Cabin Fever 2

There will be many who condemn Cabin Fever 2, and reject it to the shackles of B-movie apathy. And there will be a few who rejoice in this offbeat sequel's deliciousness and shenanigans. I am one of the latter. This horror-comedy is fun down to the last frame. They have the glum awkwardness, impulsive naivety and mixed up confusion of high school teenage angst down perfectly. And as for the semi-redneck cop? He's baaack. And, in case you didn't know, he's seen this kind of thing before (AKA Cabin Fever 1). There is a creative intelligence behind this movie, from the cartoon imbedded beginnings to the masterfully honed caricatures, to the straightforward, impeccable direction. Way better than Carrie (the new one), and supremely more funny. There have been a few Australian movies in the same vein, such as, "Who Loves Mandy Lane?" which is a bit of a sub-genre in the horror-comedy films--a kind of sadistic and gratuitous teenage eighties romp that is coming back round again. I loved cabin fever 2 because it is authentic, and does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, a campy regression into the heart of campy American cinema.

To be honest, I didn't want to review this flick for a number of reasons. One of which being that Cabin Fever is one of my favorite films. Another reason being that Ti West has become one of my favorite genre directors. I remember becoming stoked the day I read that Ti West was taking on a sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, then all the delays and production problems, and reading that West had all but disowned the film, My anticipation turned to disappointment. The end result turned out to be much better than expected, but still felt incomplete.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever spreads the infection from a cabin in the woods, to a nearby high-school prom. With a solid performance by all players involved, some superbly fitting music, and well done gross-out effects, Cabin Fever 2 is a worthy watch for anyone into indie splatter comedies.

One of the biggest problems with Cabin Fever 2 is that Ti West wasn't available for the editing process. Sure, 90 percent of the footage that he shot was used,(and it shows) But if a director isn't there for the editing process of a film, It's not going to turn out the way it was intended. The film feels incomplete, as the producers decided to shoot an entirely different 6 minute ending sequence that feels so out of place, that if it didn't contain one of the early characters, you'd thing you were watching a completely different movie. Just as the film picks up, it's brought to a complete halt by this weird, unsuited ending. The ending actually made me feel as if the film had no ending at all. Giuseppe Andrews puts in an amazing performance as he always does, but his character isn't given the depth that he deserves.

Despite it's problems, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is definitely worth the watch. It has one of the best opening sequences in b-movie history, and you can tell by the cinematography that Ti West not only knows his stuff, but has a deep love for the genre. I wish they would have given him creative freedom, as I feel this would become a cult classic, but as it stands, we're left with a competent, gory, fun romp at the prom, with a bloodbath that makes "Carrie" look like Babe: Pig in the city.

http://liberaldead.blogspot.com

Having seen the first Cabin Fever, which I really liked (it showcased Eli Roths talent for sick and twisted horror comedy, so to speak), I kinda had hoped this could be better. But even before watching the movie, I heard the "director" Ti West, distancing himself from this movie (at a Festival, where I didn't have another option/movie to choose from, that's why I chose to watch this anyway, despite the warning)!!!

He didn't like the movie and he didn't cut it together (there are also some additional scenes shot and edited into the movie, especially the ending) and he also said, that people might like it or hate it, but either way, he is not responsible for what people will think of the movie ...

Having said that, I for once thought it was dreadful. Almost every "funny" line doesn't work, the chemistry between the two best friends is off, not to mention that the American Pie style thing just doesn't work. Unfortunately the main character isn't as good in his role as he could have been (you might have seen him in "Dead Girl" where he is phenomenal). There is also a side story that is really bad (it's supposed to be funny, but it just isn't).

Some gory moments and a few actually not that bad one liners can't save this mess of a movie. There are movies out there, that are worse, but this still has got quite a few things wrong. If you want to see a good Ti West movie, watch his House of the Devil instead ...

...I'm a gorehound!

Look...it's pretty obvious after watching part 2 that Ti West had multiple options:

• follow Roth's vision and develop a decent movie, or
• push the boundaries and make a grotesque, blood-riddled gore circus.

He very much went for the latter. Indeed, many of the reviews here aren't wrong. What makes the difference for me is that in my opinion, TW did what he did intentionally, passing on the the opportunity to craft a fully cohesive part 2 in exchange for putting out the most vile and disgusting sequel he could, with the money he had. What does that mean? Well,

• the acting is not superb but it's at least average,
• the script is likely the least developed part of the flick
• you get EXACTLY what he intended, which is likely why the ending is what it is, and the entire movie is barely more than 80 minutes.

Look...I could be wrong, but the purpose of CF2 is it not to take a prestigious ranking in the lexicon of horror cinema. It's GORE! There's really no other reason for its pervasive and continuous use and lack of other characteristics. That being the case, I enjoyed it! I didn't pick at the myriad of plot holes or script issues, or logically false issue that popped up, but enjoyed it for what it is...or a gorefest. Granted, I would have liked a better all around movie, but not at the expense of what he put out. There's just not enough straight-up gore flicks anymore, so I appreciated the graphic nature of the film.

It is worth noting that the fx are very well done. All the gore is done by way of practical fx, which is preferable to CGI. The largest part of the budget obviously went to the fx and it is noticeable.

All these meanderings are just my opinion, which means zilch, but for my purposes, being the gorehound I am, I enjoyed the flick. It's certainly not for the squeamish.

Well the body horror was on point!

So many gross moments of gore and pus and squelchy noises and blood and oozing wounds and a punchbowl of urine... not really sure what else you could want in a Cabin Fever movie... Well maybe less boils and pustules on the very few Norks we get to see.

Funny, and gross.. Good fun for the whole family.