When the rock mockumentary was released in 1984, nobody would have expected that it would later become such a cult film. And the nimbus seems unbroken, because “This is Spinal Tap” is actually getting a sequel.
If any movie out there should be called a cult movie, it’s This is Spinal Tap. Peppered with weird characters, ingenious gags and countless insiders like the guitar amplifier with volume 11, the music mockumentary about the fictional British heavy metal band Spinal Tap (or: Spın̈al Tap), released in 1984, still has numerous fans around the world . Even the famous American film critic Roger Ebert once described the comedy as one of the funniest films ever made.
It’s almost not surprising that “This is Spinal Tap” is getting a sequel almost 40 years after its release. This is reported by the US film magazine Deadline.
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‘This is Spinal Tap 2’: That’s what the sequel is all about
As with the original, Rob Reiner, who directed “Harry and Sally” and “Misery” among other things, will direct part 2. He also reprises the role of fictional filmmaker Marty DiBergi. And of course the guys from Spinal Tap are there too – so Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls and Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel.
Rob Reiner also told Deadline: “The plan is to do a sequel to come out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you there’s hardly a day that goes by that someone doesn’t say why don’t you do another one ?For so many years we said, ‘Nah.’ But now we had a good idea how to go about it. And you don’t want to do something like that just to make it. We want to honor the first part and push it a little bit further with the story.”
The core of the plot of “This is Spinal Tap 2” is the death of the band’s (fictitious) manager. Because he has stipulated in his contract that Spinal Tap still has to perform one performance. And so the aging members of Spinal Tap pull themselves together for another concert. The performance is also to be recorded again in the form of a documentary – unfortunately there is still bad blood between the band and the filmmaker Marty DiBergi…
According to current information, “This is Spinal Tap 2” is scheduled to hit theaters on March 19, 2024.
The Story of Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap was originally made for the 1978 comedy special The TV Show. But the “founders” Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel had so much fun with the fictional heavy metal band that they wanted to make a film about it together with Rob Reiner.
The result was the fake documentary “This is Spinal Tap”. Large parts of the film were created without a script, which is why most of the scenes are improvised. At the time of its release, the mockumentary was a flop financially, but the reviews were excellent. A lot of people didn’t understand at the time that “This is Spinal Tap” was satire. At the latest when it was released on VHS and DVD, the mockumentary became a cult film.
Probably the most famous gag is the scene in which guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) shows filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) his guitar collection. He also presents him with the amplifiers, whose volume control scale goes up to 11 instead of up to 10 are sufficient. Tufnel then argues that Spinal Tap are louder than any other band – after all, 11 is bigger than 10. This scene is why “This is Spinal Tap” is the only movie on the IMDb portal that has a maximum score of 11 and not like usual is 10.
By Martin Arnold
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