Cabin Fever

Director Eli Roth's first movie, "Cabin Fever", has been considered a breath of fresh air and a wake up call for the horror genre; while it is certainly different from most of this generation horror movies, the movie has a few big flaws that hurt the film and make the experience no as satisfying.

Let's start from the beginning, the plot is an quite clever take on the "alone in the woods" set up. A group of college students go to a cabin in the woods in order to spent a week of beer, fun and sex. Everything goes right until they meet a hermit that carries a strange but deadly disease. While they get rid of him, one of them get the disease, and soon they find each other fighting between them and turning against each other.

The plot is very original and is a great setting for a horror movie. Sadly, and while it really delivers some suspense, the concept of friends turning against each other is soon forgotten and we get strange scenes of comic relief that feel out of place. It is one of the major flaws because at the times when the suspense rises Roth suddenly includes an anti-climatic joke that not only breaks the suspense, it breaks the whole pace and rhythm of the movie.

Fortunately, when the movie remembers it is a horror, it really works. The disease is some kind of flesh-eating bacteria that slowly rots the body while the person is still alive. The SFX of the disease symptoms are top-notch and the camera work is outstanding in general.

The acting is quite good, and better than average; sadly,their performances are ruined by the uneven script that makes the characters unlikeable. A big mistake in my opinion, because horror movies make you feel sympathy for the character, not hate. However, I repeat, it is certainly not the actor's fault, because the script demands them to be that way. A shame indeed, because the cast ends up playing cartoons instead of real characters.

The direction is remarkably good, with a definite style of its own although it clearly shows its influences, particularly Sam Raimi and his cult classic "Evil Dead". It makes a good movie that is worth a watch.

Eli Roth has a bright future, with a better script he certainly will deliver a masterpiece soon. However, "Cabin Fever" is a good debut, a fine horror movie, but not the outstanding masterpiece the hype pretends it is. 6/10. Good movie? Yes. Future of horror? Not yet.