|
|
|
|
Cabin Fever is a film that has been
receiving a tonne of accolades and even more publicity for almost a full
calendar year. It made its debut at last year's Toronto International
Film Festival and following its screening, a bidding war erupted
involving various studios for the rights to this low-budget film. It
even received a glowing review from The Lord of the Rings director Peter
Jackson, who apparently halted post-production on the third installment
of his own film in order to screen Cabin Fever to his own cast and crew
- not once but twice. According to Jackson, the movie was, and I quote,
"Brilliant! Fantastic! Horror fans have been waiting years for a
movie like 'Cabin Fever.' I loved it!". He said that he had not
seen an American horror movie like this in 20 years.
I saw Cabin Fever. I liked it. But do I think this movie will
single-handedly redefine the horror movie genre for years to come (as
many people seem to be suggesting, even those who have yet to see the
film)? To put it bluntly, no. In fact, I have trouble even classifying
this movie as horror. To me, a horror movie has to be scary. The
Exorcist is a scary movie. Halloween is a scary movie. Hell, The Blair
Witch Project is even a scary movie. Cabin Fever is not a scary movie -
ever. It is a movie that has an uneasy feeling to it. It is a movie that
has lots of blood, some peeling skin, a "scary" bunch of
inbreds and a masturbation scene that is just plain wrong. But scary?
For the first half-hour of the movie, I felt extremely uneasy, just
waiting for something to happen. But when I realized that the movie is
basically about five pot-smoking, beer-drinking, horny young adults who
take a trip to an isolated log cabin in the middle of the woods and they
end up being the victims of an unexplained flesh-eating disease, well, I
just was not scared. If I were in their place, I probably would have
been pretty freaked out but watching them on the big screen was not a
frightening experience. There were no monsters, no zombies, no crazy
animals. Well, I suppose there was one crazy animal.
The movie has a lot of characteristics of your average horror movie -
young, foolish adults, lots of blood and guts, hillbillies, naked women
with great, great boobs and a nowhere to run nowhere to hide attitude,
but I just did not feel threatened by the virus that was eating away at
the cast. This movie is more of a blood, guts and gore movie than it is
a horror movie. And because of that, Cabin Fever is not a movie for
everyone - it is a movie for those who appreciate seeing blood being
puked up all over the place with a little bit of dark comedy added to
the mix to take off the edge. Fans of the "gore" movie will
appreciate the work of the young filmmaker Eli Roth and the homage he
pays to horror classics like The Thing, Deliverance and The Evil Dead.
Movie fans will appreciate the acting of the entire cast, including my favorites
from the movie, James DeBello (Bert - the guy was a hoot), Joey Kern -
the guy who stole the show in this summer's box office bomb Grind (Jeff)
and Giuseppe Andrews (Deputy Winston). But I am afraid that unless you
are a devout fan of the "gore" genre (and I know there are
lots of these fans out there, and loyal fans they are), then this movie
is not for you. I am a fan of horror movies - scary horror movies. But
for me, watching someone spit up gobs of blood does not really do
anything for me except leave a scrunched up look on my face and maybe
uttering the words "oh fuck", "what the fuck" or
"fucking gross" under my breath. That's about it.
With that being said, Eli Roth has assembled a good cast, put together a
tight script and directed a fast-paced movie that will have many fans of
blood, gore and twisted humor squirming with joy and singing his praises
for years to come. There is no doubt that Roth has talent and will be
heard from in the future. But for those of us who only want to see that
shit-in-your-pants scary horror movie, well, I guess we'll just have to
keep waiting to shit our pants.
 
- 6/10
What did you think?
Have your say on our Message Boards...
Brendan Cullin - Senior Editor
More Reviews - Click Here
|
|
|
|
|
