Cabin Fever 2

So a bit of background. Before making the great House Of The Devil West signed on to make a direct to Video sequel to Cabin Fever. It did not go well. Lionsgate kicked him off the picture and then extensively reshot and re edited the film. As a final insult, since West was not a member of the DGA he was not even allowed to Alan Smithee himself off the picture. As a result Lionsgate gets to ride the tide of good will From House Of The Devil despite totally fucking over West.

In short Lionsgate now gets to trap curious Horror fans with their usual DTV audience of the un discerning and the masochistic.

It should be noted that unlike many I actually kind of like both the original Cabin Fever and Eli Roth, despite the obvious flaws of both. Cabin Fever will never be a true classic, but it has its charm. It hits just the right note between the denizens of Traumaville and mainstream filmmaking, has a sense of humor but gets down to business when it needs to. Further more, Roth had both the balls to make Fever independently and the brains to get it picked up by a major studio and actually released. Neither are small things. He made and sold a successful R rated horror movie when such a thing was an oxymoron and you have to give him credit for that. It might be true that Roth’s true talents are those of a showman and a self promoter rather then a filmmaker, but neither are gifts that I rank cheaply (Roth may talk a better game then he plays, but its a lot of fun to hear him talk that game).

Despite knowing all this gory back story I couldn’t help but let my curiousity get the better of me. After all House Of The Devil was a tremendous film, and I couldn’t help but think even getting a glimpse of the real West underneath all the crap might be worthwhile. Well you can, but only glimpses. Look there was never going to be a chance that Cabin Fever 2 was going to end up a good movie anyway, but it did end up a pretty bad one. There are glimpses of Ti West here, but for every look at what he does well, there’s an equal but opposite scene where he throws up his hands and goes “Fuck it.” Cabin Fever 2 shows every sign of a film being cut down to the bone

While no one knows just what the nature of the rift between Lionsgate and West is, you might remember that in my House Of The Devil review I praised West as a master of the build up. I’m guessing that Lionsgate never know to be a studio all that enamored of the build up got sick of West trying to make a movie rather then a gag reel and booted him off the picture.

If this was the case, the plan backfired. Without West’s guiding hand Cabin Fever 2 merely feels slow rather then deliberate. Barely clocking in at eighty minutes, and that includes an animated nearly ten minute long credit sequence and a coda set in a strip club that defines superfluous.

The film itself follows the build up to a high school prom that has been infected with the flesh eating virus. We follow the usual gaggle of unfunny fat guys, losers, assholes, and unattainable dream girls, as one by one they start puking blood. Before you can say close up of a pus spewing penis, a government hit squad has sealed off the school and begun to systematically exterminate anyone who tries to escape. (On a side note its interesting how we’ve gone from the fifties’s “The Government Will Help You” to the seventies “The Government will try to help you, but will fuck it up” to now’s “The Government will straight up fucking murder you” in Rec, this and The upcoming remake of The Crazies”)

All the actors are terribly amateurish reading their lines in hurried gasps as if they just memorized them seconds before. Frankly its hard to believe that this kind of amateurishness came from a major studio. Even the DTV branch of said studio. Even though said studio is responsible for Saw… Ok now it makes more sense. But still.

The film’s lone bright spot comes from the previously insufferable Winston, you know the creepy deputy from the original who wanted to party. Though he only managed to be as annoying as sin the original he modulates his tone much better and in the interest of truth in criticism the way he delivered the line “Turn down the Sepultura and listen to me mother fucker.” Genuinely cracked me up. Plus he gets partnered with Larry Fesden (Whose presence only sadly reminded me that I could be watching a Larry Fesden movie) and Mark Boschardt who I’m always happy to see in a movie since it presumably means he can afford to buy food. Rider Strong makes the most out his brief cameo.

And I’m officially out of nice things to say about the movie. If Ti West makes good on his promise and becomes a great horror director (as I suspect he will) Cabin Fever 2 will be a fascinating watch. As is though its just kind of a waste of time.

Side Note:

The film is cheap that it features people drinking Red Oval. For those of you without a Trader Joes nearby, Red Oval is a beer that sells for a whopping total of 2.99 a six pack. It is so bad that the people who drink Trader Joe’s OTHER 2.99 a six pack beer Simpler Times (Like yours truly) look down on it. When you can’t afford Mickey’s or Natural Light for your film your good and fucked.

The House Of The Devil

This Post has been seized by the Glorious People's republic and will be redistributed to The Final Girl's Film Club. All Hail.


