2001 Maniacs, a remake of the 1964 Herschell Gordon Lewis B-movie Two Thousand Maniacs, premiered in 2005 and was released on DVD in 2007. It stars Robert Englund and Lin Shaye as two of the titular maniacs, who live in Pleasant Valley, GA and terrorize a group of college-aged kids who take a detour and get stranded in the town.
It’s one of my favorite examples of a movie that could have been low-budget unwatchable trash, but because everyone involved was both in on the joke and still delivered their best, it’s a fun little movie with a memorable cast of characters and a variety of over-the-top kill sequences.
It also has one of my favorite locations in a horror movie. The entire movie takes place in the fictional town of Pleasant Valley, which appears to be a fully formed Civil War-era village that has magically sprouted up in the woods of South Georgia. And – it kind of was! It was filmed at Historic Westville, a living history museum full of authentic historic buildings that was located in Lumpkin, GA from 1967 until 2017.
At that time, Westville closed at the Lumpkin location and physically relocated 40 miles away to Columbus, GA. Most of the structures seen in the movie were moved, which is an enormous task I can’t even begin to comprehend!
I always wanted to go down there and see “Pleasant Valley” for myself, but I put it off for for one reason or another and then I was extremely disappointed when I looked it up one day and saw that Westville had closed indefinitely.
Finally, I couldn’t resist anymore and I got in contact with the owners of Westville. I spoke with George Singer, whose family has owned Westville for decades, and he could not have been nicer, agreeing to let me come down and photograph the current Westville property in Columbus.
As of February 2025, Westville is getting ready to reopen to the public in a few months. It’s a great spot for a day trip, just about two hours south of Atlanta. There are multiple historic buildings on the property, and when it’s open there are interpreters giving demonstrations throughout. So if you’re a history fan or a horror fan, check it out!
Movie Location: Pleasant Valley
Filming Location: Historic Westville
3557 S Columbus Rd., Columbus, GA 31903
Date of Photos: February 2025
These photos are of the structures seen in the movie in their current location in Columbus, GA. At the time of filming, these were located 40 miles away in Lumpkin, GA. I still tried my best to match them up to the angles in the movie! I also included some other photos of the structures at Westville.
These shots of the inside really were filmed inside of the house used as Granny Boone’s “hotel”!
I’m actually not 100% sure about this last one of Malcolm and Leah’s bedroom – it only matched up when I horizontally flipped the photo I took. The bed, wall color, and door all seemed like a match to me, so I don’t know if they reversed all the shots of this room or what!
Movie Location: Gas Station
Filming Location: 1717 Broad St., Lumpkin, GA 31815
Date of Photos: April 2021
The building had been partially demolished and was under construction at the time of my visit.
Movie Location: Pleasant Valley Graveyard
Filming Location: North Side Cemetery
33 Granite St., Lumpkin, GA 31815
Date of Photos: April 2021
