Cabin Fever

A group of horrible teens arrive at a small town the residents of which are even more horrible, and there's also superaids in the water supply. The superaids is incidental, and I'd argue it's even a red herring of a threat. The real threat is obviously how a supernaturally horrible human being everybody is.

In the universe of Cabin Fever, no problem ever gets solved since it is always someone else's problem, until it becomes everyone's problem at which point no one has the power to solve it. It is a downward spiral, a representation of entropy that we are all very familiar with in real life and we know from our real life experience that any and every problem the characters in this film face will result in a major catastrophe due to people's unwillingness to deal with it at any of its stages.

Although there are a few intolerably disgusting frames that might get to you, it's more comedy than horror. Because you can't really feel too bad for anyone dying in agony when they kind of all deserve it. I'd argue we shouldn't feel bad, neither for the characters nor for their reflections in real life. Just keep selling the superaids lemonade like the good "BUSINESSMEN" we all are and get over it.

In 2002-2003, the horror genre went back to the 70's in a big way...and damn did it feel good. We got treats that harken back to a finer day of filmmaking including 28 Days Later, Wrong Turn, House of 1000 Corpses, and this strange little tale: Cabin Fever. It was not at all the movie that the trailer made it out to be. It was not quite the atmospheric experience in paranoia I thought it would be. It's also not as gory as everyone made it out to be. What it is is hysterical and a whole mess of fun. From the ominous "buzzing flies" intro to the bloody finale, I loved every minute of it. The cast is pitch-perfect. I did not think about Boy Meets World one time while watching Rider Strong on the screen. The other four leads really fit their parts and Deputy Winston was...well, unique. The score is fantastic. It really is one of the best scores I've heard in a while (they even used a David Hess song from Last House on the Left...how great is that?). KNB's effects are, or course, outstanding. If you see their name in the opening credits of a film, you can bet your bottom dollar some great effects are coming your way. And the film also adheres to Joe Bob's most famous rule: "Anyone can die at any time." Another reason I enjoyed the film is Eli Roth. From listening to the guy and reading interviews with him, you can tell Roth really loves this genre. That makes me really like him. He's also really funny in the film. I'm looking forward to Roth's future endeavors. The DVD is a must-own for horror/comedy lovers.

"PANCAKES!!!!!"

A group of college students head up to a remote cabin for a weekend of alcohol and sex, but when one of them becomes sick; they begin to turn on each other.

Cabin Fever is funnier than it is scary, in fact it is questionable whether it is in fact scary at all, but it is certainly entertaining and it's packed with gruesome gore and corny lines. The humour is not present because it's a low budget production or the acting is wooden, the effects are actually pretty good and so are the cast. Cabin Fever was funny because it was meant to be, it never takes itself seriously for a moment and the script is deliberately loaded with cheesy lines.

As a pure comedy its not great, as a horror movie its not great, but as an entertaining comedy horror flick is hits the spot, and it may well become a cult movie in years to come.

6/10

Set in the backwoods area of Bunyan County, five college students come to a rented cabin for a vacation of sex, drinking, drugs, and debauchery. However after an encounter with a diseased hermit, one by one the group falls victim to an aggressive flesh eating virus taking a physical and mental toll on the group that spirals out of control.

Eli Roth whether you like his work or hate it, one can't diminish his drive or tenacity. Working his way through the Hollywood scene in the 90s in fits and starts with people like Howard Stern, WCW, and even David Lynch, one can certainly say that Roth is a very passionate individual who doesn't slack when it comes to his passions. Made for a scant $1.5 million dollars, Cabin Fever put Eli Roth on the map as a filmmaker, becoming the fledgling studio Lionsgate's highest grossing movie of that year, and drawing praise from film critics such as Stephen Holden and Peter Travers, as well as filmmakers such as Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino (who would later become a friend and collaborator of Roth on several projects). Cabin Fever certainly has a lot working for it, but it challenges you to hate it with nearly unrelenting effort.

A big reason that Cabin Fever tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of the horror scene when it did was it was one of the first major horror releases to try to make from the post modern mold that Scream had shepherded the genre towards. While Scream was and still is well regarded for what was a refreshingly acerbic and intelligent take on the horror genre, it also has gotten a fair share of detractors for how many rip-offs and copycats it spawned in not just tone, but also marketing, style, and general approach that filled the genre with pretentious, know-it-all teenagers to 20-somethings who seemed almost glib about the horror they were in rather than being legitimately scared by it. Cabin Fever breaks from this mold by going back to the beginning. While Cabin Fever is very contemporary and does feature homages in both style and setting to classic drive-in horror be it Friday the 13th type slashers, hillbilly horror like Deliverance or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or even Cabin in the Woods type features like the first The Evil Dead, it doesn't wear these influences on its sleeve nor does it call attention to them through self aware dialogue. Cabin Fever is definitely a horror film with a sense of humor, but it doesn't call attention to it as was the case with many post Scream horror films which makes it refreshing by being something of a throwback.

The movie while technically solid and rich in atmosphere is definitely stamped with Roth's trademark style (which will determine whether you love or hate this movie). The five characters we follow are all varying degrees of abrasive, annoying, stupid, and/or unlikable. James DeBello as Bert, the group's one member who doesn't bring a female counter part, is definitely one of the most unlikable people ever created for a movie. When we're introduced to Bert he casually shoplifts a Snickers bar from the General Store for no other reason than "he can", and once he arrives at the cabin he goes around the woods causally shooting squirrels and chipmunks because "they're gay". The movie's dialogue is laced with causally usage of the word "gay" as a synonym for stupid or casual insinuations of homophobia and usage of the word "retarded" and while the movie is aware that its characters are all awful people, there's not all that much to them as we slowly wait for them to die off one by one.

