CabinFever2

Best of the New Releases: Cabin Fever 2
I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually kind of dug Cabin Fever 2 (my review). Let's be clear, though. It is a messy, messy, mess of a movie mess sewn together in crude and thoughtless ways, but I kind of admire it in a strange, I know I shouldn't fashion. I think Gilchrist's guest review earlier today really sold how strong Ti West contributions were, even if they were Frankensteined in the final product.

I wouldn't particularly recommend CF2 to anyone, per se, but the only people I'd actively warn away from its crude, fluid-loving ways are those who'd look down on a straight-to-video Cabin Fever sequel in the first place.

By Todd Gilchrist

The end of Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is pretty much a disaster, but if you can get there from the beginning of the film you may not mind. Ti West's disowned sequel to Eli Roth's 2002 cult movie indisputably falls apart in its final scenes, but the writer-director of The House of the Devil has an unerring ear for naturalism, even when firmly ensconced in teen comedy territory, and makes the most of material that otherwise might not deserve such attention to detail. All of which means that this may not be the best follow-up for new fans of the filmmaker, but Cabin Fever 2 is far from the "complete disaster" status that for three years made it the black sheep of Lionsgate's often-lackluster catalogue.

The film stars Noah Segan (The Brothers Bloom) as John, a high school senior who wants to ask his friend Cassie (Alexi Wasser) to the prom but is paralyzed by the prospect of a beatdown by her psycho sometime-ex-boyfriend Marc (Marc Senter). His buddy Alex (Rusty Kelley) manages to score himself a date after comforting a forlorn stripper named Liz (Regan Deal), but their plans for a perfect night are dashed when the entire populace of the school succumbs to a bizarre, deadly disease. Fleeing from military forces determined to contain the outbreak, not mention decaying, highly-contagious members of their graduating class, John, Cassie and Alex fight to escape their school before flying bullets – or worse yet, blood – prevent them from seeing the next morning.

The crew over at Shock Till You Drop has an exclusive first look at Ti West's Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever trailer. You can check out the trailer after the jump. The film goes straight to DVD and Blu-Ray February 16, 2010. Features include an audio commentary, a 'Making of' feature and a gag reel. There will be a rated and unrated version of the movie available, which according to our Peter Hall has plenty of gross-out gore.

The road to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever sequel has been a long one for director Ti West (The House of the Devil) who has not been shy about sharing his dissatisfaction for the version that Lionsgate will be releasing. He has described his experience with the sequel as mixed but mostly negative, due to post-production issues he had with the re-edit of his cut of the film. West dropped out of the process and wanted to slap the Directors Guild of America pseudonym 'Alan Smithee' in the studio's face but the name has been discontinued since 2000.

Cabin Fever 2 takes the flesh-eating virus from the first film out of the woods and into a high school prom. I haven't seen the film yet but the trailer reminds me of a 1980's teen sex farce. And there's tons of blood. Rider Strong and Giuseppe Andrews return for the sequel in addition to Noah Segan, Alexander Isaiah Thomas, and Alexi Wasser. Hit the jump for prom happy gore.

Did you like Cabin Fever? It's ok, you can be honest. It may not have been the greatest movie in the world, but it was a solid debut from the now notorious "Bear Jew" Eli Roth, and to be honest, it was just a damned fun movie. Overflowing with gore, witty one-liners and Cerina Vincent naked, Cabin Fever has become my "background noise" movie, and I am proud to say I genuinely like the film.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever....eh, not so much.

The sequel, written and directed by Ti West has a sordid past, and West isn't too proud of it. Shock Till You Drop scored an exclusive interview with West after a screening of his soon-to-be-released 80s throwback The House of the Devil, and revealed some very interesting information concerning the controversial release of the follow-up to Eli Roth's gore-infused horror/comedy. After editing his cut of the film, Lionsgate wanted to take the film in a new direction, and West would have none of that. As a result, he disowned the film, and did what he could to get his name taken off the final product.

"I very much wanted the Alan Smithee credit - that would have been a silver lining to me. I would have been more than happy to have promoted the film if I had had Alan Smithee on it. They said no; I'm not DGA, so I couldn't do it. And the DGA doesn't do Alan Smithee anymore, anyway, so it was a bummer situation with that. I really do not feel like it's my film. That was a film that was really made by a bunch of other people on that production. And it's unfortunate."

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever has smegma in it. That's all you need to know about it to know whether or not you're going to like it. No one puts smegma into a movie because it's an utterly disgusting body secretion. But not only does Cabin Fever 2 features a close up shot of a penis oozing blood-tinged white pus, that shot is arguably not the most offensive aspect of the movie. And yet I was oddly captivated by the disastrous sequel, which is a rarity for a movie I can summon no excuses for.

It's fitting that Cabin Fever 2 had it's North American premiere at the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin, TX, as it's likely to play there again in 10 years. See, the Drafthouse has a weekly event called Weird Wednesday that shows off film oddities from all over the world, and believe me, Cabin Fever 2 is an oddity. It's a gross-out, splatter-happy, straight-to-video worthy sequel to a film that was itself a gross-out and splatter-happy offering, albeit one that was worthy of a theatrical release. But calling it an oddity is not necessarily a condemnation on my end.

We know that Ti West has been working away on a Cabin Fever sequel for quite a while now -- the first time we had production photos to show for it was back in early 2007 -- and we'd heard rumblings that perhaps Lionsgate was looking to re-cut what West had already assembled, but other than rumors, official news was sparse.

Recently, though, West spoke up at a London Frightfest Q&A for his latest film, the well-received-so-far The House of the Devil, and said that he wants nothing to do with the current cut from the studio, which removes his own idiosyncrasies such as star- and heart-shaped wipes (really?) that made CF2 more comparable to a John Waters or Todd Solondz film than Eli Roth's original (all things that he did mention in an interview with Spout's Karina Longworth earlier this year, a piece which does go into a helpful amount of detail about both this dilemma and an ordeal at Tribeca regarding House).

While West's vision seems to have been re-instated in time for House's fall release, and as much as I can understand any director wanting to make each movie his own, wouldn't it stand to reason that making a Cabin Fever sequel on the straight-and-narrow would be worth getting a shot to then follow up with something more unique and individual to add to the Lionsgate slate?

That particular bridge may be burned by now, but hopefully Ti's next project sees a lot less interference and a little more support wherever it may land, regardless of how many heart wipes it has...

[Thanks to Shock for bringing this to our attention.]