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Reviews
Cabin Fever (2002)
highlight of the Toronto Film Fest
It was the last film of the fest, and was a perfect finisher for me. I haven't seen a horror movie this engaging since the 80's, back when humour and horror weren't mutually exclusive (unless, of course, you're wimp enough to consider Scream and its rip-offs actually scary.)
I actually originally wanted to see this movie because it has a similar premise to a movie I wrote (which is now in editing), namely, 5 20somethings go up to a cabin for vacation, get trapped there and are beset by horror. Mine has nothing to do with the flesh eating virus, of course, but I'm ever so glad that I went now, as I wouldn't have wanted to miss this--especially as it won't have a theatrical release for another year apparently!
Like in every good horror, the gore and the sex are both gratuitous. (that Celina girl should have drum machine start up everytime she walks, cause damn those hips swing!) Like in every good horror, everyone is suspect, everyone is dangerous, there is no one to trust. Like in every good horror--and this shouldn't ruin the ending for you, this is to be expected by any horror connoisseur--everyone dies. And this film, in a notable mark of its brilliance, takes the 'everyone dies' concept to a whole new level.
Highly recommended. Except for those with high strung nerves or a weak stomach!
Hey, Happy! (2001)
Brilliant film
There may be a basis for the common opinion that Canadian movies are dark, dreary and slow-moving, but Hey Happy! leaves at least the last two behind in the prairie dust. Even the movie's darkness is the kind that only underlines the mad joy, the elated wild abandon that fuels this surreal tale of sex, drugs and electronic music on the eve of Winnipeg's apocalypse. The sheer power of the film's hope-through-hedonism ethic lifts a gay rave frolic into one of the most subversive, and therefore one of the most important, movies I have ever seen.