Cabin Fever (2002)

Director:

Eli Roth

Writers:

Eli Roth (written by) and
Randy Pearlstein (written by) ...

Release Date:

12 September 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Unsichtbar. Lautlos. Tödlich. (Invisible. Silent. Deadly.)

Plot:

A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.

Plot Keywords:

Leg Shaving | Forest | Contaminated Water | Disturbing | Reverse Footage

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Rider Strong	...	Paul
Jordan Ladd	...	Karen
James DeBello	...	Bert
Cerina Vincent	...	Marcy
Joey Kern	...	Jeff
Arie Verveen	...	Henry (The Hermit)
Robert Harris	...	Old Man Cadwell
Hal Courtney	...	Tommy
Matthew Helms	...	Dennis
Richard Boone	...	Fenster
Tim Parati	...	Andy
Dalton McGuire	...	Lemonade Boy
Jana Farmer	...	Lemonade Girl
Dante Walker	...	Shemp
Jeff Rendell	...	Fake Shemp

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, sexuality, language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 (self applied) | Philippines:R-18 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Black Sky Entertainment

Trivia:

The highest selling movie at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival. Nearly all of the nine studios who engaged in a bidding war had passed on the movie at the script stage (the exception being the eventual winner, Lion's Gate, which was not in existence when the script was first written).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: There is a cameraman visible in rear view mirror at the beginning of the film as the characters begin their trip out of town on the way to the cabin. Although this should normally qualify as a goof, this scene was left in by director Eli Roth on purpose. See also trivia section.

Quotes:

[first lines]
The Hermit: Hey, boy. Hey, boy. Hey, boy. Unn? C'mon, boy. Hey. Hey. Hey, fella.

Movie Connections:

References Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

Soundtrack:

Walkin', Workin', Lovin', Laughin'

Enjoyable with reasonable delivery despite the usual teen clichés and an increasingly stupid half hour

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.