The 1980’s will always hold a special place in my black heart as the span of time that would shape for me for the rest of my movie-watching life. I coin them my “Wonder Years,”  a period when I truly started to understand what the movie-making  process was about, and became infatuated with finding out who was creating them and what  they were doing next.

Long before the horror scene became corporate and safe, ballsy directors like Sam Raimi, Jim Muro, Peter Jackson, and Stuart Gordon were making outrageous splattertoons that walked a fine line between bad taste and full-blown comedy. It’s a raunchy style of filmmaking that is sorely missed these days – and on a rare occasion - someone comes along and nails the tone perfectly. That person is Ti West (sorta) – and the film is Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever.

Paul (Rider Strong) is barely alive and is suffering from gnarly, oozing lumps all over his body.  He stumbles from the stream to the open road, only to get creamed by a school bus in the bloodiest death I’ve seen all year.

John (Noah Segan) has a huge crush on Cassie (Alexi Wasser) and lacks the confidence to ask her to the Prom. He and his best friend decide to attend solo, not realizing though that the Down Home Water trucking company has already delivered infected water that has started to spread from student to student.The CDC arrives to lockdown the evening’s festivities and wipe out every mongy-looking teenager and faculty member in sight.

I’m not going to sit here and wax philosophical about cinematography, set design, and plot. Let’s get on to the gory goods shall we?

Words cannot describe the amount of blood and bodily fluid that is dispersed in this trashterpiece. There is not a single orifice in the body that doesn’t have some funky drainage coming from it. It’s almost as if Ti West was kicked off the set and replaced by John Waters in heat. There’s an oozing penis, a miscarriage, projectile blood, a hand sawed off at the wrist, sores on a woman’s breast, a girl with braces giving a blowjob, and bloody blisters abound. It’s the largest amount of blood I’ve seen from an American film in eons.

I grooved on all the actors as they played their roles as genuine high-schoolers with aplomb. Guiseppe Andrews returns as Deputy Winston who tries to help the disolving teens to no avail.

Ti West has gone on the record to say he wants nothing to do with the finished product. Somewhere along the way there were creative differences and he parted ways. Too bad really, it’s a throwback to a time when horror was loud and proud, and wasn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers.

I have to give props to the Saturday Morning Cartoon animation that pop up at the beginning and ending credits – it brought back memories of the crude look seen in the wraparound segment of Creepshow 2.

If you take Cabin Fever, Heathers, Carrie, and Prom Night and toss them in a blender, what would be spit out like a loogie is Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever.

Rating:

Tags: Alexi Wasser, Giuseppe Andrews, Larry Fessenden, Lionsgate, Marc Senter, Noah Segan, Rider Strong, Ti West