Cabin Fever (2002)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

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:

Cabin | Virus | Water | Hermit | Dog

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 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | 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 credits list characters named Shemp and Fake Shemp. This is another homage to the "Evil Dead" series. Sam Raimi called his stand-ins "Fake Shemps", also in homage, but to The Three Stooges. The Stooges filmed four comedy shorts after Shemp Howard died in 1955, using old footage of him mixed with brief appearances (from the side and back) of actor Joe Palma, who played bit parts in the Stooges' films and was also a stand-in and stunt double for them.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The store owner says that the total of the kids purchases comes to "$56.00 even" though it's clear that the money handed contains 2 one dollar bills along with 2 twenties and 2 fives.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References Mallrats (1995)

Soundtrack:

Volatile Velvet

Bad Movie? You're Soaking In It.

Something i've noticed over the past decade or more (and these days most of all)is the horror film maker's attempt to include too many elements of the action and comedy genres in an attempt to appeal to a bigger audience. If I want a comedy, I'll go see a comedy. I don't mind a little comic relief and I love dark humor when it is done in a subtle and meaningful manner. I like a horror film that just beats the living hell outta me. I want to come out of the theater truly shaken and effected. Cabin Fever is played too much for laughs and the jokes just aren't that funny. Just kinda stupid and pointless. I found myself too often annoyed at characters like Party Cop, Grim and The Karate Kid who just had nothing to do with anything. I've not seen as pointless a character as Grim since a real turd of a movie called Scared Stiff. He's there to supply a crazy dog and a dead body to stumble over at the end of the movie. I keep hearing that horror audiences want the humor these days and it is fairly apparent that this is true but if this is what they want, then aren't they missing the point of a horror movie? I dunno. I give this thing good marks for it's excellent and effective gore make-up and the little bit of tension that it did have, but too many things about it made no sense and didn't need to be there. I've never walked out on a movie in my life. No matter how bad it was. But I came damn close with this one. The last 10 or 15 minutes were pretty hard to sit through. Just got more and more ridiculous. I find myself wondering about the rabbit suit guy in the hospital. Was this a clumsy attempt at a metaphor for the guy in the beginning of the movie who was apparently hunting rabbits? Was his dog supposed to have gotten the virus from eating an infected rabbit? Wasn't really made clear, so the rabbit suit guy seemed rather pointless. Just got another "huh?" outta me. Maybe the rabbit escaped from an animal research lab up-river from the cabin, huh? There. I'll just fill in all the holes with my own story. Then maybe this film won't hurt so much. Matter of fact, watching this thing actually gave me a head-ache that lasted 6 hours. Only 2 aleve got rid of this movies residue. So...to sum up...too many stupid jokes. Not scary enough. And just bad film making in general. There. I feel better.

And please, this is not a forum for opinions of opinions. Reviews are nothing but someones opinion. That's from you and me on up to Mr. Ebert. One man's trash is another man's treasure. It's all subjective, guys. No need to take it personally if someone doesn't like the movie you liked. I hated this movie, but why would I sit here and put someone else down for liking it? Let's try to grow up and be nice to fellow humans.