Movie Review: CABIN FEVER (2003)
Cabin Fever (2003)–***
Brain-dead teen horror films like Jeepers Creepers and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are flooding the commercial cinemas, but thanks to Eli Roth, the sex and gore that once made the genre fun is back in his B-horror bloodbath, Cabin Fever.
The film is no more intelligent than any studio horror flick. Its plot is insipid and the characters are the usual pack of horny college kids. The difference lies in the degree of stupidity when compared to the overwhelming amount of bloody vomit, soupy flesh, and, of course, skin.
Cabin Fever isn’t cleaned up for the screen and the existence of the word “f***” in the dialogue isn’t the only thing that makes the film edgy. “Cabin Fever” opens with a redneck hunter discovering his lifeless dog and the poking at it until he lifts the carcass to find the animal hollowed out. At that point, rust colored ooze splatters across his face, if only to tell the audience that this is going to be more gruesome than any horror film in the past decade.
Cut to the gang of potential victims leaving college for a vacation in the woods. A veteran horror fan should be able to pick the characters apart at first glance. You know which girl is going to take off her bra and which guy is the jackass who’ll get the horror going. Then there’s Paul (Rider Strong), the sensitive hero-type, who’s going on the trip with the hopes of finally hooking up with the girl he’s liked since 8th Grade. If wasn’t for a flesh-eating virus that begins to infect the group, he might have had a chance. The five friends fight against the bug and then each other until the entire weekend turns into one big nightmare.
In shouldn’t be misconstrued as leeching off the newfound fame of Peter Jackson, the DVD cover of “Cabin Fever” flaunts a favorable quote by the The Lord of the Rings director. “An unrelenting, gruesomely funny blood bath. I loved it,” says Jackson. Cabin Fever gets away with using the quote because Jackson’s films, the gory bad horror from his twisted early days, are the kinds of revolting massacres Cabin Fever mirrors in almost every frame. No other film would dare have Cerina Vincent, a former Power Ranger, bare all and then be dismembered by a ravenous dog.
Cabin Fever does in the first five minutes what Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses wants to do throughout. Cabin Fever flaunts its gore and even scares us. The difference is Zombie’s film tries to scare the audience with its absurd characters and silly satanic visuals, attempting to trump the horror films of the past, while “Cabin Fever” revels in its hammy gore and ridiculous characters with more love for the genre than itself.
The worst thing that could happen to Cabin Fever and Eli Roth, creatively, is Roth joining a studio to make Cabin Fever 2. I’m not against a sequel. It could be best follow-up to a horror film since Sleepaway Camp II. Right now, Roth just needs to get the goofy gore out of his system before Hollywood never lets him use it again.
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