Cabin Fever (2003)
Directed by Eli Roth
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.
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That's because most of the film is nothing but a series of references and homage to previous releases ranging from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Night of the Living Dead" and a whole host of others.
Entire bits of the film are lifted from Evil Dead 2 and Night of the Living Dead and numerous other films.
For the audience, we are treated to a 90-minute homage to the true classics of the horror genre: "Evil Dead," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Night of the Living Dead" and others.
Roth's knowing homage to the gory glory days of 1970s American horror cinema draws inspiration from "Night of the Living Dead," the collected works of David Cronenberg, and every stupid kids-trapped-in-the-woods slasher movie.
The movie is actually not as nasty as he claims, though there are some nasty images of lesions and the like, and plot-wise it has more in common with The Stand than Night of the Living Dead.
While it's reasonable to assume that Roth is an unalloyed fan of the kind of horror film that began with George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead in 1968 and then took us on the various paths of Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and Sam Raimi, it's also inescapable that Roth lacks the one thing that set those directors apart from the run-of-the-mill horror boys he brings nothing really new to the table.
Roth begs, borrows, and steals from the best, including a fair amount of George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, The Crazies) and, of course, Sam Raimiâs first two Evil Dead films, but there are also echoes of other exercises in paranoia, including William Wylerâs The Desperate Hours, of all things.
Technical credits are uniformly high and the whole is driven by a wonderfully compelling score that combines Angelo Badalamenti's compositions with David Hess's music for "The Last House On The Left." Starring Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent and Joey Kern.
A prime example of Roth's failed satire comes in the form of what many moviegoers will undoubtedly take as racist humor, but in reality is just a weak nod to Howard Stern's "My Niggaz" radio bit (Roth was a Production Assistant on Private Parts).
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Is "Cabin Fever" the gooiest, yuckiest horror movie since Peter Jackson went wild with chainsaws and entrails in " Bad Taste "?
Gore-splattered, quirky horror comedy that owes a huge debt to The Evil Dead – occasionally effective and has its moments but is a little too in love with itself to really succeed.
While "Cabin Fever" doesn't reach the heights of woods set horror flicks "The Evil Dead" or "The Blair Witch Project," it has enough quirky humor and hardcore splatter to attain a lasting cult status.
Like that indie watershed, Cabin Fever takes the hoary teens-in-the-woods cliché (or "Spam in a cabin," as Stephen King gleefully referred to Sam Raimiâs first outing, The Evil Dead) and knocks it upside the head with a two-by-four.
Haven't these kids seen " The Evil Dead "?
Since "Cabin Fever" doesn't achieve that, every so often during its suspenseless bloodshed, it just wedges in some thudding humor or dumb, smug references (like "The Shining"-esque appearance of a guy in a bunny suit).
Within hours, said virus is racing through their bodies, resulting in rashes, gashes, projectile vomiting and the worst razor scene since "The Big Shave."
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Panic, enforced quarantine and paranoia quickly set in as debut director Eli Roth gives us a mental combination of " The Fly ", " 28 Days Later " and, rather surprisingly, "Dumb & Dumber".
They shine, however, compared to Giuseppe Andrews ("American History X," "Pleasantville") in the part of the local deputy that's so bad you have to see it to believe it.