Review of Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009) by Steve H — 08 Apr 2010

Better then the usual direct-to-video sequel. The film picks up immediately following the end of the 1st film with sole survivor Paul (Rider Strong, reprising his role) face down in the water, his skin peeling from his body thanks to the skin virus. Like the first film, he attempts to flag someone down. This time it doesn't work so well and the bus blasts right through him causing him to smash into a million pieces. It may be a spoiler, but hey, we're 30 seconds into the film and ya may as well know Sean from "Boy Meets World" isn't in the movie that much.

The accident brings along Deputy Winston (Giuseppe Andrews, "Detroit Rock City") from the first film, who quickly assures the bus driver it's fine and happens all the time. Nothing seems to get Winston down. An opening credits animation sequence shows up how the water he dumped Paul in on the 1st film leads to the drinking supply and the town's bottled water. One shipment of this water is heading for a local high school where the action shifts to 2 friends (IMDB is no help here as I can't recall the character names of the unknown actors) who are gearing up for prom later that night.

Of course, eventually the tainted water gets drank and next thing ya know people are starting to feel sick. But things really get underway as prom begins, people starts bleeding from every orifice, and to make matters work, government officials (seen briefly arriving at the close of the 1st film) are here to contain the disease.

80's horror throwback director Ti West does a pretty decent job here, though it's hard to tell what's "him" and what's "studio". The studio decided to take West's film and completely re-edit it, causing him to actually want his name removed and has since disowned the finished product.

Regardless, the humor, odd casting (Judah Friedlander!), kickass animations, and some serious sick blood & guts (slut sucks dick, dick don't look good later in film including the grossest money shot...into his hand...I've ever seen) keep the movie going throughout. Unfortunately, the characters aren't nearly as memorable as the 1st outing (causing a review where I can't remember a single character name) and it's all pretty basic stuff when we aren't focusing on massive gross outs or at least Deputy Wilson, who's the shining point in the film as he discovers the water's tainted, then attempts to stop further contamination. Nah, he's Wilson ("Have a 40 buddy and chill out"), so instead he just lets someone know the water's bad, then attempts to hightail it the fuck out of town.

There's plenty of laughs & gore to keep horror fans happy, and unlike most sequels, we don't really just rehash the first film, but instead continue the story throughout the following day. And the 80's throwback of campy gore, low brow characters, proms and senseless nudity keeps with the theme, though in some cases "questionable nudity", as in a naked fat chick or a sick, infected penis with a surprise. Overall though, a decent enough continuation of the first film.