House Of The Dead seems to be going through a mini backlash. After the enthusiastic theatrical reviews, and the positively SQUEE! Levels of excitement broadcast when it was announced that the film would be given a VHS release, the DVD reviews of House Of The Devil have been almost cagey. Most review, seem to run along the lines that, while the film has an effective build up it fails to pay off.

I’d respectfully like to ask what these critics are smoking and where can I get some. As House Of The Devil is the most satisfying horror experience I’ve seen in years. It earned its early fame by being a recreation of late seventies early eighties Let’s Scare Jessica To Death/ The Messiah Of Evil style zoom friendly horror. But the amazing thing is you eventually stop thinking of House Of The Devil as a gag and just immediately except it as a film.

In case you haven’t heard House Of The Dead is the story of Sam, who looks so much like a young Margot Kidder that it borders on uncanny. She’s a college student desperate for her own place who takes the job as a babysitter for an odd couple who seem desperate to get out of the house for the night. Things start to get weird when the husband played by Tom Noonan in a sublimely disturbing performance, drops the bombshell that its not a child she’ll be watching but an old woman. Things just get more disturbing from there. Jocelin Donahue is superbly vulnerable as Sam. Noonan gets his freak flag flying, being utterly unsettling by being unfailingly polite, never raising his voice even under the most desperate of circumstances.

But its really director Ti West who emerges as the star of the film.

Most genre filmmakers, not just horror, seem absurdly terrified of the set up. To a certain extent its partially the fault of the splatter punks of the 80’s like Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, and Dan O’ Bannon. But while their gag a minute enthusiasm spoke to their natural energy as filmmakers, the pale copy cats of today, your pre Frozen Adam Greenberg’s, The Sperig Brothers, and Jonathon King; for example seem motivated only by the fact that they are terrified their audience is a bunch of ADD addled idiots who will reach for their Xbox controller once their hands stop shaking from all the Mountain Dew they’ve injested. Its all pay off all the time, but once you get to a certain point all of that pay off becomes meaningless. And what you’re left with is a film that fails to connect on any level and devolves into a meaningless tableu of gore shots and shock moments all in the vague hope that they’ll stumble across something outrageous enough to get someone talking (Hello close up of a sheep biting off some guys cock). And its this calculation that makes the whole endeavor so patently joyless. When Sam Raimi mixed the Three Stooges with the Grand Guignol it felt like the actions of an irrepressible prankster who just couldn’t help himself. When Peter Jackson had his hero crawl through the head of an alien and out his “arse”, or have a bunch of muppets engage in hard drugs and kinky sex, or had his hero crawl his way out of his undead mother’s womb, it felt like the work of a genuine mutant. Now its all calculation.

What I’m trying to say is that the first hour of House Of The Devil only has two or three scares, but Goddamnit they actual do scare, because West not only isn’t afraid of set up, but relishes it. And the impact these scenes have has way more effect then an entire film that’s nothing but a montage of grotesqueries. Perhaps its fitting that West has the best use of a gun I’ve ever seen in a horror movie (Trust me you’ll know it when you see it). Everything about his filmmaking is deliciously perpendicular.

Which isn’t to say he doesn’t know how to pay off either, because trust me, despite popular opinion he does. The end The House Of Devil is a nightmarish phantasmorghipha of nightmarsish pay offs and sinister implications. Yes House Of The Devil is a pastiche. But its one that plays for keeps.

They don’t write em like this anymore.

EDIT

Because I am a huge fucking nerd I couldn't help but buy House Of The Devil on VHS. And though this did lead to Amazon delivering the film two weeks late. It looks awesome.



Here's a closer look



And yes I do own Coven on VHS. Because I'm straight up Gangsta that's why.

Just In Case You Missed It

Just about every pop culture blog in the world has posted this, but just incase you missed it. Look at what they're doing with House Of The Devil. Ti West's tribute to 80's horror just took the ultimate step.




Oh fuck that's cool. Its even got the new release sticker and everything. I'm not ashamed to say that a less then sober trip to amazon has resulted in my purchase of said item.

The price really isn't that bad. Normally collector stuff like this gets jacked up pretty quickly but this is just five bucks more then a regular DVD. And it includes the regular DVD. I regret nothing.

I can't help but feel that horror really lost something with the move to DVD. I try not to be too sentimental about VHS (though I certainly have my collection) because lets face it VHS was a pretty terrible format. And before you cry foul, let me remind you that with VHS everything was released in fool screen. In VHS, dubs where you're only option. Let me remind you that after a certain amount of plays your VHS went "Well fuck it." and just gave up. DVD is the greater good.



But VHS allowed horror a skeavy kind of illicit pleasure. There's was something about watching horror on VHS. There still is.

So consider supporting Ti West's experiment. Even if you need to be a few Red Stripes in to consider it a good idea.