2.8.2010 and 2.9.2010

62. Cabin Fever 2
63. The Collector

Cabin Fever 2 is the (obvious) follow-up to Eli Roth's 2002 movie Cabin Fever. A lot of people hated the original but I enjoyed it for what it is...a solid flick that was just gory as hell. The sequel will probably garner the same hatred that the first did, if not more.

It picks up right where the original left off. Rider Strong makes a cameo appearance to get things rolling, coming as a bit of a surprise seeing as he gets top billing. And from there, we're off. An animated sequence shows a truck delivering cases of infected bottled water to a high school just in time for their prom. Infected water is served, people get the mysterious virus like in the original and all hell breaks loose.

Whereas the original had a decent story and a good cast to supplement the gore, this one has neither. For the most part, the cast is unknown. Probably for good reasons as none of them are all that solid. Or even likable. Where the characters in the first were jackasses, you still rooted for them to survive. Not so here. I was hoping they'd die slow, painful deaths. The story was disjointed and bounced around aimlessly. Entire plot points wound up being forgotten about. And at the end, rather than resolve things, they have an unnecessary strip club scene featuring a character that was completely trivial previously in the movie. And they wrap up with another animated sequence. This one done worse than the previous one.

Director Ti West wound up petitioning the Director's Guild to remove his name from this due to disappointment with the studio. He was denied so he gets to carry this flick around with him eternally, like luggage. Or herpes. His lack of participation on the post-production end really wound up hurting this flick. You can skip this one.


2009's The Collector is the directorial debut from Marcus Dunstan. He and his writing partner Patrick Melton have been the guiding forces behind the Feast series and Saw 4-7. Aside from Feast 2 and Feast 3, I've enjoyed their stuff quite a bit. The Collector is no different.

The Collector tells the story of Arkin, a handyman. He's also an ex-convict who occasionally dabbles in burglary in an attempt to work off a debt incurred in prison. His ex-wife needs money quickly in order to pay off some loan sharks that are after her. Arkin decides that he'll rob the house of the last family he worked on. Unbeknown to him, the house is also being targeted by The Collector. The Collector is a serial killer and torture aficionado so Arkin's night is about to take an ugly turn.

As with a lot of B-horror flicks, The Collector largely stars people I've never heard of. Upon checking IMDB on this one, I discovered that quite a few of them would be known by tv fans. Everyone here is pretty good though. Josh Stewart is Arkin and is the best here. He looks the part of sleazy ex-convict, for sure. He plays the anti-hero really well. Story-wise, this is a cross between Saw and Home Alone. I know it sounds odd but picture the end sequence of Home Alone but with bear traps and acid as opposed to Christmas ornaments and paint cans. It gets over the top and you really need to suspend disbelief but it's just engaging as hell. The cat-and-mouse game between Arkin and The Collector works really well. It just sucked me right in. The movie is not shy on the gore either. There's plenty of blood and guts to go around. This is just a nasty little movie. And I loved every minute of it.

Originally, this script was pitched as a Saw prequel but the producers of the series opted to not go that route at the time. I'm glad they didn't as I'd rather have this as a stand-alone flick. I recommend this one pretty highly.