Interview – Noah Segan

My favorite horror film of 2009 was Cabin Fever 2:Spring Fever. It took the the best parts of Eli Roth’s first film and cranked it up a few levels and blew away the original in the outrageous viscera department. I had a chance to talk to star Noah Segan about the long-gestating sequel and his ever growing resume of genre films.

Jason Bene: How was it being in a horror film that was really a throwback to 80′s comedies like The Breakfast Club?

Noah Segan: I’m a big fan of the genre of filmmaking, whether it be the horror genre or the teen coming-of-age genre. In my case I am a big fan of the Western. It took a lot of initial work to discern exactly what this was, and then once that short hand was created, which was really held fast and tight by Ti [West]. He knew what he wanted from the get go and we rolled with it. It was fun because who doesn’t love Heathers? Who doesn’t love Teen Wolf? Who doesn’t love John Hughes films? And those we don’t will be very very pleased to see them torn the fuck apart in this movie. So, it’s a little something for everyone.

Jason Bene: What was it like to be back in High School?

Noah Segan: Here’s the thing man. I never went to High School and I have made a few films about High School. I find it really entertaining because I worked so hard to avoid High School as a teenager that I feel like now that it’s my job to go back. It’s kind of a bittersweet scenario. It was definitely like being in High School man; there were cliques, there were cool kids and not-so cool kids. There was all that stuff.

Jason Bene: I love movies that take place at High School and have Proms because I didn’t really do those things. It’s cathartic for me to see these clique-ish people die horrible deaths.

Noah Segan: I was never the nice, sweet, smart guy. I was the misanthropic dummy. Those were my formative years, so this was good to be able to play the guy that I was definitely never.

Jason Bene: What else to you have on your plate right now?

Noah Segan: I just had a film that is the exact opposite of this character come out called Deadgirl. It’s about a 180 from this in terms of tone and character and that sort of thing. I start a couple of films after the new year,  but right now I am supporting Cabin Fever 2 and another film I produced called Someone’s Knocking at the Door that’s doing the festival run right now. It’s a lot of running around at this point. I want to get back on a movie set soon.

Jason Bene: One of our writers did a review of Deadgirl and he really enjoyed it. He gave it 4 out of 5 Stars.

Noah Segan: That’s almost 5! It has a lot of comedic value and alot of subversive, ironic value. Not too disimiliar from Cabin Fever 2. Obviously it doesn’t have such a light tone, it doesn’t have such a surreal tone. Cabin Fever 2 is like a 80′s movie gone horribly wrong and that’s great. Deadgirl has a lot of allegory and a lot of myth and fable to it. That’s credit to a great script and really a credit to allowing a natural performance because it’s not real life at all . Thank God it’s not real life, the shit that goes on that I do in that movie is absolutely horrible, and I’m really glad it’s just in a movie.

Jason Bene: It’s the complete opposite of your character in Cabin Fever 2 who is just this really nice guy.

Noah Segan: Which was a big draw for me to do Cabin Fever 2. I was a little bit anxious about it at first and I had turned the role down. I’m not really a guy who is in a position to turn work down, I’m not like a famous person or nothing. I’m just a normal guy. I do try and choose to do things that I am excited about and that makes sense to me. A first I don’t know if it quite made sense to me in speaking to Ti [West]. He really made it clear what we were trying to do was to make something sophisticated, and even though this character is the nice guy who is the young lead protaganist. There is a little bit of flavor and there is a lot of homage. We would just run around quoting Heathers all day long. To me, that’s a dream job where you can run around quoting Heathers is my kind of job.

Killer Film would like to thank Noah Segan for the interview, and fans can check out Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever on DVD now.