Set in the backwoods area of Bunyan County, five college students come to a rented cabin for a vacation of sex, drinking, drugs, and debauchery. However after an encounter with a diseased hermit, one by one the group falls victim to an aggressive flesh eating virus taking a physical and mental toll on the group that spirals out of control.
Eli Roth whether you like his work or hate it, one can't diminish his drive or tenacity. Working his way through the Hollywood scene in the 90s in fits and starts with people like Howard Stern, WCW, and even David Lynch, one can certainly say that Roth is a very passionate individual who doesn't slack when it comes to his passions. Made for a scant $1.5 million dollars, Cabin Fever put Eli Roth on the map as a filmmaker, becoming the fledgling studio Lionsgate's highest grossing movie of that year, and drawing praise from film critics such as Stephen Holden and Peter Travers, as well as filmmakers such as Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino (who would later become a friend and collaborator of Roth on several projects). Cabin Fever certainly has a lot working for it, but it challenges you to hate it with nearly unrelenting effort.
A big reason that Cabin Fever tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of the horror scene when it did was it was one of the first major horror releases to try to make from the post modern mold that Scream had shepherded the genre towards. While Scream was and still is well regarded for what was a refreshingly acerbic and intelligent take on the horror genre, it also has gotten a fair share of detractors for how many rip-offs and copycats it spawned in not just tone, but also marketing, style, and general approach that filled the genre with pretentious, know-it-all teenagers to 20-somethings who seemed almost glib about the horror they were in rather than being legitimately scared by it. Cabin Fever breaks from this mold by going back to the beginning. While Cabin Fever is very contemporary and does feature homages in both style and setting to classic drive-in horror be it Friday the 13th type slashers, hillbilly horror like Deliverance or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or even Cabin in the Woods type features like the first The Evil Dead, it doesn't wear these influences on its sleeve nor does it call attention to them through self aware dialogue. Cabin Fever is definitely a horror film with a sense of humor, but it doesn't call attention to it as was the case with many post Scream horror films which makes it refreshing by being something of a throwback.
The movie while technically solid and rich in atmosphere is definitely stamped with Roth's trademark style (which will determine whether you love or hate this movie). The five characters we follow are all varying degrees of abrasive, annoying, stupid, and/or unlikable. James DeBello as Bert, the group's one member who doesn't bring a female counter part, is definitely one of the most unlikable people ever created for a movie. When we're introduced to Bert he casually shoplifts a Snickers bar from the General Store for no other reason than "he can", and once he arrives at the cabin he goes around the woods causally shooting squirrels and chipmunks because "they're gay". The movie's dialogue is laced with causally usage of the word "gay" as a synonym for stupid or casual insinuations of homophobia and usage of the word "retarded" and while the movie is aware that its characters are all awful people, there's not all that much to them as we slowly wait for them to die off one by one.
Roth for as much as he clearly loves the atmosphere and iconography of the films of his youth, doesn't feel like he understands them beyond the surface level. In many ways you can probably see parallels between Bert and Margot Kidder's Barb from Black Christmas or Larry Zerner's Shelly from Friday the 13th part 3 in how they're foul mouthed "funny one" who build their identities around casual insults and or pranks, but both Barb and Shelley had humanity behind their abrasiveness that made them feel human enough to see them as characters beneath their cruel behavior. Bert really doesn't have that humanity to him, in fact it's never even all that clear why these people are friends in the first place other than they've been put here by Roth to endure physical and psychological punishment. Maybe Roth is basing this on a dynamic he had with his own friends (since the movie was inspired by his skin infection he contracted with his friends in Iceland) but there's not much that sets up how this dynamic formed nor what it's built upon. Something like this CAN work, but you've got to throw the audience a bone so they can understand it.
The actual horror in Cabin Fever is reasonably decent. The isolated backwoods areas that make up Bunyan County, the dilapidated shacks that populate the lakeside area, and the country General Store make for some nice atmospheric locations that give a good sense of dread and isolation. The humor is very hit and miss. Some humor such as some long form setups based around the General Store (particularly a joke involving the owner's causal use of the N-word that has a pitch perfect payoff at the end of the movie) are really good, while others such as a cop obsessed with partying with the wayward youth who come for sex, drinking, and drugs are more confusing than they are funny. I can't really say that Cabin Fever is all that "scary" since it doesn't really create much in the way of dread or panic and often feels more like an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon where we're waiting to see what insane levels of punishment await our characters.
Cabin Fever excels with some really excellent gore work and many of its scenes such as the Bowling Alley Massacre story, the leg shaving scene, and too many others to mention becoming iconic benchmarks for the genre in the 00's decade. Roth makes these moments incredibly tangible and the squelching, splatter, and oozing are just so lovingly well constructed that it's easy to see why Peter Jackson was so generous with the praise.
Cabin Fever is a divisive movie, and it's by design. Eli Roth as a filmmaker is a Provocateur who thumbs his nose at convention and makes his movies without restraint or consideration for good taste. While he doesn't balance the over the top gore and humor as well as his influences like Jackson and Raimi, he does have an understanding of his influences and exudes passion in his every frame with shots carrying a visceral and dynamic nature that brings beauty to the brutality. I'm not sure I can say I "liked" Cabin Fever, but it's an incredibly quotable movie with scenes that do stick with you because of how unrestrained they are. Eli Roth has made the movie he wanted to make, abrasive, violent, vulgar, silly, disgusting, juvenile, well shot, well crafted, atmospheric, with meticulous attention paid to little details. If that sounds like the type of movie you'd like, then look no further, you found it and it's a success.Love it or hate it, Eli Roth makes his debut going full force establishing his style unapologetically without remorse, shame, or restraint
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