2000 Maniacs/2001 Maniacs

How far have we come in 40 years? What makes a good remake? Can you call someone being ripped apart by four horses going in four different directions entertainment?
Herschell Gordon Lewis' gore films aren't particularly good, but they're great examples of exactly what it says on the tin. If you know his name, you know what to expect.
Brought to my attention as one of the so-called worst directors of all time by the Medveds in The Golden Turkey Awards, then given tantalising glimpses of his actual films (along with those of Russ Meyer and John Waters) by Jonathan Ross in his Channel 4 series The Incredibly Strange Film Show, I didn't think I'd ever get to see any of his pictures, but the video and then DVD revolution changed things completely.
I sat through dodgy tapes of the pioneering Blood Feast, followed by The Wizard Of Gore and The Gore-Gore Girls. I later obtained official 18 certificate vids of She-Devils On Wheels and 2,000 Maniacs - the latter being completely shorn of what I expected to see - so last night's screening of the DVD was the first time I'd seen the thing in its entirety.
Terrible sound and unconvincing acting couldn't detract from the prurient tension in awaiting the gore scenes. And the whole thing had a kind of terrible inevitability about it, the ending even adding a delightful supernatural touch (and Brigadoon comparisons). The blood letting seems rather odd - tame by today's standards but, taking into account when it was made, at the same time excessive. Made in 1964, reticent about the race angle (apart from possibly the children's little string nooses), the Southern resentment of the North put into perspective by the Civil War backstory. Ill-executed (sorry) but somehow more interesting than you'd think.
In fact, probably a better film to remake than the so-called classics, be they Frankenstein and Dracula, or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hallowe'en or A Nightmare On Elm Street.
A bad start for 2001 Maniacs, foregrounding the War Between The States during the credits, and then into the inevitable college kids stupidity. Still, it'll be enjoyable watching these dickheads get theirs, more so than the innocuous twenty-somethings of the original.
Once our Spring Breakers head into Pleasant Valley, things begin to pick up - Deliverance has been mentioned, there were a couple of nods to TCM, and then there's Mayor Buckland (played by a hamming Robert Englund) complete with Stars and Bars eyepatch. There's the expected profanity and sex absent from the previous entry, and race issues are brought up, albeit in a kind of deliberately politically incorrect way,
Despite the modernity, even 2001 can't help dragging a bit in places, but it's a lot of fun, acknowledging HGL's work and taking it further. Heck, there's even a Gone With The Wind reference.
The two films compliment one another - one's enjoyment of 2001 enhanced by knowledge of 2000. Some of the later film actually makes the earlier one look better.