Two Thousand Maniacs! (DVD)

Drive-in gore king Herschell Gordon Lewis reached a creative peak with this darkly comic slaughterfest about six vacationing Yanks who fall victim to the cheerfully violent Southern hospitality of Pleasant Valley. Made the guests of honor in the town's centennial celebration, the hapless visitors soon discover that the obligations of their title include being used for the locals' bloody amusements -- which include being rolled downhill in a barrel full of sharp spikes and strapped down beneath a boulder for a hideous variation on the dunking booth and eventually ending up on the spit for the evening's barbecue. It turns out the bloodthirsty rednecks have come back from the dead after 100 years to exact symbolic revenge for the slaughter of the entire town by the Union Army. Filming on a shoestring in St. Cloud, FL, Lewis even contributed his talents to some of the songs (credited to the Pleasant Valley Boys), including "Rebel Yell" (not to be confused with the Billy Idol tune) and a rousing rendition of "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms," which accompanies a shot of a severed arm rotating on a barbecue spit. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Two Thousand Maniacs! (DVD) Image Entertainment Inc Not Rated