Cabin Fever
(2003)
review by Don't Feed the Dead

"I didn't like it very much." the Mrs. said as we left the AMC. Fortunately, I did, and although I do see why the wifey had gripes with this flick, I also came to the realization that this movie was pretty damn entertaining. This summer I have also realized that walking into a "horror" movie means taking a gamble on it being a myriad of hybrids with other genres such as comedy, drama and for those of you waiting to see Underworld, love story. Cabin Fever happened to be the n'er-do-well Horror/Comedy, which explained why half of the theater up and left after the first 15 minutes. This leads me to my second discovery - the general public has a very hard time accepting the co-existance of genres in a movie. I, for one, could give two shits if the movie spanned four hours and touched on every section of Blockbuster video, so long as I was entertained and got my $9 worth.

With that being said, Cabin Fever is the story of 5 adolescents (for lack of a better word) taking a vacation to the ol' country to get some R & R after school lets out. Our main characters are a bunch of wise cracking alcoholicsexfiendpotheads with a serious case of potty mouth. Paul (Rider Strong, Sean of Disney's Boy Meets World) and Karen (Jordan Ladd) have been best friends forever, and are accompanied by their mates Jeff (alcoholic), Marcy (nympho) and Bert (jackass). The five venture to the town general store, where they encounter an lunatic child with a biting problem, his father, and a very amusing old homosexual redneck with a fetish for collecting glass bottles. After a bunch of good laughs, they head up to the cabin, where they immediately split up and go their own ways. Paul and Karen head to the lake, Jeff and Marcy decide to go play hide the sausage, and Bert grabs his rifle to do a little squirrel hunting in the surrounding woods.

On their own, we learn that Paul has a thing for Karen, and the two momentarily kiss before heading back from the lake. Bert, shooting at everything in site accidentally caps a hermit with a seriou case of the nasties. The hermit begs for Bert to get help, claiming that he's deathly ill, but Bert just flees the scene leaving behind false promises of getting help. That nite, the five are sitting around the camp fire telling stories whenthis random skater dude walks to the cabin and offers to smoke a massive amount of pot with the five. Overly enthusiastic, the group tells him to return to the cain after he finishes securing his tent. We move into the cabin where the kiddies are shooting the shit, when there is a series of knocks on the door. It's the same hermit that Bert blew off, but now he is in some seriously bad shape. He pleads with the group to get him help, but they refuse. The hermit takes to stealing Jeff's truck and the group assaults him, causing a great deal of damage to Jeff's truck, whilst the hermit repeatedly vomits blood all over the place. *Note to reader - if you have a queasy stomach, especially when it comes to vomit, you may want to ster clear of this movie.* After beating up the truck, Paul ultimately sets the dude on fire. The hermit runs off into the woods and the five debate whether or not they should notify the authorities.

The next day, Jeff and Bert decide to walk around to find help. Marcy takes off in a canoe to do the same, and Paul stays behind to comfort the obviously shaken up Karen. We cut to a shot of the Hermit, dead and festering in the city's water supply, which leads to a sequence with Karen drinking a full diseased mug of water from the tap. Should have brought a Brita, bitch. With the virus spread to an unknowing Karen, she falls ill and must suddenly sleep for the day. Slick Paul decides to lay down next to her and he gets the great idea of kissing her forehead and fingering her vittles. Hey Paul, where I come from that's called date rape. Much to Paul's chagrin, the virus has set in and all he ends up with is a hand full of blood (compliments of Karen's thigh) and a big set of blue balls. Quarantining Karen is the only viable solution the group could come up with, and such, the paranoia sets in and the the movie sets its course to test the trust factor of the group.

Surprisingly, the acting was really good, with excellent performances by Rider Strong and James DeBello as Bert. There was a great chemisrty between the five and it was evident in the abundance of dialogue that ensued in the beginning and middle of the movie. Cabin Fever has its share of juvenile humor, sex scenes and "action", but the real seller for this bad boy is the great detail and effort placed on the special effects. I wouldn't be surprised if much of this movie was left on the editing floor to spare the NC-17 rating, especially when we really only see the more "passive" deaths. Unfortunately, many could stomach the gore, but not the level of humor in this would be horror.

A wise man once posted on a message board "Movies are made to entertain, regardless of the genre. Each specific genre of film draws on a certain emotional state of the viewer and progresses in an effort to keep the minds of the viewer occupied and separate from reality." Although I believe this statement for the most part, I do disagree with the "reality" being separated from film. In order to be successful, a horror movie must draw on the fear of the viewer, which to be effective, in some way must be tied to the reality of the person's life. Despite being a Horror/Comedy, Cabin Fever left me with the thought of "What would I do?" if facing the same situation as the quintet faced in the backwods.

What would you do if faced with the prospect of transmitting or receiving a nasty flesh eating virus? Would you run? Would you give in and die? Would you laugh? cry? sleep? fuck? Luckily, the majority of the world's population will never face that situation. But the reality is, it could happen to any of us, and that's when the horror sets in.