Matthew Percefull
In 1984, comedy and music fans alike were gifted This Is Spinal Tap. The rock n’ roll mockumentary pretty quickly became a cult classic. Despite not making much money at the box office, This Is Spinal Tap is incredibly culturally significant. Forty years after its release, the film is still being quoted and referenced to this day. The fictional band even became popular enough to release multiple studio albums throughout the years. It was announced recently that our beloved band was returning for a sequel, Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues. This week we got the first look through a teaser trailer: already the band has it turned up a notch—this time, to infinity.
We open to a roaring crowd as a hairy hand plugs into an amp. The hand then turns to the first knob and turns it up to 11. The hand does this to every subsequent knob until he reaches the last one. He slightly hesitates before turning this knob up to the infinity symbol. The man then picks up his guitar and the logo for Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues is smashed into your face. This teaser is less of a trailer but more of a promise. Spinal Tap 2 is trying to be even louder (and hopefully dumber) than its predecessor. This teaser has me a bit torn. While legacy sequels in general make me a bit skeptical, the 40-year gap between these two films has me especially worried. It feels like a desperate grab for nostalgia. All of this aside, I can’t deny feeling amped by the end of the teaser. The last guitar strum before you get the September release date did excite me.
Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues, like most legacy sequels, has an obstacle in its way. that obstacle is time. The original was made back in the 80s and is very much steeped in the culture of that era. With the sequel coming four decades later, it’ll be interesting to see when this takes place. Will they attempt to grab younger audiences with more modern pop cultural references? Or will they stick with the classic rock parody that made them so beloved in the first place? The casting announcements for the film could potentially give us the answer. Though we don’t see them in the teaser, Spinal Tap 2 has a stacked group of cameos slated to appear. Elton John, Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks are all set to make appearances in the sequel. The casting of older yet iconic stars could hint towards the film’s potential plot being set around the concept of aging celebrities having to adapt to the modern day pop climate.
Rob Reiner returns to direct this long-awaited sequel. Also returning is the amazing original cast. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Fran Dresher and of course Reiner himself are all reprising their original roles. This is a good sign. Having many of the pieces that made the original so effective bodes well for Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues. There are two routes this sequel can go. It will either try to innovate like its predecessor, or it will nostalgia bait for an easy buck. I’m hopeful that the film will keep up the trailer’s promise to turn up the volume to infinity.
