ti west Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Clockwise from upper left: Splinterheads, Ghost World, An Education, House of the Devil.

Opening. Amiable and pleasant, Splinterheads revolves around a romance between Justin (Thomas Middleditch), an aimless small town dreamer, and Galaxy (Rachael Taylor), a gorgeous grifter who (literally) bumps into him at a gas station. She's more interested in separating him from his money than getting to know the lunkhead within, while he quickly decides that he's met the love of his life -- or, even better, a reason to leave his upstate New York world behind and start living for himself instead of his mother and grandfather.

Brent Sersen (Blackballed) is a better director than writer; the characters hold few surprises and the plot's trajectory threatens to die of old age before it reaches its pre-ordained conclusion. Still, he takes advantage of a visiting carnival and the grifter's obsession with geocaching, a variation on treasure hunting, to string together several lyrical interludes and enough laughs to deserve a recommendation. Dean Winters, Lea Thompson, and Christopher McDonald provide reliable support. Splinterheads opens in New York on Friday and expands to other cities the following week; check the official site for theaters and showtimes. Also opening in New York the same day: Collapse, Chris Smith's latest doc (more from last week and the exclusive poster debut).

On-Demand / Online Viewing. Terry Zwigoff's adaptation of Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World departs from the source material quite abruptly, but still remains faithful to the dark spirit of loneliness that haunts the characters. Thora Birch, Scarlett Johannson, and Steve Buscemi star. It's now available on FilmBuff, Cinetic's cable on-demand channel; check local listings to watch this essential indie at home.

After the jump: Who educated the devil?

When we first brought you pics from the set of Cabin Fever 2, it was kind of hard to make out what was going on. We knew some sh*t was going down at a prom, but we were unable to clearly see with our own eyes what sort of madness director Ti West was cooking up for the sequel. As you're probably already aware, the first Cabin Fever featured the directorial debut of Eli Roth. For practically no money (something like $1.5 million), Roth managed to scrape together a pretty decent horror flick; it went on to do good business at the box office, earned Roth a gig helming Hostel and the rest is history. Now, almost four years later, a second Cabin Fever is heading our way -- but this time, Roth handed over the reigns to West and newbie scribe Joshua Malkin.

Like Dread Central before, it appears Fangoria was at the same set visit, on the same day, while they were shooting the same scene. However, Fangoria has some much better images of the action taking place -- pics that include a group of prom patrons sprawled out on the floor, while a bucket full of red stuff is thrown all over them. God only knows what's going on in this scene (the folks from Fangoria aren't allowed to say), but I think it's safe to say no one is getting lucky after this dance. As far as plot goes, we're being told the flesh-eating virus from the first film returns; only this time, it decides to throw on a suit and party it up with a bunch of unsuspecting teens. Says West about the sequel: "Everything is quite gross and pushes the limits as far as they can go at times. It will be interesting to see what people think, because it's nothing like the first." Yum, looks delicious.

Just a few days ago Mr. Ryan Stewart informed you that Larry Fessenden and Alexi Wasser had been signed to star in the sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, but those hard-working lunatics over at Bloody-Disgusting.com have also now unleashed the complete cast list for Ti West's follow-up ... and it it looks exactly like you'd expect from a cult-horror sequel called Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. In addition to the lovely Ms. Wasser and the multi-hatted Mr. Fessenden, a number of other folks will line up to be devoured by an inevitably icky skin condition, and the list has been made public.

Giuseppe Andrews (he played Deputy Winston in the original Cabin Fever), Mark Borchardt (American Movie, The Tunnel), Judah Friedlander (Feast, Napoleon Dynamite), Rusty Kelley (Dear Pillow, The Cassidy Kids), Marc Senter (The Lost), Noah Segan (Brick, Waterborne) and ... Rider Strong? Wasn't he also in the first Fever? And didn't he die pretty horribly? Director West (who has under his belt The Roost and the SXSW-premiering Trigger Man) is keeping plot details on the down-low, but he promises that the sequel will not be a "re-hash" of the original. But what I'm wondering is ... will this be a theatrical release or a DTV baby? As a big fan of the first flick, I look forward to seeing the sequel either way, obviously -- but this is starting to feel like a "home video premiere" type of project.

Listen up, horror fans -- some casting news has been announced for the sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, which will be directed by Ti West. According to Bloody-disgusting.com, Larry Fessenden, an actor which credits such as Trigger Man, Headspace and The Roost on his resume, will have a small role in the film. Further details are available about his part at Bloody-disgusting, but be prepared to find spoilers if you go there. In other casting news, actress Alexi Wasser has joined the film. Wasser is best known for films such as Art School Confidential and Factory Girl.

For those who still haven't seen the original film and have no idea what the fuss is all about, the first one dealt with a group of college graduates who are stuck in a remote cabin and have to deal with the effects of a flesh-eating virus. Eli Roth has no known involvement in the sequel, but did produce a 2004 documentary called Cabin Fever: Beneath the Skin, in which the cast and crew talked about the making of the film and how the special effects were created. Roth is hard at work on finishing up Hostel: Part II -- to read about all of his other upcoming plans, you can check out Erik's report from this weekend's NYComicCon.