Rating: 
Summary: It entertained me, but it takes too many wrong turns.
Review: Probably the most hyped backwoods horror flick of 2003, Cabin Fever received early marks from many critics as a great return to 80's style horror. Lion's Gate Films was the lucky studio that got its hands on the picture for distribution, but upon wide release, seemingly most horror fans who saw it proclaimed it one of the worst films of the year. Kinda makes you question if pre-release hype is the slightest bit reliable (I remember people talking about how terrible the script for the Dawn of the Dead remake was, but it turned out to be the best horror film since The Ring).Sporting an opening not too dissimilar from The Evil Dead, Cabin Fever begins with five teens going on a trip to the woods for a weekend of fun and relaxation. Among the teens are nice guy Paul (Rider Strong), who's desperate to sleep with his best friend Karen (Jordan Ladd), horny couple Jeff and Marcy (Joey Kern and Cerina Vincent), and goofball Bert (James DeBello), who gets on everyone else's nerves on so many occasions, I wondered why the others bothered to bring him along. They reach their cabin with little problem and everything goes well at first; Jeff and Marcy fornicate without abandon, Karen kisses Paul for the first time, and Bert is having fun shooting at the small local wildlife. But the arrival of a sick man infected with a skin-eating disease at their door one night leads to total disaster, he vomits blood all over their car, which gets trashed, and runs off burning when Paul jabs him with a "torch." Thinking their immediate problems are over, the teens just want to get a mechanic to fix their car, but an even worse problem arises, the flesh-eating bacteria has somehow passed on to one of them, resulting in paranoia and disease that will lead to a literal bloodbath. Cabin Fever is a film where one gets the distinct impression that the writer/director is truly an enthusiastic horror fan that wants to pay homage to as many genre classics as possible, while also carving this film its own niche as a scary, funny gorefest. And certainly, director Eli Roth gets much of the film right and has a strong handle when it comes to pacing and dreadful anticipation. CF is already effective merely because of its premise; the fear of hideous bodily horror is something that probably spooks most of us, I know it has that effect on me. For the most part, Roth plays this for all its worth, we get numerous scenes of the teens trying to avoid touching others who are infected, and lots of scenes of victims vomiting blood and peeling flesh. Disgusting, but undeniably eye-catching and hard to turn away from. Roth also smartly develops the characters first, which has been a surprisingly growing trend recently (Wrong Turn and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake also attempted to flesh out their characters first). This is not to say we've got full-on, three-dimensional characterizations at work here, but the protagonists are generally likeable, particularly Rider Strong and Jordan Ladd. Hottie Cerina Vincent has the unenviable task of playing the [promiscuous woman], but the role is played with more intelligece than usual, and it's great to see nudity in a time when most slashers shy away from bare flesh (it's too bad one of Cerina's nude scenes is during a particularly uncomfortable moment). But Cabin Fever is marred with astoundingly idiotic scenes and plot twists and turns. The initial set-up, that of the teens having to deal with the disease, is a great one. But throwing in gun-toting rednecks and a weird kid obsessed with biting people was a bad move. The only logical reason I figure Roth included the backwoods folks was to give the movie a higher bodycount and throw in more opportunities for gruesome mayhem. Sure, the violence is pretty hypnotic in a "wow, I can't believe I just saw that" way that most mainstream big-studio films try to stray away from, but it comes at too much of a cost to the film's initially solid premise. The whole mess in the film occurs because the sick hermit went to the teens for help. Then we later find out he's actually the cousin of a nearby meat factory worker. Why didn't he just go to her for help instead, especially considering she's already aware of a disease being passed around to the wildlife and is likely familiar with the whereabouts of the local hospital. There are also questions involving who got infected when, but there's enough context clues that it's not particularly bothersome that we don't see the exact moment of infection. We just never find out where the disease originated from, not that it really matters. Roth's attempts at morbid laughs range from rock solid (the bowling story) to just eye-rollingly ridiculous (Paul's constant mishaps, whether it's a ladder that breaks, murderous rednecks, a dangerous dog, a deer conveniently in the middle of the road, and the local police force). In fact, I'm not even sure if Roth meant for the latter half of the film to even be taken seriously. When you've got a kid with a mullet yelling "pancakes!" and performing half-assed martial arts moves in slow motion, you know something has seriously gone wrong. Even that doesn't compare to the terrible final scenes, which actually features creepy music accompanying a scene that I think Roth wanted for us to expect another bloody surprise, then suddenly segues into rap music that then abruptly switches to banjo music. I can only say, what the hell? The constant switch of music is bad enough, the scene it goes with is actually even worse. But for all the mistakes the second half makes, I still had a pretty good time. Cabin Fever is never boring, a rarity in horror these days, and it avoids some cliches that I would have expected in a bigger budget slasher (though given the direction this film takes, I might actually have preferred some of those cliches). Great score by Angelo Badalamenti, too, no surprise there.
