Getting into the Halloween spirit, I'm giving the genre a drive around the block and couldn't help but stop this little gem about 25min into it to lookNsee what the reviews were (just in case I'm a horror nube and don't know WTH I'm lookin' at.)
Nope.
I can still spot shite when I see it.

One of the best comprehensive reviews of the product & DVD
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/40921/cabin-fever-2/
Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever was filmed in 2007, and sat on the shelf at Lionsgate for years, with little to no word seeping through about the status of the project until 2009, when co-writer/director Ti West finally spoke up, saying the producers had taken the film away from him and had edited it themselves. He said that he not only had no idea what state the film was in anymore, but that he had essentially disowned it several months previous, even though he wasn't allowed to actually take his name off the film and rebrand it an Alan Smithee* film, much to his disappointment.
* Professional trick of the trade < wink! >

Yeah.
There's a good reason why the director, Ti West, wanted to sub his pseudonym, wash his hands of this and slink away with the ability to cop "plausible deniability".
Shame.
I understand the original is pretty well regarded.
(Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives CABIN FEVER film a score of 63%, versus CF2:Spring Fever approval rating is at this point N/A, but this film has received a number of negative reviews from viewers.)

$1.5M budget
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/CabinFever.php
$0.47M DVD sales
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2010/0CBF2.php
Has yet to break the 1/3 point, but there's always hope.
Hmm...
(Not to rub CF2:SF's nose in it, but CF, the original, same budget, grossed $30.5M! Ouch!)

Ti West, Director (legally)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1488800/

Joshua Malkin, Screenwriter(such that it is)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539801/

Informative Article -  Producer, Cast Talk Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever  
http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=12254
Made for theatrical release, Spring Fever instead will go direct to DVD. Moews claims it's too expensive to release Spring Fever in this economic climate.

"Every film is planned for theatrical release if it can be, but I think the market is very different than it was when we released Cabin Fever," Moews explains. "The Burrowers, Midnight Meat Train - all these films are not theatrically released and it's no testament as to whether or not they deserved to be shown in theaters. It's more of a financial thing at this point."

"It takes a lot more [print and advertising] money, and my responsibility is to protect the investor. Who wants to sit behind a multi-million dollar ad campaign? They'll never recoup their money in that market unless you have a huge star."

Quoted from RayW Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever was filmed in 2007, and sat on the shelf at Lionsgate for years, with little to no word seeping through about the status of the project until 2009, when co-writer/director Ti West finally spoke up, saying the producers had taken the film away from him and had edited it themselves. He said that he not only had no idea what state the film was in anymore, but that he had essentially disowned it several months previous, even though he wasn't allowed to actually take his name off the film and rebrand it an Alan Smithee* film, much to his disappointment. * Professional trick of the trade < wink! >

Did he start blabbing about the producers before or after they denied him the Alan Smithee credit? If before, what a bonehead. Not only is it in DGA rules for directors who waive credit not to pan the film or its producers, it's just common sense. If after, I'd be curious as to why they denied him the credit. Any idea?

Quoted from RayW Not to rub CF2:SF's nose in it, but CF, the original, same budget, grossed $30.5M! Ouch!

Theatrical release by Lions Gate Films, maybe?

Quoted from RayW "Every film is planned for theatrical release if it can be, but I think the market is very different than it was when we released Cabin Fever," Moews explains. "The Burrowers, Midnight Meat Train - all these films are not theatrically released and it's no testament as to whether or not they deserved to be shown in theaters. It's more of a financial thing at this point." "It takes a lot more [print and advertising] money, and my responsibility is to protect the investor. Who wants to sit behind a multi-million dollar ad campaign? They'll never recoup their money in that market unless you have a huge star."[/i]

Good to know. It's not a good time to be in the film industry, frankly. Not in the U.S. at least. BTW, I watched the Midnight Meat Train commentary where Clive Barker said there were likely political motivations for why the film wasn't released theatrically. It had Guillermo Del Toro's backing at one point. It wouldn't have been much of a risk. Apparently someone didn't want to see it happen. On the other hand, there were a lot of discussions as to making the film a straight slasher as opposed to supernatural horror. Apparently, the monsters didn't go over well with the powers that be. Who knows?

