Sometimes the way to enforce narrative is through distraction. When Lewis directed "Blood Feast," he invented gore as a genre by showing audiences what had always been implied previously. He returned to the genre the next year, intent on bringing audiences more of what they couldn't believe. His script reads like a demented Twilight Zone: 3 couples arrive in a small Southern town to be greeted by the populace and told they are "guests of honor" at the "centennial" of an event that is never elaborated. One by one the guests are killed by their hosts in disgusting and imaginative ways. In some weird way, it touches upon current issues, such as racial tensions in the South and communities that wish the War had not been lost. In his DVD commentary, Lewis observes that the small Florida town he shot this in was thrilled to decorate the town in Confederate flags and participate in the fantasy, even to the point of fake-killing yankees. He says they didn't know how gross the film would be, but they must have seen some of the makeup. There is one scene in which everything stops after the quartering of one of the victims, and one gets the sense it may have been sinking in on the "actors" what they were involved with. Then the Pleasant Valley Boys begin a rousing chorus of "Dixie" on their banjos, and everyone enthusiastically joins in. And how they are killed! Jason Vorhees never in his most imaginative moment never dreamt of such torments. These moments of clever, creative, bizarre, gruesome horrors are punctuation for long periods of seemingly ad-libbed dialogue inside of square frames with no noticeable cinematic qualities. It's a standard not everyone can appreciate, today most people encounter Lewis in a recorded format, and fast-forwarding through the "slow parts" will lessen the impact of the gore-artistry. The distraction element is important for the full experience, but few today have the attention-span to enjoy being lulled into complacency. And besides, most modern fans can't find a date to make out with on the sofa.
Review of Two Thousand Maniacs!
