Preceded by short: Oh Dem Watermelons (Robert Nelson, USA, 1965). An underground classic originally shown as part of the San Francisco Mime Troupe production, A Minstrel Show, or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel. The definitive film on watermelons. (12 mins, Color, 16mm, From PFA Collection) "Hey, Pa! Slap some more vittles on the grill for me, will ya?" Gore pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis serves up a gruesome twist on the concept of Southern hospitality in the side-splitting Two Thousand Maniacs. Six vacationing Northern swingers pass through the town of Pleasant Valley, whose inhabitants magically return to life every hundred years (à la Brigadoon) to seek revenge on the Union for decimating their town during the Civil War. The vacationers are made guests of honor by the mayor for the town's annual barbecue. But burgers and dogs are not on this menu. Many will still find Two Thousand Maniacs' ghastly graphic effects hard to swallow, but Lewis's ingenious depiction of small-town xenophobia and anti-integration sentiment in the South enables the film to rise above the level of gore for gore's sake. Inadvisable for vegetarians and children under sixteen.-Albert Kilchesty