Roth for as much as he clearly loves the atmosphere and iconography of the films of his youth, doesn't feel like he understands them beyond the surface level. In many ways you can probably see parallels between Bert and Margot Kidder's Barb from Black Christmas or Larry Zerner's Shelly from Friday the 13th part 3 in how they're foul mouthed "funny one" who build their identities around casual insults and or pranks, but both Barb and Shelley had humanity behind their abrasiveness that made them feel human enough to see them as characters beneath their cruel behavior. Bert really doesn't have that humanity to him, in fact it's never even all that clear why these people are friends in the first place other than they've been put here by Roth to endure physical and psychological punishment. Maybe Roth is basing this on a dynamic he had with his own friends (since the movie was inspired by his skin infection he contracted with his friends in Iceland) but there's not much that sets up how this dynamic formed nor what it's built upon. Something like this CAN work, but you've got to throw the audience a bone so they can understand it.

The actual horror in Cabin Fever is reasonably decent. The isolated backwoods areas that make up Bunyan County, the dilapidated shacks that populate the lakeside area, and the country General Store make for some nice atmospheric locations that give a good sense of dread and isolation. The humor is very hit and miss. Some humor such as some long form setups based around the General Store (particularly a joke involving the owner's causal use of the N-word that has a pitch perfect payoff at the end of the movie) are really good, while others such as a cop obsessed with partying with the wayward youth who come for sex, drinking, and drugs are more confusing than they are funny. I can't really say that Cabin Fever is all that "scary" since it doesn't really create much in the way of dread or panic and often feels more like an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon where we're waiting to see what insane levels of punishment await our characters.

Cabin Fever excels with some really excellent gore work and many of its scenes such as the Bowling Alley Massacre story, the leg shaving scene, and too many others to mention becoming iconic benchmarks for the genre in the 00's decade. Roth makes these moments incredibly tangible and the squelching, splatter, and oozing are just so lovingly well constructed that it's easy to see why Peter Jackson was so generous with the praise.

Cabin Fever is a divisive movie, and it's by design. Eli Roth as a filmmaker is a Provocateur who thumbs his nose at convention and makes his movies without restraint or consideration for good taste. While he doesn't balance the over the top gore and humor as well as his influences like Jackson and Raimi, he does have an understanding of his influences and exudes passion in his every frame with shots carrying a visceral and dynamic nature that brings beauty to the brutality. I'm not sure I can say I "liked" Cabin Fever, but it's an incredibly quotable movie with scenes that do stick with you because of how unrestrained they are. Eli Roth has made the movie he wanted to make, abrasive, violent, vulgar, silly, disgusting, juvenile, well shot, well crafted, atmospheric, with meticulous attention paid to little details. If that sounds like the type of movie you'd like, then look no further, you found it and it's a success.Love it or hate it, Eli Roth makes his debut going full force establishing his style unapologetically without remorse, shame, or restraint

Five friends finish their exams at college and decide to relax by taking a break in the woods. They arrive at their rented cabin and begin to party – a party that is broken by a sick man who stumbles into their midst. They try to fend him off but accidentally kill him. With their car wrecked and their mobile phones not working, they try to get help but their plans dramatically change when one of their number starts to show signs of having the same flesh eating virus that the stranger appeared to have.

I remembered this film getting reasonable reviews when it came out so I decided to give it a try on DVD to see for myself. The film opens with a group of teenagers going to a cabin where they encounter 'something' and then slowly turn on one another as the tension mounts up. So far, so genre.

However the film does well to overcome the fact that we can't see (or fight) the assailant and still manages to mount up the tension pretty well for the majority of the film. It is in the last 30 minutes where it goes to pot – where the film opens up the sheer apocalyptic potential the virus has, it chooses to focus on mad deer crashing through windscreen etc and starts to get quite silly. The lack of emotional involvement between the characters means that it is not quite as gripping as it should be – instead they turn on each other really quickly and only once do you feel for them.

The movie borrows heavily from other films (Evil Dead, teen movies, Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead) and in some ways it is not a problem, but in others it is a weakness – for example the climax of the action is obvious because it is clear what it is referencing. Roth does OK as director and generally manages to keep the tension up regardless of the slightly daffy script. Like I say – he loses it a bit in the final 30 minutes and I have mixed feelings about his final scene. He throws in a quite funny joke about perceptions but also tries to mix it with the horror of an impending outbreak around the US. Generally it isn't that great a film but it is one of the better of the 'teen slasher' genre that I think it more or less fits into.

The teen cast are too basic and they are only average – par for the course, if you will. DeBello is OK, Strong is quite enjoyable even if Kern got on my nerves bit. The two female leads are not as well used and a more cynical reviewer may suggest that the film makes lazy use of their naked bodies – again another genre cliché. The support cast are pretty country and do what is expected of them – none of them really do that well and the blame for that should be shared between the cast and the script, which doesn't give them more than cliché to really work with.

Overall I thought this was an OK film. Compared to the genre it is better than some of the other teen horrors that have been around recently although it isn't really that good. The first hour is pretty solid but the final half hour doesn't quite deliver on the potential that had been suggested up till this point. An enjoyable genre picture – nothing more, nothing less.