2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams - Unrated Edition (2010 DVD + CD/First Look
Pictures)
Picture: C Sound: D Extras:
B- Film/Soundtrack: D (each)
Having not yet seen Tim Sullivan’s first entry in 2001 Maniacs
territory, I came to this sequel with no preconceived notions of what it
“should” be like. Although fan response certainly seems to weigh in on
the positive side for his earlier effort, throughout the bonus content Mr.
Sullivan stresses that he wasn’t satisfied with the lack of control given him
on that go-round. Happy that he has now been let off the leash, he
insists that this is indeed his vision, and infinitely superior to the earlier
product. I am always pleased to see a director given free reign on a
project such as this, and I begin to watch with a fair amount of
excitement. After all, Bill Moseley and Ogre are starring, and throughout
their varied career paths, I’ve liked much of what they’ve brought to the
table. Sadly, all that awaited me was of rather poor construction, devoid
of the humor or the horror it promised.
It starts off well enough - a bit cheapish, and the sound is of very bad
quality, but there’s some gore early on, and maybe things will pick up… at
least there’s no real cause for complaint yet. The honeymoon period ends
quickly, however, as soon as some quite outdated caricatures out of The
Simple Life and Road Rules territory show up. While reality TV
has sadly not gone away, there isn’t even a corpse left of the these shows to
pick at in 2010, and yet almost all of the jokes contained herein are
derived from them nonetheless. From here on out, it’s just a showcase of
played-out stereotypes ready to get hacked up by the hammy Southerners of the
title.
The lure of boobs, gore and guffaws is at least attempted throughout the
proceedings. The jokes and carnage do fall flat, but fortunately, the
rest of the bargain is upheld nicely. However, unless you are a boy
between the ages of 12 to 14, there is little here to spark excitement in most
viewers.
The special effects in the movie are the products of an extremely low budget,
but while this might spark creative use of the materials on hand in some, here
they have blown all they have in an attempt to be more crude and showy, but
often manage to trail behind efforts seen in some Troma films. One
notable exception is the saw blade scene with Ogre and Christa Campbell - the
cutting effect comes across well, and has a certain amount of charm to it.
Sound quality on this production is likely my largest complaint. It is so
poorly recorded that is pains one to watch the images that accompany it.
It is presented in both 5.1 Dolby Surround sound and 2.0 stereo, though
both tracks are so completely amateur that there is no good word to be
mentioned about them.
The soundtrack, sold separately from the DVD, is an equally dismal
experience. The first 38 tracks offer an array of songs out of the film,
as well as many snippets of the dialogue. A remake of the song “The
South’s Gonna Rise Again” from H.G. Lewis’s original 2,000 Maniacs film is a
rather boring take on the original, which seemed to have more humor and zest in
the vocalization of it. Hereafter, it only gets worse, as the producers
of the film saw fit to not only venture North to kill some Yankees, but to also
boldly go into new musical genres… and kill them as well.
The listener is treated to a selection of outdated rock and metal as well as
some awkwardly placed pop, rap and techno. There’s even a knockoff of the
Pink song “So What”, recorded as “Nottie Hottie”, and it manages to grate on
the ear even more than her original did. Tracks 39 to 49 comprise the
score of the film, and it is serviceable enough - at the very least it makes a
more pleasurable listening experience than the hodgepodge of noise that precedes
it.
Video quality for the
feature is on par for what seems to be a digital production, and I have no
major complaints about it. There are several night scenes that showcase a
lot of glare, but this may have been an intentional look and it is forgivable.
Here’s hoping that a third entry in the series might be able to win back the
devotees of the first film. Should that not come to fruition, I do hold
out hope that Moseley and Ogre continue to work together, as their efforts in
the film Repo: The Genetic Opera were genuinely good. As for this
film, I wouldn’t even recommend a rental.
- David Milchick
