I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

It could have been a story from The Twilight Zone. A small Southern town comes alive each hundred years to get even for the Civil War. Unfortunately, the subtext for "Two Thousand Maniacs" is in-your-face hateful. Back in 1964 the premise probably was considered amusing. Now, however, it seems dated and is in very poor taste.There's a lot of sneering joviality in this film. The stupid, bloodthirsty townsfolk are bullies who get a lot of enjoyment out of inflicting pain. There are no heroes here, only villains. And the script plotting is weak. Just when you think the movie is ending, it's not. It revs back up with a slight "twist" and keeps going. This happens several times.Aside from a substandard theme and plot, the film's direction is poor. Among the worst scenes are those wherein cast extras stand around in the background watching; they look wooden and manipulated, the result of an unimaginative Director who doesn't seem to know how to set up a scene.The town is called "Pleasant Valley"; a more apt name would be "Amateur-ville", due to the acting. Actors recite their lines about as effectively as high school thespians. Prod values are cheap looking. And the sound is terrible. There's a subtle and unwanted echo on interior sets that makes some of the dialogue muffled and hard to understand. Color cinematography is adequate; images are clear and appropriately lit.A carnival-like tone drains suspense from a story that could have been interestingly thematic and eerie, if the script had been written, and the production directed, by Twilight Zone writer and host Rod Serling. Instead, what we get with "Two Thousand Maniacs" is a hateful plot, lacking suspense and mystery, in a film largely devoid of cinematic professionalism. Marketing the film in the Horror genre refocus the production to a friendlier niche audience, which explains its cult status.

This follow up to the seminal Blood Feast seems to be regarded by many as the best film that H. G. Lewis ever directed. Personally I can't agree with this view seeing as I just can't see past Blood Feast, a film of much more excessive gore, belly laughs and sheer trash value. That said, Two Thousand Maniacs! ain't bad. It's a more expansive film, although anyone familiar with Lewis's output will know that this is a very relative statement because despite having a more elaborate set-up this is still an ultra-cheap drive-in movie. What keeps it interesting though is the combination of inventive murder set-pieces, demented humour and an overall deranged feel. Its Southern town of Pleasantville gives the movie a sense of place which adds nice detail as well. Not only that but there is also the highly infectious title song 'The South's Gonna Rise Again!' by The Pleasant Valley Boys. Yeeeeha!Like all of Lewis's other gore films this one has a curious mixed tone. It combines broad comedy with pretty mean-spirited violence, usually in the same scene. It's a bizarre thing to see and it gives Lewis's movies an edgy sensibility that remains compelling no matter how unrealistic the gore might actually be. His films are all comedies as much as horror films, maybe even more so. There's never really any suspense in the build up to the acts of violence. They're just presented in front of us in a way that must've shocked early 60's audiences due to their draw-dropping audacity. This one could maybe have done with a little more carnage for it to have been entirely satisfying but there sure is enough here for trash movie enthusiasts to lap up.

At first I was stunned by the predictability of the plot and the low production values, the cheesy acting and the grinding ominous organ music that lets up, but Two Thousand Maniacs! somehow managed to hold my attention right until the credits. Maybe I watched it for the same base reason that one watches "Cops" or "The Worst Carnages -- Of The Universe!!!", or maybe director Herschell Gordon Lewis has a knack for keeping the attention up juuuuuust enough, but this movie ain't all bad. Most of it is, though: the acting is at best hammy, or clearly nonexistent. The dames have wrinkles and fat arses. The oldest one is of course murdered first because she's a slag -- just to make sure this movie doesn't even earn a Brownie point for political progressiveness. The Southron stereotypes are difficult to bear even for the most biased of Yanks. And yet: this movie never bored me.This is the movie that "Manos -- Hands Of Fate" was trying to be.

Writer/director/cinematographer Hershell Gordon Lewis is considered by bad movie fans to be one of the few "autors" in film history to have equaled or at least come close to equaling the abysmal work of Ed Wood, Jr.. While it's debatable which was worse or if another small-time film maker (such as Ray Dennis Steckler or Al Adamson) was the worst, no one in the know would argue that Lewis was a brilliant film maker! However, even the most inept can occasionally get lucky and TWO THOUSAND MANIACS is Lewis' moment in the sun. Unlike previous films such as BLOOD FEAST (which were all amazingly bad), there was enough good about TWO THOUSAND MANIACS that I actually recommend you watch it--particularly because it proves substantial budgets or consistently good acting aren't necessary to make a decent film! The film begins with two very stereotypical hillbilly idiots tricking two cars full of Yankees off the highway and into their town. There the locals declare that these outsiders are their guests of honor for a centennial celebration and they are convinced to stay. Now the audience knows this is a very bad idea, but the six folks don't yet suspect that these hicks mean to do them great bodily harm. Of course, that might also be because they didn't see the folks running around town with nooses in preparation for their arrival! One by one the Yanks are brutally killed and the ways they did it were pretty clever and the gore was amazingly realistic for 1964. It's amazing to think that with a budget of $46.28 that they were able to achieve these effects, as the blood actually looked like blood and the killing was quite shocking for the mid-1960s.Two of the six are reasonably bright and guess what is in store, so the last part of the film consists of showing their efforts to leave this deathtrap. Oddly, despite the budget, the acting of these two was pretty good (particularly William Kerwin) and the last 15 minutes of the film turned out to be by far the best. There were several wonderful twists and turns that showed Lewis could actually write a clever script and despite the stupid hillbilly acting earlier in the film, the film was surprisingly good. I won't ruin it, but it sure was nice to see that things only improved as the film progressed. Plus, every time I thought that the movie SHOULD have ended sooner, the additional portions kept building on an excellent "Twilight Zone" style script.By the way, the film offended many when it debuted--though it also became a cult favorite. The gore and offensive portrayal of Southerners as crazy morons must have made many at the drive-ins have heart attacks! I sure wish I could have been there to see it!