2001 Maniacs (2004) 8/10

Starring : Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Giuseppe Andrews, Jay Gillespie, Marla Malcolm, Dylan Edrington, Matthew Carey, Gina Marie Heekin
Director : Tim Sullivan
Running Time : 85 mins

A group of college students heading for Daytona beach find themselves guests in the small town of Pleasant Valley after following a series of phoney detour signs. The inhabitants seem friendly enough, and even invite them to their annual barbecue, but it isn’t long before the kids start to question the motives of the towns folk, especially when some of them start to disappear.

I thought that this was so over the top, you just had to laugh along with it. Clearly this was designed as a comedy horror and not to be taken seriously, but some of the deaths were pretty gruesome and gratuitous. Englund is brilliant as Mayor Buckman, and the slow pacing of the horror makes it all the more scary. Yet funny.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hatchet