In case you have
been living under a rock for the past year and a half, let
me give you the lowdown -- the horror genre is staging a
great comeback. It all started with "The
Ring", and the recent "Freddy vs. Jason"
has made it even more popular than it was eighteen months
ago. Hollywood seems to be rediscovering the ways
and means by which to scare people, and since
Halloween is just around the corner, you can expect a
plethora of new fright films to hit theatres.
"Cabin Fever" is a month to early and a couple decades
too late. This might have worked if released back in
1976 or 1982 even; but, not 2003.
Rider Strong, Jordan Ladd, Joey Kern, Cerina Vincent, and
James DeBello star as Paul, Karen, Jeff, Marcy, and Bert
-- five friends who are renting a cabin for the week,
where they will have lots of sex, drink lots of beer, and
do things they have always wanted to do. For
instance, Paul and Karen are childhood friends and Paul
has decided to finally try and hook up with Karen.
Alas, things turn deadly when a flesh eating virus is
unleashed upon the friends and the surrounding woods.
One by one, they start to get the virus. When Karen
contracts it, they lock her outside in the tool shed,
fearing infection. I won't give too much else away,
because people hate that reviewer who always spoils the
ending.
This is a bad movie. A really bad movie.
"Cabin Fever" wants to be the 2003 "Evil
Dead", but it is lacking in some very key categories.
We cared about the characters in "Evil Dead" --
we even sympathized with them, especially Ash. There
is no identifiable character in this film that we care
about. I guess director Eli Roth wanted that to be
the character of Paul, but how can we root for the guy
from "Boy Meets World"? Not to mention,
the acting in this film is mediocre to sheer lousy, and
you have to have decent acting to make this kind of film
work.
It seemed as if director Roth didn't know where he wanted
this film to go. There are scenes of intense horror
and gore, followed by scenes that seem like they belong in
a corny, campy teen flick. The contrast between
scenes is too great and does not play out well on screen.
Plus, this film just isn't that scary. It is more of
a gore flick than a horror flick, and I do not recall
jumping once in the film, not even at those scenes that
you just know are going to make you jump.
Eli Roth definitely has talent as a director, but
certainly not as a writer. The dialogue is crappy,
some of the monologues are even crappier, and the
insertion of the townspeople (especially the little boy
who bites people) is unnecessary and it hurts the film.
"Cabin Fever" is highly overrated and a terrible
edition to the horror genre. Go see "28 Days
Later" instead.
