By Geno McGahee
Robert Englund is a horror icon. Known mostly for his role as Freddy Krueger, Englund has made his mark in the genre. Unlike Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface, Krueger remained played strictly by Englund because they couldn’t replace him. When they finally did in the remake, it didn’t work. Because of his horror status, Englund doesn’t have a hard time getting work, but it’s not always the best quality stuff that he accepts. Lin Shaye has become another horror icon, but has transcended that, making her name in comedy as well. She is probably most known for her work in the INSIDIOUS franchise, but she also made appearances in OUIJA, DEAD END and the original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Her comedy run include BOAT TRIP, KINGPIN and THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.
In the 2005 straight to video horror film “2001 MANIACS”, Englund and Shaye reunite. The story concerns some college friends on vacation in Florida. Anderson (Jay Gillespie), Cory (Matthew Carey) and Nelson (Dylan Edrington) stop at gas station and meet up with two hot chicks, Joey (Maria Malcolm) and Kat (Gina Marie Heekin) and their gay friend, Ricky (Brian Gross). The boys realize their vacation plans can really improve if they meet up with this trio. Anderson gives his number to Joey and the connection is made and when they take a wrong turn and end up in Pleasant Valley, they become stuck together.
Malcolm (Mushond Lee) and his girlfriend, Leah (Bianca Smith) show up next and get a strange reaction from the town folk because of their ethnicities. Malcolm is a black guy and his girlfriend is Chinese and the people in the town are old school southern. Very old school in fact. They are ghosts that died during the civil war, led by Mayor Buckman (Englund). All of the strangers are welcomed to the town warmly, but they soon discover that something isn’t right. It’s apparent rather early.
The group stays at the hotel of Granny Boone (Shaye), and they try to make the best of it, but the judgment of the townies is upon them, especially when Harper (Giuseppe Andrews) comes around. The dark and mysterious Harper quickly gets the attention of the visiting women, but he soon shows his disgust for their lifestyle and it becomes a bloodbath…a CGI bloodbath.
2001 MANIACS has some things going for it. It’s unusual and the visuals are very nice and the acting is very good across the board. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good. As much as Englund and Shaye make the most of it with very good performances, but they just didn’t have anything to work with here. The screenplay was very generic and the CGI was overused and became a distraction.
The cast of 2001 MANIACS deserved a better script. I’ve seen worse films but it’s a shame that this movie had Robert Englund and Lin Shaye and this is what they had to work with.
Rating: 4/10
Geno – I couldn’t agree more. This had some awesome fun potential, but sadly it all went unrealized. I actually did enjoy it, but it could have been so much better.