Tim Sullivan

(In French, On Cable TV, March 2022) In watching a horror sequel, it’s useless to cheer for the good guys when the ones making an encore appearance are the murderous hillbillies. It’s even more useless when it’s supposed to be a comedy film, albeit of the mean-spirited sadistic kind that makes you wonder if the filmmakers were all psychopaths. As 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams begins (as a sequel to the original 2001 Maniacs, which I’m unlikely to see any time soon.), we’re quickly brought up to speed on the antics of the Pleasant Valley folks, plain salt-of-the-earth Southern type with a fondness for killing and eating Yankees. As the film begins, the heat of the inevitable investigation gets dangerous enough that they decide to take their cannibalistic show on the road, where they encounter a bunch of reality-TV Hollywood types that make excellent appetizer, main course and desert. (The two blondes are meant to be caricatures of Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson, making us feel some sympathy for them.)  The “comedy” moniker of the film is loose—taking the form of grand-guignol black humour, cheap one-liners and very occasional expectation-flipping that usually leads to more over-the-top gory kills. No, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams is not recommended. It’s terrible even by the loose standards of coarse dark horror comedies, and is more liable to make you want to take a purifying shower than entertain you. Lin Shaye doesn’t exactly cover herself with greatness in appearing here, and neither does writer-director Tim Sullivan in handling some amateurish staging, acting and plotting. Even the nudity and sex scenes aren’t nearly enough to redeem this one, and that’s saying something.