Yet another cheesy remake
Jul. 9th, 2006 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiYesterday afternoon, while ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shadesong and cid62 were in Decatur playing with BPAL stuff, I watched 2001 Maniacs, the recent remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis's classic Two Thousand Maniacs (and yes, the original film was the inspiration for the band 10,000 Maniacs).
In many ways, this is about as good as a remake can get. The original film, although a blast, features some of the worst acting ever to hit the big screen. The new one, although not something that'll ever win any awards, at least has talented people chewing the scenery, notably Robert Englund and Lin Shaye. Both are clearly having a blast as the patriarch and matriarch of Pleasant Valley, the small Southern town into which our victims stumble.
As with the original movie, the "plot" is really just a set-up for some nicely gruesome murders. The small town is having a festival, and the northerners who stumble into it are the "guests," who treated to genuine southern hospitality in the form of copious amounts of food and women who all dress like Fredrick's of Hollywood models. As the main characters wander off to have sex with the townies, bad things start to happen. Although they do one scene in tribute to the first movie (an early drawing and quartering), they don't try for a scene-for-scene remake. So you'll still have to see the original for the classic (and still disturbing, to this day) barrel-rolling kill. But this has some truly brilliant moments, including the second kill, one that simply shouldn't be spoiled. We get nice variations on classic crushing, impaling, and other fun stuff.
It's not anything close to a politically correct movie -- like the first, the premise of a group of southerners taking revenge for a Civil War slaughter has no real social impact, as it's clear that, as the title suggests, these people are in it for the love of killing, not any sort of moral revenge. Lots of ignorant Yank/hick Southern portrayals here, spread pretty much all around.
Overall, a fun movie, but not one worth more than a rental. Not as groundbreaking as the original (not that it could be), but probably better from an objective point of view.
Also, do NOT watch the trailer until you've seen the movie. The trailer actually gives away the final "twist" ending of the movie, as well as most of the good kills.
shadesong and cid62 were in Decatur playing with BPAL stuff, I watched 2001 Maniacs, the recent remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis's classic Two Thousand Maniacs (and yes, the original film was the inspiration for the band 10,000 Maniacs).In many ways, this is about as good as a remake can get. The original film, although a blast, features some of the worst acting ever to hit the big screen. The new one, although not something that'll ever win any awards, at least has talented people chewing the scenery, notably Robert Englund and Lin Shaye. Both are clearly having a blast as the patriarch and matriarch of Pleasant Valley, the small Southern town into which our victims stumble.
As with the original movie, the "plot" is really just a set-up for some nicely gruesome murders. The small town is having a festival, and the northerners who stumble into it are the "guests," who treated to genuine southern hospitality in the form of copious amounts of food and women who all dress like Fredrick's of Hollywood models. As the main characters wander off to have sex with the townies, bad things start to happen. Although they do one scene in tribute to the first movie (an early drawing and quartering), they don't try for a scene-for-scene remake. So you'll still have to see the original for the classic (and still disturbing, to this day) barrel-rolling kill. But this has some truly brilliant moments, including the second kill, one that simply shouldn't be spoiled. We get nice variations on classic crushing, impaling, and other fun stuff.
It's not anything close to a politically correct movie -- like the first, the premise of a group of southerners taking revenge for a Civil War slaughter has no real social impact, as it's clear that, as the title suggests, these people are in it for the love of killing, not any sort of moral revenge. Lots of ignorant Yank/hick Southern portrayals here, spread pretty much all around.
Overall, a fun movie, but not one worth more than a rental. Not as groundbreaking as the original (not that it could be), but probably better from an objective point of view.
Also, do NOT watch the trailer until you've seen the movie. The trailer actually gives away the final "twist" ending of the movie, as well as most of the good kills.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-09 10:17 pm (UTC)I paid $5 for it as I recall, so it was the same as essentially renting it. :)
Plus the extras are some mild fun indeed.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-10 12:41 pm (UTC)