There’s a lot going on during the end credits with Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean, Derek Small and Marty DiBergi in Spinal Tap: The End Continues. What happens during the scenes?
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues marks the return to the big screen of the fictional British heavy metal band for the first time since the mockumentary-defining classic This is Spinal Tap was released in 1984.
In the new film, Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), finds out that Spinal Tap — which disbanded 15 years before in an ugly breakup — is contractually obligated to play one final concert, so the documentarian picks up his camera to capture on film the reunion of Nigel (Christopher Guest), David (Michael McKean), Derek (Harry Shearer) for their final show. In This is Spinal Tap fashion, DiBergi captures the band’s eccentricities and penchant for attracting bad luck at every turn.
Since the release of This is Spinal Tap more than four decades ago, the fictional band has morphed into a real band by appearing in TV specials, releasing new albums and playing concerts all over the world.
So, as This is Spinal Tap and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, prove, the end is never truly the end for Spinal Tap — and the merry mayhem continues through the end credits.
Note: The rest of this article includes spoilers from Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
What Happens During The End Credits Of ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’?
The end credits for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues play much like they did for This is Spinal Tap, where more mockumentary footage rolls throughout the entirety of the end credits.
The end credits begin by following the events of the final scene of the movie, when the band is joined by Elton John on stage to perform their classic song “Stonehenge.”
Unlike the performance of the song in This is Spinal Tap, though, the Stonehenge monument is in full-scale this time, not the model-sized version mistakenly produced for the concert in the first film. Before the concert starts, Spinal Tap’s new drummer, Didi Crockett (Valerie Franco), asks the band’s crew to move up her drum kit closer to the band, a decision that ultimately helps her avoid becoming the 12th Spinal Tap drummer to die.
Because of the move, though, the full-sized, 1,000 pound Stonehenge monument rocks back and forth during the performance of the song and when the dancing dwarves (Jason “Wee Man” Acuña and Brad Williams) bump into it, it falls forward, crushing Elton, Derek, David and Nigel. While lying on the ground underneath his piano, Elton screams out, “F— Spinal Tap!”
The end credits feature several sequences, beginning with the band and Elton all bedridden in the hospital, wearing casts. Marty DiBergi, who avoided injury in the mishap, documents it all but is unsure if he has the proper waiver to film Elton, which prompts an angry response from Elton’s husband, David Furnish. Elton ultimately yells at Marty, saying, ‘Oh, f— off!”
The end credits then pick up with Marty talking with the band’s new manager, Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman) — the daughter of Tap’s original manager Ian Faith (the late Tony Hendra) — about how the Stonehenge mishap could be good publicity for the band.
Marty then catches up with each member of Spinal Tap, who are still healing up from their concert wounds and are back at their old jobs when the film started. David is back in California, composing music for true-crime podcasts, while Nigel and Derek, who both live in England, run a cheese/guitar shop and a glue museum, respectively.
During the scenes, Marty asks if the band will keep playing, to which David remarks how the band keeps bouncing back in “some form or another” and “this was a tough bounce,” while Derek thinks the band may have a future in rock ‘n’ roll cruises.
Marty also catches up with Tap’s concert promoter, Simon Howler (Chris Addison), who shares his new ideas and catches up with Nigel about some old ideas. During the end credits for This is Spinal Tap, Nigel, an inventor, discusses his idea for a folding wine glass and in the end credits for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, he shows how he produced a prototype for it (and it doesn’t work).
Marty also catches up with Paul McCartney, who plays himself in the film, and asks the former Beatle what keeps musicians playing into their 70s. Marty thinks it’s for the love of playing and McCartney agrees, before adding, “And drugs.”
David also tells Marty that he plans on writing a memoir about the early days, while Derek has a revelation about having sex with David’s wife before the band’s breakup, 15 years before the events of the film. David, during the film, blamed Nigel for sleeping with her.
The end credits for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues wrap up with Marty sitting with Didi at a street café, talking about how she broke the Spinal Tap dead drummer curse … that is, until she starts choking on some food and Marty begins the Heimlich maneuver before the frame freezes. Will Didi survive? The world may never know — unless there is a Spinal Tap III.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is playing in theaters nationwide.