Review of Cabin Fever (2003) by Thequietgamer — 15 Oct 2017

Eli Roth is known in the horror genre for making grotesque, brutal horror films like they did back in 70's and 80's. That all kind of got started with this movie. A body-horror about a flesh eating virus infecting a bunch of dumb college kids partying in a cabin in the woods, Cabin Fever slowly ups the dangers that are keeping the characters from getting help. They may have to contend with a savage dog, isolation, and even some gun-toting rednecks, but what really keeps them from getting help for their deadly new skin condition is just their own stupidity. It's hard to take the movie seriously in any regard as the numbskulls manage to muck up every opportunity to save themselves. Luckily, it's clear Roth doesn't really want us to. The movie has a lot of humor to go along with the blood. Some of it dark, most of it dumb.

The tongue in cheek style is appreciated as too much gloom and doom to go alongside the gore would have just made for a monotonously dark movie. One I don't think Roth would have been capable of pulling off. No, it was better that he stuck to gross fun and callbacks to some of his favorite horror classics. The influences are clear and the nods are appreciated. Especially since it's a fairly original concept holding it all together instead of just straight up copying. As a result, Cabin Fever is pretty good. A solid, original, and ultimately brainless horror movie. Worth a watch for genre fans even if it's just to see where one of it's more prominent names in modern horror got his start.