Welcome to Pleasant Valley! 2001 Maniacs (2005), directed by Tim Sullivan, is an extremely entertaining horror comedy with rednecks, cannibalism, gratuitous nudity, many gory yet very imaginitive kills, and the always superb Robert Englund. In other words this movie is awesome! The sequel with Bill Moseley is being released on DVD July 20th so it seemed like an opportune time to revisit this favorite.
Basically, a couple carloads of college kids and a couple on a motorbike take a detour that leads them right to the little town of Pleasant Valley, population 2001. The entire town warmly welcomes them and the visitors are invited to spend the weekend in Pleasant Valley to celebrate the annual Guts and Glory Festival and Barbecue. The town and the townspeople seem like they are from another time period, yet the offer of free lodging and alcohol to a group of college kids is irresistible. Not to mention all of the very flirtatious and scantily clad women walking around. The down home country charm starts to wear off once the visitors realize their friends are disappearing. It’s probably obvious to you what the towns folk plan on cooking at the barbecue. That being said, all of the kills are nicely spaced out with plenty of campy tasteless humor and sex to fill in the gaps. Robert Englund as the friendly but sinister mayor leads a impressive cast that includes Lin Shaye as Granny Boone and Giuseppe Andrews as the seemingly well mannered southern gentlemen Harper Alexander. Also look for cameos by Peter Stormare, Eli Roth, and Kane Hodder. I’m really looking forward to the sequel. With Tim Sullivan directing and the addition of Bill Moseley to the cast 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams has the potential of being another great horror comedy.
I’m still trying to post stuff from the 2009 Spooky Empire horror convention before the 2010 convention is upon me. I love to blog, I just have difficulties with schedules and commitments and commitments to schedules for that matter. Anyway, I met the very cool Mike Christopher last year. Mike played the Hare Krishna zombie in George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). Even though it was a small role, it was quite memorable. The Hare Krishna zombie is even an action figure! It isn’t on my list of must have action figures (yes I have a list) but pretty sweet all the same.
I love both Peter Stormare and Jason Flemyng, and I’d been wanting to see Bruiser (2000) for awhile. Not to mention I’ve been trying to see all of George A.Romero‘s films, and Bruiserwas conveniently free to watch on FearNet.
Jason Flemyng plays Henry, a hardworking sweetheart of a guy who is betrayed and lied to on a regular basis. He has brief moments where he imagines himself acting out in violence towards those who mistreat him. In reality, he never sticks up for himself or confronts anyone. Eventually he actually loses his identity. His face transforms into a featureless white mask (it is very creepy to me that you can’t see his eyes). His personality changes, and he eventually exacts revenge on those who have wronged him.
The movie spends plenty of time making certain you feel bad for Henry and at the same time feel complete disdain for Henry’s boss Milo (Peter Stormare). Milo is a wealthy, rude, overindulgent sleaze, who treats everyone badly. The people who work for Milo simply refer to him as “the ass hole”. I’m not the best person to say if Stormare did a good job because I always like him, no matter how over the top or subdued he is in a role. I’m certain some would disagree with me, but I really did not mind the slower pace of the film. In fact I really enjoyed the time spent getting to know the characters, especially Henry and Milo. I did think the death scenes were pretty unoriginal. So much time was spent showing Henry as this weakling, and you think once he becomes anonymous he is going to go completely crazy and finally kick some ass. But not really, only sort of. This only really bothered me the first time I watched it. I still really enjoyed Bruiser and even watched it a second time to see both Flemyng and Stormare. I will probably watch it again, ya know to see Flemyng and Stormare.
Okay, not exactly, but since I have your attention I met Clayton Hill and his wife Sharon Ceccatti at a horror convention in 2008. Clayton and Sharon were both zombies in George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). I found them both to be very personable and funny. It was like they communicated as a team, it was almost to cute the way they finished each others sentences. I really had a blast meeting them. I checked the IMDB before writing this post and was sad to see that Clayton Hill passed away in July 2009.
Meeting director John Landis was a memorable experience. The Spooky Empire convention is a huge party and it was obvious John Landis was having a blast. I first saw him on Friday (the first day of the con) when I was in complete zombie makeup and he was on a golf cart being chauffeured around the hotel property. He seemed thoroughly amused when I growled and pretended to lunge at him (remember I was a zombie at the time). I was able to officially meet him the final day of the convention. A really nice guy, so I got his autograph and wanted him to pose for a photo. I wanted him to hold my autograph and I wanted to move the Michael Jackson doll on his table over so I could get that in my shot as well. I guess I was a little demanding because, to my delight, he yelled out “Would you look at this! I’m being directed!”
Welcome to Pleasant Valley! 2001 Maniacs (2005), directed by Tim Sullivan, is an extremely entertaining horror comedy with rednecks, cannibalism, gratuitous nudity, many gory yet very imaginitive kills, and the always superb Robert Englund. In other words this movie is awesome! The sequel with Bill Moseley is being released on DVD July 20th so it seemed like an opportune time to revisit this favorite.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=33522b59-b97f-4926-befd-5a10d17c9f61)
for awhile. Not to mention I’ve been trying to see all of 
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