Hey Folks, Harry here with that salty seaman, junior shark cleaner and tuna man... QUINT... he's knuckle deep in fresh tuna and shucking his steaks like in Amsterdam... and like usual, he's doing a great job giving us a peek at that which others dare not reveal.... Not only is he looking at 2001 MANIACS, but he also takes a look at its source material.... 2000 MANIACS. Now, I, recently did a radio broadcast with one of this film's producers.. Stephen Nemeth, who mentioned that 2001 MANIACS would be the start of a trilogy... that they would be shooting all 3 at the same time... and I believe they'll be shooting on Digtal SOny Cams... we'll see. Saving all that money for the gore. Let's hope...
Ahoy, ahoy, my little sea squirts! Aye, the ol'salty seaman here once more. As you may have noticed, yesterday I let you guys in on George A. Romero's first draft of Resident Evil. I want to start off by saying thanks to all who wrote in. It's appreciated.
When I woke up this morning, err... afternoon, I realized I hadn't come home from sea last night. That shark huntin' wore me out, I guess. I musta passed out in the Orca's cabin. I stretch, wince at the sunlight pouring through the windows and go out to check my fishin' lines. There, plain as day, sitting on my favorite fishin' chair is another script. It has a red cover with a yellow stick-it note on it, covering up the title. That wasn't here last night! I look around. There's nothing but sea, sky and some gulls in sight. I snatch up the script and read the note:
"To the Crusty Seaman-
Keep up the good work.
Enjoy.
-A Friend."
I tear the note off and see the title of the script. 2001 Maniacs by Chris Kobin and Tim Sullivan. Based on the screenplay "2000 Maniacs" by Herschell Gordon Lewis. First Draft 5/2000
Cool. Those of you who read my Resident Evil write-up might remember I mentioned watching a few H.G. Lewis movies over the weekend. I saw Wizard of Gore at the Alamo Drafthouse's Splatterbowl. I made the mistake of telling some of the hardcore geeks there that I hadn't seen 2000 Maniacs. They quite forcefully insisted I see it. "Oh, man! When you see some hillbilly kid hanging a cat in the opening credits... wow... you're going to love it!" So, I did. Now I have the script for the remake/sequel. What a latice of coincidensef! A total plate of shrimp.
I baited up some more lines then took the script inside the Orca's cabin. I grabbed a bottle of my own homemade elixur. Pretty good stuff. I made my usual toast to the fabulous bow-legged women and cracked the script open.
I had some doubts going in. H.G. Lewis' film is a great concept, but not exactly executed terrifically. I wasn't sure that Kobin and Sullivan would be able to keep the cool concept and imaginative gore of the original film without the early '60s corniness. With a tad bit of trepidation I started in.
That trepidation was completely unfounded. Kobin and Sullivan weave a story that mirrors the original film, but is an almost completely different story. They take the best parts from the original film (the inventive murders, mostly) but set them in the here and now with a new breed of characters.
How about a little run down of the two films for ya'? I'll hold back the big spoilers from 2001 Maniacs, but those not familiar with the original film, 2000 Maniacs, who don't want to know much about it... well, watch out. I'll be giving a fairly detailed look at the original film.
2000 Maniacs-
Set in 1963, it's about a group of 6 people, 4 wildcats in a silver convertable and our 2 heroes, a blonde and the hitchiker she picked up, a male teacher, in a red convertable. They all get tricked into driving into the strangely dated southern town of Pleasant Valley, Georgia where they are immediatly surrounded by townspeople waiving rebel flags and singing a strange song about how the South Will Rise Again. The Yanks are told by the portly Mayor Buckman that they are the honored guests of the town's Centenial.
They are put up in a hotel, given free food and are waited on hand and foot. You know, given a generous dose of good ol' southern hospitality. Needless to say, the town of Pleasant Valley, pop. 2000, isn't your ordinary Southern Town. The Wildcats start dissapearing. One ends up as the main course of the BBQ, one is rolled down a hill in a barrel full of nails, one has all his limbs ripped out of his sockets and one is crushed by a boulder. All part of this town's celebration.
The teacher and the blonde become wise to the townspeople's plans and try to escape. They trick little Billy, the hillbilly boy from the opening credits sequence that hangs the cat, into showing them where their car is. They end up escaping the town by the skin of their necks. They find the nearest state trooper office and convince the officer to occampny them back, but there is nothing there. There's a plaque that says the town was wiped out by Union soldiers on that date in 1863.
2001 Maniacs-
We start with 4 University of Connecticut boys entering summer break. They're taking a road trip to the sunny beaches of Ft. Lauderdale for some boozing, snoozing and fucking. At a gas station,they run into a group in a silver Mustang, 3 hot chicks and one guy. Some flirting goes on.
