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[2001 Maniacs:Field Of Screams]
Plot:After the sheriff refuses to cover up any further for the maniacs causing all the missing persons in the area, they're forced to hit the road in what's dubbed the "Pleasant Valley Traveling Road Show," where the maniacs head across country in hopes of gathering more victims. We'll follow a young TV crew called the "Road Rascals" as they find themselves mixed up with another one of the maniacs' deadly festivals.
Cast:Bill Moseley,
Christa Campbell,
Tony Todd,
Courtney Peldon,
Ashley Peldon,
Adam Robitel,
Ryan Fleming,
Jay Gillespie,
Dylan Edrington,
Amy Baniecki.
My Thoughts:Decent second outing.
Review:As a person who wasn't really big on "2001 Maniacs", Tim Sullivan's film from about five years ago, mostly because I thought it dabbled too much in toilet humor...I wasn't very high on the idea of a sequel. But they made one anyways, and my feeling, well...the second outing wasn't too shabby. This film picks up right where part one left off, absent the hilarious ending with Hucklebilly and all. This time around, the maniacs are out of Northern Folk, to terrorize and murder.
And much to their dismay, they learn that the local lawman, who usually "Detours" all of the Northerners right into the clutches of the maniacs crazy, murderous festivals, has decided to cut ties with the ghostly undead townsfolk of Pleasant Valley. It seems the FEDS have been asking questions about all of the disappearances in the area, and are getting more and more suspicious by the second. So the local cop is kidnapped by the maniacs, and forced to explain to them why he's apparently sold them out.
After he disagrees to send anymore people their way, they dispose of him in their usual fashion. And thus, they decide to take their "show"...on the road. In the midst of all of this, a group of young people are filming a "The Simple Life"-esque reality show somewhere in the south, and soon run into the maniacs, as they've now changed their act to a traveling road show. But this show isn't gonna be over, until every one of the stars involved are dead. And if these youngsters don't catch on quick, they might end up getting the "axe."
One thing that can be said for the sequel is it has better characters than part 1. On the good guys side of things that is. The teens in part one were annoying and obnoxious, but this group (save the two annoying Paris Hilton-inspired blonds), are a lot more likeable. And quite diverse, as we get a Brit, a Jewish guy, a black girl, an El Salvadorian guy, and one guy who looks like an extra from MTV's "The Jersey Shore". Although I doubt that was intentional because this film was shot a little bit before "Jersey Shore" even debuted on MTV.
So chalk that character up to sheer irony I guess. Anyways, the group doesn't really get along for various reasons, but the Brit, who's the Producer of the show, is hell-bent on keeping the cast of her reality show together, and from killing each other before they've got everything filmed and edited. When they run acorss the maniacs, Buckman (Moseley), Granny (Shaye), The Milk Maiden (Campbell), and the rest of the gang, the producer lady sees them as the perfect speciment for a real culture-clash portion of the show.
The Maniacs however, have "other", more sinister ideas. The Maniacs this time around are joined by a few new faces, a Chinese girl with claws on her fingers, and Crow, a muscle-bound black guy. And with these two in the mix, enter in the satirical racial jokes which are thrown about from time to time in the film. Although, this movie doesn't nearly play around with the racial stuff as heavily as part one did. In fact, when handling it, it's more mature and clear on it's motives as humor rather than blatantly offensive scenes. Moseley takes over quite well for Englund as Mayor Buckman.
He's a lot more jovial than Englund's version though. Which is for better or for worse, depending on who you are and whether you're a Moseley fan or not. But one thing that suffers heavily in this film, are the kills. Which aren't nearly as unique or disturbing as "2001 Maniacs" deaths. This time around, they are more bland, lacking in creativity, not filmed as well as they could've been, and are very small in number. Nor does the movie have those scenes where they give each maniac a separate death to spring upon someone, using their particular "method" or "methods", which is what made part one work in some aspects.
But as far as what the film does well, it atleast manages to keep the extreme stupidity from creeping into things. One would wonder why these young people would even remain in the presence of the Maniacs, but the plot point that they're filming a reality show, and are on the road, so they can't just up and leave, makes the film work. And was a good idea instead of the usual slasher movie excuses of "the cellphones aren't working", or "we're just too high and busy having sex to bother."
By act three, the movie has broken down into those every-man/woman-for-themselves scenarios, and that's when things really begin to get bloody. And quite humorous in a few areas. But this is kind of soured on by an ending which takes the proverbial "easy way out". "2001 Maniacs:Field Of Screams" isn't as strong on the horror side as the first movie, but with a stronger script and more tolerable characters, it atleast proves to...in that aspect, be superior to it's predecessor.
Positives:The teens/potential victims (with the exception of the two blonds patterned after Paris Hilton), are more tolerable this time around. The story is stornger, more fluid, and runs more smoothly. One death in particular involving a buzzsaw was quite ghastly.
Negatives:Beyond one or two kills, the other deaths lacked impact and some, took the easy way out. Also the final scene felt a tad bit cheap.
Overall:Three out of four stars.
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