Cabin Fever (2002)
Horror, Comedy
Directed By: Eli Roth
In 2015 Eli Roth is known by all genre fans as the master of gore but back in 2002, when Cabin Fever was released, nobody even knew who he was yet. So in turn nobody in the audience had any idea what to expect from this little 'cabin in the woods' horror film that on the surface looks like a million other films before it. While the film does follow the conventions of a classic story of this kind, Roth uses a clever script and incredible practical effects to create one of the most hilarious, frightening, and exciting gore flicks of the 2000's.
As far as plot goes, this film doesn't bother to get too deep into the deeper things but instead turns its focus on throwing the overused tropes and cliches of the genre on their head. The film follows the stereotypical group of college friends who rent a cabin for a short weekend away from the world. You have the innocent girl (Jordan Ladd), the lonely and bashful male lead (Rider Strong), the ridiculously obnoxious jock (James DeBello), the outrageously horny cool guy (Joey Kern), and his luscious love interest (Cerina Vincent) and for this movie he turns their cheese factor up to eleven. The actors are portraying caricatures of the roles as a way to point out the silliness of this formula that has been used religiously for so long.
These kids are looking for a weekend away but instead they end up facing off with something much more terrifying and real than a crazed killer in a mask. Roth pits his characters against biology as a new and mysterious flesh eating virus is making its way through this backwoods town. It first infects the wildlife but quickly makes its way into the bloodstream of a local, and when that man shows up in the woods outside of their cabin their response is less that humble. Though they are able to scare him off the property they soon realize that whatever sickness he had is beginning to infect their group, one by one.
What Eli and his team did with practical effects in this movie, especially considering CGI seemed to be the go-to method at the time, is absolutely wonderful. This film is body horror from start to finish and the effects of this film make it truly horrifying. We watch as each member of this group is taken down one after the other by something we cannot physically fight, and even worse than that, something that is actually eating us alive from the inside out. Few things are more difficult to watch than our own bodies turning against us and Eli Roth and his crew capture that fear in an incredible way. Before seeing this movie I never thought watching a woman shave her legs would scare the hell out of me the way it does here.
It is easy to dismiss this and other Roth films as cheap torture porn, with his excessive use of gore and sometimes brutal and undeserving death it makes him an easy target for critics. When you actually look at his films, this one in particular, you actually see that he is playing with the genre he loves so much and adding a flavor to it that simply does not exist anymore. It is understandable that his films aren't for everyone but he is doing what he does best with this movie at a level that most filmmakers could only wish to perform. Cabin Fever is one of the few truly good horror films to come out of the early 200's and it deserves all the love it is finally getting these days.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
No comments:
Post a Comment