The Gruesome Horror Sequel Even Bloodier Than The Original, Stream On Tubi

The movie follows a group of college kids from the northern United States as they travel for their spring break trip to the Florida beaches. But the group of partying co-eds are sidelined in the small Georgia town of Pleasant Valley along the way in the midst of the community’s Guts and Glory Jubilee. 2001 Maniacs sees the town’s residents being overly friendly and accommodating to their unexpected guests but quickly work to separate them from each other.

The rest of 2001 Maniacs is a bloodbath that shows the college students massacred one at a time by the people of Pleasant Valley. The two who manage to escape uncover the little hamlet’s horrible history and why they and their friends were targeted by a town full of bloodthirsty killers.

The movie’s story arc is well-crafted and stays fairly in line with the original film. But it’s the unique modes of death that are inflicted on the victims that really make 2001 Maniacs a hit with gore fans.

Using seduction as a way to bait them, the killers isolate and dispose of their prey in fashions that are as innovative as they are disgustingly barbaric.

One poor woman is drawn and quartered, her limbs shown popping off her torso in one of the film’s most graphic death scenes. Another death shows a young man force fed acid through a plastic tube until the liquid eats him to death from the inside. Yet another co-ed meets her maker after the town’s matriarch drops the town’s giant bell onto her and crushes her to death.

If this isn’t enough to lure a horror fan in, 2001 Maniacs gives audiences one of the greatest non-Freddy Kruger performances by actor Robert Englund. Englund, dressed as a gross caricature resembling Colonel Sanders, plays Pleasant Valley’s Mayor and the principal antagonist.

Mayor George W. Buckman injects some of the most humorous lines in the movie, offsetting (and sometimes adding to) the violence that unfolds on the screen frame after frame.

2001 Maniacs also gives another horror genre staple a terrific role. Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious, Critters) plays Granny Boone, an older woman whose initially sweet demeanor is dropped to reveal her as one of Pleasant Valley’s most violent residents.

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Far from high art, 2001 Maniacs is a fun watch for gore fans. No surprise that Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) attached himself to the project as a producer, undoubtedly adding his own gory flair to the finished product.

The low-budget movie was a film festival circuit hit and quickly grew a cult-following. 2001 Maniacs also drove a new generation of fans to see the original source material.

Though both are gory fun, whether or not the remake is a better film than Two Thousand Maniacs is still ongoing in the horror community.

You can stream 2001 Maniacs for free with Tubi.