Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

Six people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents proceed to kill them one by one as revenge for the town's destruction during the Civil War.

Director:

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Writer:

Herschell Gordon Lewis (screenplay)

Stars:

Connie Mason, William Kerwin, Jeffrey Allen

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Connie Mason	...	Terry Adams
William Kerwin	...	Tom White (as Thomas Wood)
Jeffrey Allen	...	Mayor Buckman
Shelby Livingston	...	Bea Miller
Ben Moore	...	Lester MacDonald
Jerome Eden	...	John Miller
Gary Bakeman	...	Rufus 'Rufe' Tate
Stanley Dyrector	...	Harper Alexander (as Mark Douglas)
Linda Cochran	...	Betsy
Yvonne Gilbert	...	Beverly Wells
Michael Korb	...	David Wells
Vincent Santo	...	Billy
Andy Wilson	...	Policeman
Candi Conder	...	Switchboard Operator
The Pleasant Valley Boys	...	Bluegrass musicians

Storyline

The citizens of the southern town Pleasant Valley lure six Yankee tourists into town where they are to be the reluctant guests for the centennial celebration of the day a band of renegade Union troops decimated the town. The town then participates in events, a different event for each of the tourists, in which the tourist is dispatched. One couple begins to suspect something and seeks a way to escape.

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Plot Keywords:

centennial | yankee | american civil war | confederate | deep south | 

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Taglines:

An Entire Town Bathed In Pulsing Human Blood! Madmen Crazed For Carnage!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 March 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Centennial

Filming Locations:

St. Cloud, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jacqueline Kay,Friedman-Lewis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Connie Mason, playing the part of Terry Adams, was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its June 1963 issue.

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Quotes

Tom White: Has it occurred to you that nobody has told us what this centennial is all about? Now, this is 1965, and a hundred years ago it was 1865, right? So, what happened in 1865?
Terry Adams: It was the ending of Civil War. The war between states!
Tom White: Well then you tell me why would a southern town want northerners as guests of honor at the centennial. It must has something to do with what happened a hundred years ago. So, something is very wrong with this town.

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Alternate Versions

The 1986 UK video was cut by 4m 27s. The cuts list was as follows:

• [26 mins] Reduce to absolute minimum the severing of Bea's finger and chopping off of her arm, removing the sight of finger being cut off and most of the scene that follows, reducing in particular the sadistic glee of the townsfolk at the pain and terror they are inflicting.
• [45 mins] Reduce tearing apart of John by horses, in particular the cackling and gloating of the crowd, the smiling women as he dies, and the shot of the dismembered arm.
• [52 mins] Remove shot of nails coming through barrel from victim's point of view inside, with laughing face peering in. Also reduce to minimum sight of bloody body at bottom of hill.
• [60 mins] Reduce length of scene in which Beverley is tied under stone, in particular removing the last close shot of her struggling body as boy kneels by her, and reducing other shots of bound girl struggling to minimum.

All DVD releases are uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in The Big Box: The House of the Devil (2010)

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Soundtracks

Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
Lyrics and Music by Lester Flatt
Performed by The Pleasant Valley Boys

User Reviews

A terrific idea.

I saw this movie while in the Army. It was part of a blood triple header at a drive-in while stationed in Virginia. Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs and another movie I forgot the name were on the bill. I can still remember the ways the characters were killed and all the themes from a State Fair that were used. But my favorite was when they cut the girls thumb off and then they fixed it by chopping her arm off. Then later that night by the campfire while they cooked the arm. They sang "I'm rolling my sweet baby's arm." How can you not like this movie it is almost like a must before seeing Kill Bill part 2. Just my opinion.