Horror-A-Day: Cabin Fever 2 - Spring Fever

The month is just about over and my thoughts are turning towards future marathons. I am not sure I will do another month long for awhile, but perhaps a run of a film and its sequels or other genre related fare. In any case, I decided to go a bit more recent with one of my final choices. My last few films have not exactly been recent releases, unless you count that remix of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Well, I just found myself wanting for something of a more recent vintage and style, be that for better or worse. I kind of wanted something perhaps a bit silly and definitely a bit bloody. I think I succeeded.



In 2002 Eli Roth appeared on the scene, ushered into the limelight by Quentin Tarantino with his debut feature Cabin Fever. There is a movie that was funny, bloody, bizarre, and fun. It may not exactly be a classic, but it is a nice tribute to the Raimi-style cabin in the woods bloody movie, with the added bonus of a disease. Well, it would seem to be the perfect movie to make a sequel to and that is exactly what happened, but it had something of a bumpy production.

Before the history, let's see what we have on the screen. The disease of the first film is spread to a neighboring high school through bottle water. The lake from the first film is used by a popular water company. This is our diseased vehicle. Now that we know how the disease gets there, the movie introduces us to a host of teen cliches as they get ready for the prom.

The kids all end up at the school dance and this is where the blood hits the fan. We are delivered all manner of bodily floods, discharges, and disintegrations. It is a bloody mess, that's what it is. It is a movie that maintains its campy nature with a cast that is down for the game and a willingness to throw out all manner of gross stuff in the name of entertainment. Plenty of decisions to save themselves or help their friends litter the film.

Cabin Fever 2 is a trifle of a movie, forgettable and not exactly good. With that said, it is not a terrible film either. It is definitely campy, but it maintains its tone and definitely throws in some bloody goodness. Still, the characters are generally uninteresting and it takes a touch too long to get to the craziness, and for a movie that runs less than 90-minutes, well...

This movie was directed by Ti West and has since been disowned by him. I don't know why, I guess he really didn't like his work on it. It is my understanding that despite some reshoots, the vast majority of the footage is his. Anyway, he is a talented director who gave us the excellent throwback movie House of the Devil. I have read that the producers wanted to change the end (and apparently did) and put themselves in a cameo bit.

Not a great movie, but one that is certainly watchable and even fun under the right circumstances. Give it a shot, you may like some of it.