Cabin Fever (2002) Review

"Pancakes!"

-Dennis

We've all heard this story before.  A group of kids go stay at a cabin in the woods, but this time it isn't a serial killer or a monster the teens have to look out for.  A hermit shows up at the cabin one night, infected with a terrible disease.  He attacks the kids until Paul (Rider Strong) lights the man on fire and he runs off.  Unfortunately, the hermit dies in the area's water supply causing the disease to spread.  Paul and the others have to avoid being infected and find a way to get some help or else they will succumb to Cabin Fever.

What Works:

Easily the best part of Cabin Fever is the gore.  There are some really brutal and nasty scenes with some great kills.  Director Eli Roth is known for his over-the-top gore.  This is his first film and he doesn't hold back.

The premise of the film is also solid.  It's a nice twist on a classic formula.  The teenagers don't have to fight off some monster, instead they have to avoid getting infected and try to get help.  While the execution isn't great, I enjoy the premise for this film and there are parts that work.

Finally, there are a few fun sequences.  The fight between the teens and the hermit is really well done and very excited.  Watching the hermit vomit blood everywhere added a lot to the sequence.  It was really gross, but a lot of fun.  The sequence where Paul and Burt (James DeBello) take on a group of rednecks is also pretty awesome.  The tension is excellent and we get a few really great and baddass kills.  It's especially fun to see Rider Strong (from Boy Meets World) brutally murdering people.

What Sucks:

The biggest problem that Cabin Fever has is the characters.  They are all really unlikable.  They are a bunch of jerks and all around terrible people.  Frankly, they all kinda deserved to die.  Even our protagonist, Paul, molests the girl he has a crush on.  She's sleeping and he starts messing around with her, but the way the scene is filmed makes it seems like this is supposed to be cute or something.  It's really messed up.  Paul was totally fine up to this point and even after that scene, the movie makes it seem like we're still supposed to like him.

The characters also make some terrible and stupid decisions.  There is an infectious disease spreading around, yet Paul and Marcy (Cerina Vincent) insist on touching everything and everyone trying to help.  They get mad at Jeff (Joey Kern) for ditching them and refusing to help, but honestly, he was the smartest one of the group.  Sure, he was a jerk, but he was also right.  Don't touch anything.  Get away from the infected.  It's common sense.  

The group also spends a few days working on fixing their truck so they can go get help.  Honestly, they could have started walking and they would have gotten help faster.  The character motivations and decisions simply don't make sense and I spent most of the move trying to figure out why things were happening.

The dialogue in this film has not aged well at all.  You can certainly tell it's from 2002.  The kids are constantly calling each other "gay" and "retarded".  Sure, that's how people talked then, but it makes it even harder to like these characters now.

There is a lot of humor in this movie that is just weird and doesn't work.  The biggest offender is the extremely long "joke" involving the convenience store owner.  It's a really offensive and off-color joke involving the n-word, but it's not even a funny joke.  It's simply bizarre and has no business being the film.  Another major problem is the entire character of Deputy Winston (Giuseppe Andrews).  His first scene is just so weird and off-putting I thought it might be a dream sequence.  I don't know what Roth was going for here, but it did not work.  Also, the weird sequence where a kid randomly does kung-fu and bites Burt is utterly bizarre.  I have no idea why that was in the film and it shouldn't have been.

Finally, the ending just sucks.  It's extremely unsatisfying and total sequel-bait.  I hate when the first movie in a potential horror series does such blatant sequel-baiting.  There's no guarantee there will be a sequel!  Wrap up the story, but you can leave a slightly open ending for a potential sequel.  Cabin Fever leaves the door wide open and doesn't resolve much.

Verdict:

While Cabin Fever has some great gore, a solid premise, and a few cool sequences, the characters suck and make terrible decisions, the dialogue has not aged well, the jokes mostly fall flat, and the ending is very unsatisfying.  I am really shocked this movie was as received as it was.  It's not good.

 3/10: Really Bad