Rating: 
Summary: Horror? More like a pantomime!
Review: True, it's not scary at all. The gore is pretty tame. And the humour..... not really that funny. Why? Because for me the moment the teenagers come on screen I had a passionate dislike for them and was praying for them to meet a horrible and painful death! None of them were likable, even the cutesy blonde girl didn't even have a backbone to stand up to the boy-thug, she was so wet it was good to see her waste away. Come on! Intelligent writing can be funny too! So a waste of money. Don't rent it and for god's sake, don't buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Sigh -- ANOTHER homage to 70's horror?
Review: What's up with the horror movie these days? They seem to come in three flavors:
1.) the "intelligent" horror flick ("The Ring," "Sixthe Sense") which goes for creepy atmosphere and careful characterization.
2.) the poorly plotted, but brilliantly filmed "technical" horror perfected by the Dark Castle group with films like "Th13teen Ghosts" and "Ghost Ship."
3.) And then there's the most recent trend, the homage to the 70's. Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 corpses" provides one cogent example, and this film another. They have all the weak characterization, scenery-chewing acting, grainy film stock, over-the-top gore and inside jokes you could want from a 70's schlock-horror-fest. But why bother? Frankly, there's nothing to be gained here. Writer/Director/Co-Star Eli Roth hits all the right notes, but it's strictly a karaoke performance. The cast of pretty-young-things go through a number of grisly death sequences, and they're clearly having fun doing so, but this ends up feeling more like a film-school effort than a professional movie. If they were trying to recapture the operatic scope of an "Alien" or the creeping psychological "gotcha" of "Diabolique," or even the old-school tension of a "Psycho" or something, they might at least be aiming for something worthwhile...but WHY would we want to recapture one of the poorest periods for Horror in Hollywood history? Remake the "Excorcist"? Good luck, but you're welcome to try...but this film tries to remake "The Hills Have Eyes," and that's frankly a much less worthy goal. There are some gestures at a 'moral' or 'point,' but they're lost in the noise. There's nothing redeeming about it, and, perhaps more to the point, not that much entertainment either. C-.
Rating:
Summary: Cabin Fever: a total BUST
Review: My cousins and I rented this movie expecting a scary, scream out loud gorefest. Well, the gorefest part we experienced. However, this movie was more comedic than scary. Scenes like: * A little blonde boy, who had NOTHING at all to do with the movie, who knows Kung Fu, and screams pancakes.
* The shop owner, who *has a shotgun for N......*
* The OUT OF IT partying cop.
* The hunting squirrels scene with music like this in the backgrounnd: LA-LA-LA-LA.
* The extras: The Rotten Fruit: A cartoon (Clayart) involving perverse and homicidal fruits. I give this movie 3 stars, because I laughed so many times. I still think back to PANCAKES, and burst out laughing. If you're looking for a scary movie:DO NOT RENT THIS
If You're looking for a Gory movie: RENT THIS
If you're looking for a funny movie: Rent this
If your under 17: RUN AWAY. Graphics: (Death and gore scenes) 10/10: A VERY well done movie when it comes to the graphical nature.
Plot: 0/10: It's so...Idiotic. Comedy: 10/10: Read the above scenes.
Originality: 9/10: A seriously f'd up movie, very original.
Acting: 8/10: Decent, but not the best. OverAll: 7/10: I myself thought this movie was retarded. However, it gets 7/10 because, trust me....It's entertaining.. So, if it's a saturday night, and you have a few friends over who want to laugh, rent this. You'll laugh for weeks...
