The genres of splatter and, to a greater extent, hicksploitation, are probably not familiar to most moviegoers. A lot of horror films are inherently violent and blood drenched, so most would assume that such a category was completely redundant. Hicksploitation is the kind of genre you've probably witnessed but just never considered. The most famous examples are probably Deliverance and one of my personal favourite horror films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Two Thousand Maniacs is an extremely early example of the genre, and it makes you wonder what people in the south would think of it today. It's somewhat a commentary on the Civil War, and how it represented a country at the height of its division. The film is a carnival of horrors befalling a group of North country Americans finding themselves stuck in a Southern town during a dubious bicentennial celebration. It's inspired by the musical Brigadoon of all things, and the concept at its heart is pretty clever. Its not the kind of film that you shout about to your friends. The joy of watching it is seeing a low budget film come to life, how so much is done with so little. It's riddled with continuity errors, poor sound quality, flashed frames, awkward cuts and bad dubbing, not to mention a pretty big plot holes that opens up right at the end. But pointing them out is one of the things that keeps you engaged. The grossness and depravity are part of the atmosphere its creating and the story its telling, rather than just being there for mindless exploitation. Many will be bored and/or repulsed by it, but many, including myself, appreciate its earnest, creativity and bargain-basement charm.

check out thoughts on my podcast of this flick at https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rRKhh9C2tXMBVYufmnGS6?si=01b4cd2f97274b26

There are a lot of gore hounds who love the work of director Herschell Gordon Lewis. That's exactly the problem with his work. It's gore first, character, story or logic, never. If they died in 1865 then what would they know of paved roads, cars or anything that happened after they died. Considering the whole town died and nobody was there for that century for them to see. What gave them the power to manifest and kill? The centennial mark couldn't be enough. Nothing about it makes any sense. Even as a horror comedy it doesn't work. The sound and picture is awful and the story is just lame. At the time of writing this review this is my second Herschell Gordon Lewis and honestly, I'm not impressed.

worst movie i saw in my life Bad acting,stupid scenario,after 5 minutes you just want that banjo music to ceased and the remake in 2005 was not better

ridiculous splatter film with humorously bad acting little story and laughable special effects. So bad it's good?

What a blast. Considering its time, place and intention Lewis did a good job with this. Tim Sullivan made a great point, in that it feels a lot like an old EC comic, in so many ways. I'm going to watch the rest of the Lewis films with that idea in mind.

A goofy and sinister twist on Brigadoon, Hershell Gordon Lewis delivers yet another odd curiosity with Two Thousand Maniacs. The small southern town of Pleasant Valley is celebrating its centennial by luring six unsuspecting yankees to the festivities under the guise of being their guests of honor, only to find out the residents want to exact revenge on the northerners for the atrocities committed against their ancestors by the Union army in the Civil War. Armed with a bigger budget, the acting and overall tone isn't as campy as other Lewis offerings but the fairly creative death scenes, over the top politically incorrect portrayal of southerners, and generally weird vibe make Two Thousand Maniacs a must see for Lewis fans.

Early gore from '64. Pretty graphic scenes for the era

The most absurd of Herschell's low-budget splatter movies from the 60's. It's not the most entertaining flick, but it's actually the best. But for a splatter film, there isn't actually enough gore for it to be called a " splatter flim ", but at the same time, it's from 1964. The acting is horrible, the country themed music is absurd and the gore effects are real cheap. But the cheap technicolor of the film looks beautiful on the film and it's still worth a look !!

Like the story, the rest hasn't aged well.

Sometimes you just watch the right movie at the right time. Two Thousand Maniacs is still the crap that Blood Feast was, only the acting is improved, the kills are memorable, and the characters are interesting. The small southern town adds a lot to the atmosphere of the movie. It has some southern charm on the outside, but is very creepy as well. Like a lot of drive-in movie, this is one of those movies where you make out with whoever you're with for a little bit and only turn to the screen to see the blood when it happens. It's a simple, stupid plot that is carried by the blood. My favorite particular death was the barrel roll (Peppy Hare would be proud). This isn't a movie for everyone, as it's too tame for modern gorehounds. This is a movie for fans of cheap and bad drive-in movies. If that's you, this is one of the best.

This movie is awesome for 1964, and incredible in its own right.

The Final Verdict: While not really offering much beyond it's gore, this one instead is a little easier to watch for it's sense of fun. Fans of similar kinds of films would really enjoy this one, and gore-hounds will also find a lot to like, while those who aren't so high on technically-incompetent films will be put off with this one.

This is the middle part of Herschell Gordon Lewis' 'Blood Trilogy'. The link between this and the predecessor, Blood Feast, appears to be that there is once again lots of blood on display. I cant really think of many other connections between the two films. This is a slight improvement on Blood Feast, which was fairly dire. The overall production feels less amateurish and although this is still preposterous it does come with the odd grisly laugh.

In 1965 Deep South a few carloads of Northerners are sent on a false detour ending up in a small Southern town just in time for their Centennial celebration. They are treated as the guests of honor. When a few of the Northerners go missing the remaining ones start to get suspicious as to the exact nature of the Southern hospitality. Suspenseful, believable and gory - really well done for a horror film from this era and with the limited budget.

A Gory B-Movie, With Bad Performances And Plenty Of Violent Scenes, That's Saved From Total Disaster By It's Originality Of The Plot (For The Time It Was Made), & It's Death Scenes.

There is something genuinely unsettling about this gory exploitation movie that oddly resembles the classics of Walt Disney

A conveniently placed detour sign on a remote country road lands a group of Northern vacationers right smack dab in the middle of Pleasant Valley's Centennial celebration. The jovial Mayor Buckman invites the newcomers to participate in each of the town's festivities, but what the visitors don't know is that they are being lead to the slaughter as part of the locals' bloody revenge for a Civil War defeat! Herschell Gordon Lewis' drive-in classic TWO THOUSAND MANIACS is a vast improvement over his first gorefest, BLOOD FEAST, complete with a highly imaginative plot and several of the most memorable executions in shock cinema. Of the many carnival games the travelers 'participate' in, the bloodiest include a spiked barrel roll, a four-way horse race, and a smashing game of Hit the Target! The outrageously over-the-top acting and absurd dialog only add to the film's campy charm, but Lewis' no-budget approach to filmmaking produces the same flat results in terms of the actual production. Regardless, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS is the Godfather of Gore's greatest film, and an early milestone in the history of splatter pictures. -Carl Manes I Like Horror Movies

Hilarious and bloodthirsty - a great cult film--Awesome Early Splatterfest!!

More low budget 60's drive-in schlock from Hershell Gordon Lewis. A southern town celebrates the centennial of Union soldiers leveling their town in the US Civil War by luring and torturing northern tourists.