Two Thousand Maniacs! by Herschell Gordon Lewis

These include a triple-feature Blood Trilogy release of Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red (1965), and a double-feature containing Wizard of Gore and Gore Gore Girls (1972). Over the years, SWV only issued five Lewis flicks on Blu-ray (with help from Image Entertainment). It appears that most of their releases are still in print (and the ones that aren’t are available for download from SWV’s site). Lewis’ home on North American home video. Just a thought.įor a long time, Something Weird Video was H.G.

While Tim Sullivan made a lackluster semi-sequel in 2005 called 2001 Maniacs, I think the current political climate could easily accommodate another sequel/remake – one that acknowledges the harsh truth of modern social parallels and ends with the hillbilly antagonists getting their comeuppance. Two Thousand Maniacs’ gore gags are creatively constructed to be macabre carnival games, skirting the line between hilarity and horror in a way the director would never quite capture again ( Wizard of Gore comes the closest, but is way too mean-spirited). He wondered what might happen if he tried to make a good movie and this is about the closest any of us will every get to that milestone. During his intro on this very Blu-ray, Lewis expresses a feeling of guilt that Blood Feast was such a hit, because he had put so little effort into making it. Obviously, masterpiece is a relative term when describing Lewis’ work, but even detractors and serious cineastes can agree that he hit upon something special with this oddball fusion of Brigadoon, Confederate resentment, and grand guignol silliness. His first gore movie, Blood Feast (1963), was his most influential work and his second gore movie, Two Thousand Maniacs, was his masterpiece.

The Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, peaked pretty early in his professional career.

Two Thousand Maniacs! by Herschell Gordon Lewis