It took some time after I screened Cabin Fever to enjoy what I watched. It's actually real fun and I think that's what splatter films and Eli Roth is all about. There is some kind of chuckle of surrealism I do at some point in a film like this, usually towards the end of the second act, when I've seen enough buckets of blood make their way onto the screen. It's along the lines of "Come on dude, this is absurd." This happened for me in Cabin Fever, not because of an un-necessary amount of gore but because it becomes so much fun and it's so ridiculous. The film builds itself up beautifully to a great climax. A climax built where you don't give a crap about the kids, or anyone, being killed because it satisfies the sick pleasure that made us watch this film. The five college kids are each more unlikable than likable. I don't know if Roth and Pearlstein gave them the whack-est lines and college slang to say on purpose but I felt good knowing they wouldn't be able to convince me to come with on their getaway. Our "protagonist" has a squeaky voice and is friend zoned by the nice, respectable chick (yes there is a whore to compare her with). We have the husky goon who gets no ass but loves to get drunk and the alpha male who's false sense of tough is derived from the slut he bangs. What Eli Roth and Randy Pearlstein do here is non traditionally infect a character. Traditionally, meaning the unwritten law in horror where "so and so" is supposed to die before "so and so" because of "such and such" reason. Once that happens all morality goes out the door and pretty much we're not rooting for anyone to be safe, we just want to see in which way they succumb to the disease. And it's not in their sleep trying to nurse themselves in warm blankets and hot cocoa. The best part is, if you're infected you're screwed, and the unspecified countdown commences! The title's figurative meaning makes for an intelligent theme in the film as well and that also makes the 5 college students just more the reason to slaughter. As we can see from Roth's filmography he loves to make killing fun and he does that in Cabin Fever, better than he did in Hostel where it's just sick and sadistic. I happen to love the misc-en-scene towards the conclusion that makes you feel like you've caught the disease yourself. I also love Cerina Vincent. In all, this is recommendable if you want to have fun 90 minutes.
Review of Cabin Fever
