Cabin Fever

Review by Tom Johnson

(tomjohnson@thecinemasource.com)

Anyone looking for a fine, well-polished review needs to look away, because this is aimed at the sadistic, juvenile horror fans around the world just like me. Offensive language to the more distinguished of you may lie ahead.

That said, I guess the first thing I have to get out of the way is that no couple should ever see “Cabin Fever” together. Your girlfriend may bury her face in your shoulder every five seconds, but that’s as close as she’s getting to you all night. What’s more, it’s as close as you’re going to want her to get. You want specifics? Well, in the most extreme case, this movie may crush your libido forever. At best, you’ll never touch under a girl’s shorts again(Sheltering Parents: come to think , this might be the movie to send little Jimmy to for just this reason). Now if you can deal with this, then by all means, go see “Cabin Fever”. It’s the best horror film since the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and manages to unnerve the viewer in ways never thought imaginable. In short, it does its job well. Too well.

The cast of near-unknowns(and semi-famous “Boy Meets World” fan fave Ryder Strong) are excellent as our five unsuspecting campers, fresh out of college and preparing to move into the real world. Too bad they’ll probably never get there……

Thanks to a flesh eating virus, insane victims, vicious dogs and bloodthirsty hillbillies, this is one vacation that’s about to be spoiled. Director Eli Roth masterfully boils the horror film down to its most basic elements: he lays back and fires as much disturbing imagery as possible at a helpless audience, while providing a healthy abundance of sadistic wit to the proceedings. Despite the zany sense of humor the film displays, however, the horror is never upstaged, and “Cabin Fever” effortlessly works its way under your skin.

There’s no single villain to fear, but instead an entire world, at first charmingly foreign, that slowly goes insane. This always makes for the best horror, and the formula is hard at work here.

There’s not much more that needs to be said about “Cabin Fever” other than that it’s the gift wrapped present horror fans have been waiting decades for. While it’s being billed as the return to 70s style mayhem, it transcends its influences and becomes a clever and original SARS/West Nile era exercise in pure dread. If this appeals to you for some unknown reason, run to catch it. Just bring a friend, not a girlfriend. That particular horror movie paradox aside, “Cabin Fever” is a classic work of terror, bloody well done.

Grade: A-

Synopsis:

As a last hurrah after college, friends Jeff, Karen, Paul, Marcy and Bert embark on a vacation

deep into the mountains. With the top down and the music up, they drive to a remote cabin to enjoy their last days of decadence before entering the working world.

Then somebody gets sick. Karen’s skin starts to bubble and burn as something grows inside her, tunneling beneath her flesh. The group is so repulsed, shocked and sickened watching their friend deteriorate before their eyes; they lock her in a shed to avoid infection. As they debate about how to save her, they look at one another and realize that any one of them could also have it.

What soon began as a struggle against the disease turns into a battle against friends, as the fear of contagion drives them to turn on each other. The kids confront the terror of having to kill anyone who comes near them, even if it’s their closest friend. The survivors have to find help before they’re all killed by the virus, or by the local lynch mob out to destroy anyone who may have come in contact with it.