graphic as it is, still has a cartoonish look. This isn't Saw. Rather, it's crude hicksploitation at its best.
After watching Blood Feast (and having seen The Gore Gore Girls a few years ago, I was skeptical of this. But this is superior to those in every way possible -- picture quality, sound quality, script, acting, premise. The humor was also a definite bonus. I'm not saying it's a great film, but it is definitely good. And its originality earns it some extra kudos.
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