Review of Cabin Fever (2003) by Alex R — 02 Jan 2013

Eli Roth's debut feature echoes hints of old school Peter Jackson gross out horror. The only difference is, Jackson's films are classics and Cabin Fever will never attain that status. Though a good effort, and unlike Roth's following films Hostel, 1, 2 (the first was better, the second was garbage), this film does have decent enough scares throughout.

The tactics used by Eli Roth in Cabin Fever are nothing really new, and have already been done before in many films. Cabin Fever mostly plays out like an homage to the gross out flicks of the 80's.

The film will definitely appeal to gore fans as Roth crafts a film that focuses more on the gore than on the plot. In many cases, especially with Peter Jackson's earlier efforts and the bulk of Lucio Fulci's finest films, it does work very well, and the finished product is very good despite the lack of a credible plot.

In Cabin Fever, the film does have high points, but the scripts limitations are apparent. Eli Roth said that one of his inspirations for Cabin Fever was The Evil Dead. Combining elements from that film with an infection / rash type of disease is an interesting idea.

However Cabin Fever is a film that just relies more on old school splatter elements than great story telling, and with that said, this should be a good time for gore hounds. In a way the material that Eli Roth presents the viewer with here is nothing new, but sometimes that's all you need for an effective horror yarn.

Despite this, Cabin Fever is a decent enough horror film, but its lack of good acting and paper thin plot won't make it a classic any time soon.