Rating:
Summary: dont bother at all
Review: this moive wasted hours of my life, it was not scary at all and the plot was terrible. don't waste your money on this moive it does not desirve it
Rating:
Summary: A bonafide stinker!!
Review: I won't rehash the plot here, except to say it doesn't make much sense. We've got a traditional "... teenagers getting cut down one by one" theme (a la early FRIDAY THE 13th), coupled with a touch of DELIVERANCE style condescension towards the "locals." But another big problem is that the "disease" or "malady" that is making everyone sick, murderous, etc., is never really explained. The movie has some early moments of creepiness, and you think you might be in for something slightly original, perhaps even a souped-up EVIL DEAD? But those hopes are quickly dashed when you realize the movie's sense of humor is mostly tone-deaf (i.e. NOT FUNNY), the actors are worse than horrible and by the final third, their motivations are TOTALLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE. The only reason the film gets two stars, is because the production values are slightly above average, the opening 20 minutes are so shows promise and because 1 star should be saved for totally irredeemable garbage like FEAR.COM or THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES. Those films actually destroy your brain. CABIN FEVER mostly frustrates it, or puts it to sleep. Also, the DVD is packed with some unique extras...extras that aren't for kids!!!
Rating: 
Summary: MISUNDERSTOOD...
Review: *CABIN FEVER* I remember seeing the commercials and thinking, "this is going to be a great scary movie" and it's that reason alone that I think many hated this movie after seeing it. It's not scary. It has a couple of weird/creepy moments, but it's not at all scary. I CAN'T prove it but it seemed to be more of a "HORROR-SPOOF". It's funny and for all the right reasons and at all the right times. It had all the things in it that other horror flicks do, but it twists it just alittle to make you laugh. Oh and it will make you laugh. If I'd had seen this before reading some of the reviews, here on Amazon, I don't think I would have liked it as well. It prepared me to view it with a different frame of mind. I believe the marketing is where they went wrong. If they'd have marketed this as a spoof, it would have been a huge success. Seriously, it's one step away from being the "Naked Gun" of the horror genre. But that's what the movie "Scary Movie" is for. "Cabin Fever" isn't that much of a spoof.
I must say, it's really a good horror-spoof if you go into it thinking it's spoofy. The acting is very good, the gore is there and it has some great funny moments. I could have done without all the "F" this and "F" that and all the other curse words. But I suppose that's an attempt to keep a completely unrealistic movie, "realistic". In my opinion, it would have been even funnier without any curse words at all.
On the other hand, if this is suppose to be a serious horror flick(which I seriously doubt), then it is a miserable failure. I'd like to believe it is intensionally meant to be funny and I'll leave it at that.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or money!
Review: This is movie is slower than molasses. The plot line is never explained. We don't know where the bacteria came from, how it got started(except that the dog gave it to it's master). I spent $7.50 at the movies for this trash and believe me I wanted my money back in the end. So, please don't waste your time. This is worse than any "B" movie I've ever seen. The Blob is better than this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A movie to rent
Review: I'd put this one in my "guilty pleasures" category. While not a great film, I was kept entertained throughout the movie. The acting was so-so, perhaps better than I expected for your run-of-the-mill horror movie which features the usual group of young adults stranded in a cabin in the woods. The villain in this film is a skin-eating bacteria of sorts that is all-consuming and contagious. I would recommend you rent this movie instead of purchasing it.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall...
Review: this was an excellent movie. The director, Eli Roth, is an obvious student of the horror genre. The references to Raimi and Romero are affectionately evident, lending to his intent to make a horror film that is a throwback to the classics of the seventies and eighties. The cast, which includes Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong and James DeBello,and Joey Kern work together well with dialogue that is genuinely funny and not just secondary. Using selections from David Hess' music from the infamous Last House On The Left, the music is also a reference to the past.
Anyway, it's a delighful movie and I loved Eli Roth's work on this film. I can see where people didn't enjoy the movie. I was looking for something different and with Cabin Fever you do get that. The dvd is excellent with lots of great extras. A msut have for any true horror fan.
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