Anyway, this one looks awful. I liked the original Cabin Fever (to an extent). It was stupid at times but I thought there was a really dark, misanthropic undercurrent that not a lot of people picked up on. Much more so than the Hostel films though Hostel was a much, much better film (the sequel sucked). This one just looks like it took the first film's goofiness and juxtaposed it onto a 28 Days Later template.

James,

Did he start blabbing about the producers before or after they denied him the Alan Smithee credit? If before, what a bonehead. Not only is it in DGA rules for directors who waive credit not to pan the film or its producers, it's just common sense. If after, I'd be curious as to why they denied him the credit. Any idea?
No idea from last night's light research.

One of things I admire about Hollywood's culture is that despite the shenanigans that go on behind any closed doors the overwhelming majority of interviews have nothing but praise for fellow industry professionals, even if it's dancing all over lies.

I think you hit the nail obliquely on the head.
I'll wager bragging rights West popped off to the wrong person in a "minor" public engagement that resulted in his being asked to leave before he was fired, the studio milled about for a few years until they could find a ghost editor to hash together West's raw footage.
Rules is rules were then vengefully applied by the producers, dragging Joshua Malkin down with him.

Note to self: Be loathe of attaching one's self to a star.
(Seth burned me on that just recently). :)

Theatrical release by Lions Gate Films, maybe?
Fo sho.
I didn't notice any comparable DVD sales data released for the original, though.
Hard to say.

This one just looks like it took the first film's goofiness and juxtaposed it onto a 28 Days Later template.
Some mash-ups work. Others... eh?
I think there are so many fingers in this pie that it's just a debacle everyone wants to walk away from.

In film school were you ever given an assignment to re-create a sequence of a well known release just to gain a concrete grasp of "If you want to do THIS you gotta do THAT!"?

I'd think that would cut down on so much fake-it-till-you-make-it camera work and directing.

Plenty of films are shot without cranes, helicopters, rotoscopes, CGI and fancy props that look great.
Yet the cinematography or directing looks like garbage on too many of these low budgets.
I respect that nothing is as simple as it seems, but DEAR GOD! LOL! Sometimes I wonder...
"Dudes! Learn to shoot a scene. Copy someone else who can. Sheesh!"

What ever happened to the blu ray version that was advertised as well?

They would have made an extra sale on this but they never released the advertised blu ray.

Howdy, W

What ever happened to the blu ray version that was advertised as well?
I dunno?

Just for the halibut I just looked at both amazon.com and ebay: scratch on both for bluray.
On a google image search I see only a few CF2:SF bluray images, but they're in foreign languages.
Krazee.

Quoted from James McClung Did he start blabbing about the producers before or after they denied him the Alan Smithee credit? If before, what a bonehead. Not only is it in DGA rules for directors who waive credit not to pan the film or its producers, it's just common sense. If after, I'd be curious as to why they denied him the credit. Any idea?.

According to Wikipedia he is not a member of the DGA, therefore had no way to take his name from the credits without the producers agreement. So yeah, I would think "screw them" too.

By the way, I think that Alan Smithee is dead now, I am sure I read that the DGA will not allow him to be credited for movies anymore.

Howdy, Murphy

By the way, I think that Alan Smithee is dead now, I am sure I read that the DGA will not allow him to be credited for movies anymore.

Wow. the crazy shhhtuff you learn by watching a few cr@ppy movies.
< thumbs nose and makes raspberries at those that say "Nay!">

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee
Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000.

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jan/15/entertainment/ca-54271
Thanks, Joe!
There's always at least one knucklehead in the crowd.

I really liked this movie. Was it perfect, no. It was kinda a cross between the original cabin Fever and Superbad. It was also VERY gross. The thing that ruined it for me was the tacked on producers ending. It was horrible and didn't fit at all.

~Zack~

Quoted from Zack It was kinda a cross between the original cabin Fever and Superbad. ~Zack~

That's a good sell.

I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again...all things considered, this is the very worst film I've ever seen.

Almost no redeeming qualities.  How Zack can say he loved this movie, is seriously way beyond me.  This is pure shit.

