The Film (4/5)

    Herschell Gordon Lewis had been working for a few years with producer David F. Friedman on nudie cutie films like the Adventures of Lucky Pierre, when the two thought up a new idea they could exploit, "gore". Over the top violence, that they could show by the bucketful, and weren't limited by current laws, like they were by the nudity in films (which had to be filmed in nudist colonies).  The first of the pairs’ notorious Blood Trilogy would be the now famous 1963 film Blood Feast, which has attained legendary status. The second film would be the hicksploitation splatter classic 2000 Maniacs.

     2000 Maniacs follows 2 separate groups of travelers who are forced to take a detour into a town called Pleasant Valley, GA. on the eve of a centennial celebration.  A centennial for what? They aren't saying, but none the less, they needed 6 "yankees" to help with the celebration, and these travelers fit the bill. Soon after arriving these yankees begin to get viciously murdered by the towns people and turned into BBQ. 

    There isn't much more to it then that, and I wouldn't expect much more from a Lewis film. Even his non-gore films are as straight forward as possible. His direction is largely workmanlike, though there are moments such as the fade out to a snowy field that show a slight artistic intent, though I doubt Herschell would have admitted that himself. 2000 Maniacs for all intents and purposes exist just to get some bodies into a situation where Lewis and Friedman can hack them to bits for audience’s amusement, and that's what we get here. Of course, no review of this particular film can go without mentioning the theme song, which is worth the price of admission alone. Hell, I'd buy a 7" vinyl version of this if it were released tomorrow.  Blood Feast, is, of course, the Blood Trilogy film that gets all the attention, but 2000 Maniacs is a blast to watch as well.

Audio/Video (3/5)

    2000 Maniacs is presented by Arrow Video in a 1:78:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that will not wow the average viewer, but if you have been watching H.G. Lewis' films since VHS, the results here will probably at least take you back a little bit. There is quite a bit of damage to contend with, but one assumes the elements for these films were never stored in the best conditions, however, they look quite film like and natural with quite decent detail, a solid organic grain structure and colors that represent the natural look of the film well. OF course, the film was shot largely natural, and outside during the 1960's in bright conditions so some of it appears quite soft so that is to expected.

    Audio is handled by a PCM mono audio track in English. The track sounds solid for the most part. Dialogue and score come through clearly, there is some hiss that can be heard at points throughout the track and there is some echo that can be heard as well.

Extras (4/5)

    There is an entire other H.G. Lewis hicksploitation feature here, Moonshine Mountain, that contains an introduction by Lewis himself.  We also get an intro by Lewis to 2000 Maniacs, a commentary by Lewis and Something Weird Video's Mike Vraney with David Friedman among others.  There are also promo galleries, featuettes and interviews pertaining to Lewis, Friedman, and the film itself.

Overall

    2000 Maniacs is an early splatter classic. The Blu-ray from Arrow Video looks and sounds fantastic.  It is also loaded up with some fantastic extras. This comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.