Cabin Fever: Patient Zero

After the debacle that was 'CABIN FEVER 2', I was hoping that this movie going to be better. Well it was only marginally better in my opinion. If only Eli Roth had more of an "on hands" role with this film, could have been a much better movie. I liked the plot, but it wasn't executed in the way it could have been in my opinion. I find this a commonly occurring theme with sequels, the new director has the potential to make the series better, but then they change things too much and try too hard which usually ends in failure. Some of the effects were OK, and although it was quite bloody in some parts, the film didn't really deliver as I was hoping it would. For me the first one was the best, and it will stay that way. All I can give this movie is a 4 out of 10.

Yay, the Cabin Fever franchise continues! I guess that's what the makers of this movie were hoping horror fans would say ignoring the fact that basically no one liked the second movie, not even its director, and it's been 10 freaking years since the original and this only Pt. 3.

Cabin Fever Patient Zero looks to be the cheapest entry in the series, starting with a quartet of barely likable, uninteresting young people going on a small yacht, not a cruise ship as promotional material states, and ending up stranded on a beautiful, uncharted tropical island.

In the meantime, special guest star Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, Rudy) is the father of a dead infected kid who turns out to be immune and, now, is imprisoned indefinitely in a remote government research facility located on, you guessed it, that same uncharted tropical island.

Cabin Fever 3 needs something more. Made on such a low budget, this movie needed A LOT of personality to work and, sadly, it just doesn't have it. There are some down and dirty fun moments, some legitimately stomach churning, shocking gore moments with great makeup effects, but these moments are few and far between. Too much of the movie comes down to dull characters wondering around and doing stupid things that don't make much sense until they finally die.

In terms of production values, this movie looks like a Sy Fy original and while it's not nearly that bad, it just isn't that good either. It's more serious in tone than either previous film, but closer in feel to the original. It lacks Pt. 1's zany, retro spirit though. Cabin Fever 3 isn't terrible. It's actually better than I thought it would be and I'm being a little charitable with my rating because I suspect it could have been better if they had a bigger budget. But they didn't, and I can say this movie is just barely worth seeing.

Well, while the other "Cabin Fever" movies were entertaining, then "Cabin Fever: Patient Zero" was just too much. Sure there were some nice moments here and there, but it was just like the entire movie was directed by a randy teenager.

The storyline was adequate, didn't really always make coherent sense, but it was enjoyable. The movie doesn't require you to have you brain on while watching, so just sit back and relax.

The story, roughly summarized, is about a group of people going out to what they believe is a quiet, secluded island to celebrate a bachelor party, but come to find a bunker-like building on the island, and inside are ghastly secrets.

While the storyline is adequate, and doesn't really bring anything new to the genre, then what makes the movie worth watching is the effects and seeing people deteriorate and basically come apart.

But, this is also where the aforementioned randy teenager part kicks in. I am thinking about the unnecessary oral scene in the movie that ended with ... well, I am not going to give away spoilers here, but it was just ridiculous. But this is not the worst of things in the movie. There was a cat-fight scene, yep, that's right. But it gets better it is between two deteriorating women, where once again this was highly unnecessary for the movie, especially when a massive sex toy was brought into the fight.

While there were really badly chosen scenes added to the movie, then the make-up team really worked magic, and there were some really nice effects on the people as they deteriorated. And that alone was enough to make the movie watchable. Although, the movie just barely manages to sneak up on a 4 out of 10 stars rating.

"Cabin Fever: Patient Zero" is not a groundbreaking movie in any sense, nor is it one that really brings anything new or anything that the "Cabin Fever" movie series just wouldn't be the same without. So this movie hardly qualifies as a 'must watch' in order to come full circle with the previous movies.

After wasting over an hour of my life on this (yep my own fault entirely) I felt compelled to write a review to save others doing the same. This is without doubt one of the worst movies I've watched in a very very long time. It really is genuinely, absolutely dreadful, with no redeeming features whatsoever. The acting is simply awful - some of the worst I've witnessed in ages, the plot is nonsense, the "make-up effects" are laughable and the whole thing reeks of amateur trash. Put these things all together and you've got yourself an absolute stinker, and that is exactly what this is. Don't waste your time on it, trust me, you'll regret it.

Cabin Fever: Patient Zero (2014)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The third film in the series has a group of friends in the Dominican Republic where one of them is getting married. The day before the wedding a group of four decide to go to a secret island and relax. What they don't know is that a scientist is there doing experiments on the skin-eating virus and soon the visitors are contaminated.

CABIN FEVER: PATIENT ZERO is a pretty disappointing sequel that commits the biggest sin any horror movie can and that's the fact that it's just downright boring. Neither of the previous two films were all that good but they were at least entertaining. Sadly that's not the case here as the story is fairly weak and there's really no character that you like or really want to see survive.

Of course, one of the main attractions to a film like this is going to be the gore/kill scenes. The special effects here aren't nearly as impressive but for the most part they're good enough and there's quite a bit of blood puking and body parts falling off. The performances for the most part are good enough and we even have Sean Astin playing the patient zero.

If you're a fan of the first two then you'll probably be curious about this one but it's best you just skip it.