OK, so we all probably know about the history of this disaster.  Scripts from Eli Roth and Adam Green were shot down and the screenplay went to some fucking asshole who doesn't know the first thing about writing a horror script, let alone writing any kind of script.  This guy takes the cake for moronic lines, plot, story, scenes, you name it.  I'm not even going to name him here, because he deserves to be killed in a painful and humiliating way.

The direction went to Ti West, who has since distanced himself so far as to try and take his name off the abomination completely.  Whether or not the product on the DVD is Ti's doing or Producers splicing together bits and pieces from what Ti shot, it's pure amateur hour here, folks.  This just reeks of pure shit from the moment things start out.

On top of all the obvious flaws on display here, let's add a few more to the fire.  I'm not sure what this was shot on, but it's fucked up.  It appears to be stretched to a wide screen format and looks like Hell.  Dark scenes are way too dark.  Volume levels are also fucked up.  Music cranks, while spoken dialogue is soft, meaning you have to continually lower and raise the volume...but realistically, neither is worth hearing.  The soundtrack is God Awful and the dialogue is some of the worst I've ever seen...or heard.

I was cringing on a constant basis while watching this last night. I was laughing at the awfulness of it.  It's just shocking how bad it really is.  How a group of Professionals could churn out dreck like this is downright sad and an embarrassment to film making.  It really is.

I think they had a $1.5 Million budget or so, which isn't alot, especially considering the 100+ gallons of blood and FX work, but it's still enough to make a watchable movie.  This thing ain't watchable.

PURE SHIT!!!!!!!!  Every single person involved with this abortion should never work in the industry again.

I haven't seen this film, nor do I intend to.
However, I have seen Ti West's follow up to this, "House of the Devil".
It's a love letter to 80's babysitter in peril movies.
That's cross pollinated with a healthy dose of 70's devil worshiper flicks.
It was one of my favorite horror films of 2009.
Well executed, right down to the soft lens cinematography famous in the 80's.
It's a time capsule on screen, fortunately, that's not all.
I found it to be an effective little chiller, stacked with suspense to spare.
It was very well reviewed and it gave Tom Noonan another stout credit.
Throw in a supporting role for Dee Wallace (E.T. & Cujo) for good measure.
Greta Gerwig also has a supporting role in it before she went big in Greenberg.

Ti West's new film, "The Innkeepers", is a New England ghost story.
I'm looking forward to it, if HotD is any indication of his talent.

So check out "House of the Devil", you may change your mind about that abortion. ;)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172994/

E.D.

Bret, see my comments on House of the Devil under its own thread in the Movie/DVD Reviews.

You also may want to move your post over tot hat thread and I will then delete this post as well.

Netflix Instant Watch can be a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because I get to discover a lot of independent gems I might have missed in the theaters, and a curse because I've developed a "Aw, why not watch it?  It's free!" attitude for everything else.  Films I never, ever, EVER would have paid I cent for, I suddenly find myself watching, wondering "What...the...hell...."

Cabin Fever 2 is one of those films.

The only reason I watched it was because it was recommended by the Onion's AVClub, and like I said, it was free.  Man, do I regret that decision.

This film was complete and utter garbage.  A stupid, cringe-inducing gross-out gore fest that only exists to satiate the desires of oversexed, hyper-violent teenagers.

Ok, let's forget about the bad acting, the bad direction, the mindless gross out gags...let's concentrate on the catalyst for the whole story: the water bottle company.  Now, I know you're supposed to take this film with a grain of salt, but seriously?  Am I supposed to believe that the water goes straight from a fucking creek into water bottles that are sold to the general public?  That there's no purification process set-up?   Look, there's suspension of disbelief then there's absolute stupidity.  I wrote something like this when I was 14 (no joke; water plant and everything).

Ugh.  What a piece of trash.  Ti can talk all he wants about how he disowned the film, but seriously, no amount of editing or new endings would save that film.  He made trash, realized he made trash, and then ran.  End of story.

Totally agree, Matt...this is some of the very worst film making in all regards I've ever come across..at least with a budget over a Million bucks.

Just shocking how God awful it is.