Two Thousand Maniacs is the 1964 follow up to Blood Feast by Herschell Gordon Lewis, ‘the godfather of gore’. One of the earliest examples of hicksploitation films, it was lauded by Lux Interior of The Cramps as an all-time great. It performed well in drive-in theaters despite being heavily cut down from Lewis’ abundant use of bright red blood, cannibalism, and torture with attention to detail and an over the top approach. This formula would establish itself as a classic in horror films to come, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and attracted the admiration of a new generation of filmmakers like John Waters.