They take off again, only to follow detour signs into a town called Pleasant Valley, pop. 2001. Shortly afterwards, the hotties in the silver Mustang join them. Mayor Buckman tells them they are guests of honor at Pleasant Valley's yearly celebration. Then, two unexpected guests show up. Two motorcyclists. One a black man named Malcolm and the other his Asian girlfriend, Leah.
They're put up, all expenses paid, etc. Lots of sex goes on in both the three different Yankee groups and between the Yanks and the Hillbillies. The Yanks end up getting taken out one by one.
Kobin and Sullivan bring back our favorite gore moments from the original film and add some new ones. They put a twist on the last 20 pages, though. So, those familiar with the original film expect a surprise.
As you can see, the plot mirrors the original, but with a different set of characters. These characters are much more interesting and put in more humorous situations. The inclusion of a black man, an asian woman and a homosexual character creates some hilarious conflicts with the townsfolk.
Here's a small taste:
INT. GRANNY BOONE'S HOTEL/LOBBY - DAY
The eight guests enter a very old fashioned rickety hotel lobby. Things are looking up. There's counters filled with great southern delights; fried chicken; peach cobbler, fresh watermellon.
A BELL HOP hands a big slice to Malcolm.
Malcolm
I don't think so, son.
and then there's this little snippet from about 3 pages futher on.
... Malcolm and Leah watch as two Bell Hops carry in their helmets and place them on the antique dresser.
BELL HOP 1
Any more luggage, boy?
MALCOLM
Boy?! You muthafuckas ever hear of the civil
rights movement?
BELL HOP 2
Is that anything like a bowel movement?
See! The ignorance of these people is hilarious. The script is a fast, fun read. It's much, much, much better paced than Lewis' original film. It has a very fun combination of gore, humor, sex, drugs and creepiness.
That brings us to some of the new Hillbilly characters. There are a handful, but my favorite, by far, is the Granny Boone character. She owns the town's hotel and goddamnit... I just love it when old people curse. For some reason it tickles my funny bone. Cannibalistic old people are even funnier. Not only does she eat people, but she also leads the funniest hoe down I've ever read.
This script had me in tears. It gets that funny. There are small references to the original film, a wink-wink for the fans. There's also a reference to Deliverance and, of all things, South Park. I know it sounds... well, off, but that's the beauty of the script.
Kobin and Sullivan knew they couldn't play this seriously, like H.G. Lewis did. They decided to get their laughs intentionally and it works marvelously. On the page, that is. God knows with the wrong delivery a good amount of the gags in the film will fall flat. But that's the risk, isn't it? If you have a great joke and someone delivers it poorly it's a disaster. BUT if someone delivers it terrifically... well, then it could be a classic joke.
I hear this film is going to be the first part to a trilogy of films. From what I understand, these films are all going to be shot low budget (of course) on digital. If I remember correctly, the plan is to shoot them all at once, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
I don't know if this film will have distribution theatrically, but with material like this, it'll get out there somehow. Maybe direct to video will be the only option, but I hope this makes the silver screen.
Does this have cult potential? Oh, most definately. Could it suck? Possibly, but then again, in the wrong hands, anything can suck. Could it rule? Possibly. It has soared above the first few hurdles, the story and characters. It still has some more to bound over before reaching that bright red ribbon, though.
I expect the film to be good since it's being kept low budget, which should mean Kobin and Sullivan have a lot more control over the film than they would if a big studio was funding it. They obviously have a love of the original material, but they don't love it blindly. They recognize its faults and thus don't repeat the same mistakes the first film did.
I've been saying for quite some time now that remakes are good things. The powers that be just tend to remake the wrong movies. There is no point in remaking brilliant films... most of the time. Sometimes updating a classic can work if the filmmakers can create the same feel of the original without repeating what has already been done. See John Carpenter's The Thing. Then there are the pointless remakes where nothing is added and updating it doesn't make anything better, just takes away from the original. See Gus Van Sant's Psycho.
But, remaking a film that failed on some levels while succeeding greatly on others is a great idea. Remaking flawed films is the best way to go, in my opinion. It gives the filmmakers a chance to fix the small stuff that the previous filmmakers couldn't. This is precisely what 2001 Maniacs is. A remake to a flawed film that fixes the flaws of the original, but keeps the same feel as the first film.
I hope to hear more about this project in the near future. Take it from me, this is one to keep an eye out for.
The sea's gentle rocking is lulling me into an early nap. It's time for me to bid you a farewell and adieu.
-Quint
