Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever (2016)

1/2 (out of 4)

Five friends go out into the woods for a fun week but soon a flesh eating virus begins to take them over.

This is a remake of the 2002 Eli Roth film that put that director on the map and helped bring in some "frat boy" type of horror movies. Roth was involved in this one and had spent several months really pushing for people to give this film a chance but the end result is without question one of the biggest disasters in recent horror history. I've seen worse film but I've never seen such a pointless remake in my life. I'm a huge defender of remakes because quite often they're at least more original than sequels, which usually just copy the first movie. That's certainly not the case here because what we basically have is a scene-for-scene remake.

For the life of me I can't understand what Roth and company were trying to do with this film. At least the original film had two sequels that at least tried to be different or do something slightly original. When I say this is a scene-for-scene remake I'm not kidding. It really does seem like the original screenplay was used here with only a few things brought more up=to-date. This includes an assault rifle being used, stuff like the internet mentioned and the Deputy character is now a woman. Everything else is exactly like the original movie so what was the point? If you've seen the original then you're just going to be bored by what you see here.

The kills are slightly different but they're certainly not great enough to save the picture. The cast really isn't any better here. The direction isn't any better. As for the screenplay, as I said, it's pretty much just the original with a few alterations. Even worse is the fact that the film runs the same length, which just goes to show how alike they are. CABIN FEVER, the 2016 version, is one of the most unoriginal movies I've ever seen and it's just shocking that Roth would sign off for this type of remake. His rumor was taken out but the darker elements add up to nothing. I will avoid giving the film a BOMB rating since it's at least professionally made. Still, what on Earth were they smoking?

The original Cabin Fever wasn't a great movie by any means, but had fun with itself while showcasing some convincing gory effects; a low budget body horror about a cast of dumb college age couples (and the odd man out) succumbing to a terrible flesh-eating disease in the woods. The 2016 version is just a modernization of the original, hitting all of the same story beats but giving our characters smart phones, automatic rifles, and pop culture references a-plenty. One character in particular is so unlikable that I wouldn't blame anybody for switching the movie off after enduring a few scenes with this guy. Overall, it's bland, visually unexciting, and doesn't replace the original in any way.

While not a shot-for-shot remake (the angles and cinematography are different), this remake uses the same script as the 2002 original with slight alterations. Despite this seemingly pointless exercise, I was prepared to give it a chance and not hate it for failing to aspire to anything original. I'll go on the record saying I -wanted- to like this film, despite some unease after watching the trailer. I'm sad to say it fails to live up to the original in nearly every regard.

What sets this remake apart from it's 2002 predecessor is the lack of any chemistry between the actors. It's not that any one particular actor is singularly bad, it's that none of them feel like they're in the same movie. It literally feels as if they pulled random strangers off the streets and asked them to make-believe they were friends for a weekend. I simply couldn't buy that any of them would take off for a weekend together, much less have known one another for years, as is the case for at least two of the characters. They feel like strangers and it doesn't help that all of them seem to be acting as if they're in completely different films--the disconnect is that apparent. It's upsetting that, despite having many of the same scenes and lines as their original characters, everyone in the cast feels so disconnected from the script that they utterly fail to bring any of their characters to life. They're the ghosts of what we saw in the original film, the acting completely lifeless. It's as if none of them wanted to be there.

Roth's trademark humor is also excised in favor of a few random throwaway jokes, delivered in such a deadpan tone by the actors that each one falls flat on its face. This time around, the director goes for a more serious approach to the material (a mistake, I believe) and attempts to paint the film as a tragedy. Nothing attempts to sell this more than the overly-ambitious music score, which is so epic at times that it feels like it belongs in a big-scale war movie. The composer feels the need to John Williams this thing up at times, which just leaves the viewer scratching their heads at why such a big spectacle of a score is being utilized for a film that largely takes place in a single cabin.

As if to keep from being too familiar, the deaths are altered just enough to qualify as being original, as long as you don't count on being surprised. Practically everything is telegraphed a mile in advance thanks in no small part to the reliance on the original script so that even the prospect of new deaths isn't enough to warrant much excitement.

Perhaps the biggest blunder is the recasting of Deputy Winston as a woman, played by an actress with zero comedic timing (although this doesn't stop her from being handed humorous dialogue). The character is a painful reminder that no one invested in this remake knows how to bring life to their character, as is true with the weed-toting camper (played by Eli Roth in the original). No one would call the acting in Cabin Fever '02 a revelation, but it's as good as gold compared to this.

The entire film is permeated with a depressing lack of passion on or off camera. It's as if no one wanted to be doing this. Roth's film, while certainly underrated by many, at least felt as if it was made by someone who cares. This is a lifeless remake on par with the new Nightmare on Elm Street. Truly a flat, emotionally barren production not even worthy of viewing as a curiosity.

I'll admit I've never been much of an Eli Roth fan. The original Cabin Fever was a pretty bad movie but I wouldn't even recommend this film to Eli Roth fans, as it is a pretty pointless remake. Fans of the original probably should stay away.

If there was one positive thing about the original film, it was that it had that low budget charm to it. There's something about low budget horror films that I like and Cabin Fever had that. However, this remake does away with that charm as it obviously had a higher budget. A higher budget doesn't always mean a better film, though.

The acting in this remake is atrocious and the dialogue is even worse. The characters are all underdeveloped stereotypes that you really don't care about at all. Nearly all the scenes of the original are redone shot-for-shot, but they're handled in a much messier manner. There are a few minor differences, such as the "party man" cop character is now played by a female, for some reason.

As for positives, there aren't many. The cinematography was decent and the gore and makeup effects were pretty damn good actually. Some of the music was alright. But that's about it. I don't see why this film had to be made.

Overall, this is a shallow remake of a bad, low budget horror film from 2002. If you've never seen Cabin Fever but plan on watching it, I'd go with the original, as it is the better of the two. However, that's not saying much, as they're both pretty shitty. If you are a fan of the original, you probably won't like it much. But you might watch it anyway just to compare the two. I wouldn't pay much to see it, though. Maybe rent it if you get the chance.

3/10

So I take most movies as what they are, entertainment. But sometimes you can't help but get annoyed with stupidity/lack of common sense. This "update" really just "modernizes" the original Cabin Fever staying pretty true to the story line a some minor changes here and there... I was alright with this movie and tried to put up with it but Eli Roth has an ability to make his characters seem like the DUMBEST living sentient beings in the world. In the world of Horror movies, I understand, the people have to be lower than average intelligence and lack common sense so that the plot will progress cause instead of knocking on the door of a trailer so you can use the phone for help, the character decides to "peek" in through a window in stead EVEN tho all the lights are on... so the inhabitants obviously don't listen to his pleas for help cause they seem him as a sexual predator.

I was kind of excited for this cause the original Cabin Fever was (IMO) a ground breaking piece of indie horror, it came out during the time when indie films were coming out of the shadows and actually gaining momentum. But this movie, I tried to stick it out, I really tried but there are levels of stupidity in this that "cringe" is a gross understatement. If you saw the original Cabin Fever and liked it, give this one a go! It's not entirely bad. But if you haven't seen the original first...

WATCH THE ORIGINAL FIRST, PLEASE!!!

and Mr. Roth, please inject just a meager amount of common sense into your characters, please?