Rating: Summary: Not the Best -- Think Before you Buy Review: I have to say that after hearing all of my friends and coworkers talking about this movie I just had to see it. So one weekend I rented this and sat down for what I hoped would be a scare fest. I was wrong. The plot of the movie is a skin eating disease that vacationing teens catch after coming into contact with and killing the man who caught it first. They all turn on each other and try to keep whoever has the disease at the time away from the others. The townspeople try to keep it quiet and set out to kill the teens. I did not like this movie, I did not get scared watching this movie, and the special effects are not special nor is the acting. If you are thinking of buying this movie, don't, at least not before you have rented it to see what you are thinking of buying.
Rating: Summary: Wow Review: That was a terrible movie. Very disappointed with the ending. I poked around the dvd looking for alternate endings so i could like it, but alas, there were none.
Rating: Summary: Waste of time Review: To compare this atrocity to the B movies of the 60's and 70's is an insult to B movies. The plot was weak and unoriginal, the editing eratic and the acting mediocre. There was not one scary moment in the entire film, seems as if it was made to scam unsuspecting people out of their $5. Only redeeming quality was the beautiful landscaps shots. Otherwise I'm looking for my refund!I give this film One star only because there is nothing lower.
Rating: Summary: Avoid "Cabin Fever".... Review: I bought the "Cabin Fever" DVD because I love a good horror film and couldn't catch this one at the cinema. What a piece of junk it turned out to be. Who bribed Peter Jackson and the handful of reviewers that praised this film? And what's with the clueless internet buzz that built interest in this trash (Ain't it Cool Hype)? The first rule of making a horror film is it should be SCARY... not so hard, ask Wes Craven or Tobe Hooper... But director Eli Roth, who appears to know something about past horror classics, fails at creating tension and can't seem to sustain or pay off the few moments of suspense he manages to achieve. The sex and gore feel uncomfortably gratuitous since they neither titillate nor shock. Unfortunately, there's just nothing fresh about this film and it only makes the horror genre feel all the more stale. Roth's commentary on the DVD is far funnier than any of his screenplay's lame attempts at gallows humor. He pats himself on the back for borrowing every hackneyed horror cliche and applauds even the most pedestrian technical achievements. In fairness, the photography isn't bad and production design works. The acting seemed passable to me in spite of a disjointed narrative and some downright ridiculous dialogue. If you haven't seen this film, save your money for something higher quality... maybe they'll release a decent DVD edition of "The Exorcist" in our lifetime.
Rating: Summary: A Pleasent Surprise! Review: I was very surprised with the outcome of "Cabin Fever." After watching a couple of downright bad horror movies like "House of the Dead,"and "28 Day Later..." I was happy to come across a very scary, very entertaining, and very funny horror movie. The critics were right on this one, because this was the best horror movie I have seen in a long time. In brief, the movie is about five kids who get a virus that eats at your flesh. But the movie includes a combination of other horror movies, but not to a point where it is a rip-off. The comedy in this movie came from various scenes around the movie. The best comedy scene was a scene towards the end of the film. A scene that feels very misplaced, but than works because it is the perfect way to end a horror film, with laughter. In broad, the movie is about Paul, Jeff, Marcy, Karen, and their drunken friend Bert. Paul has know Karen from a longtime and has a crush on her. Marcy and Jeff are a couple, and Bert is a loner, all of them out of school from their final exams. They arrive at a cabin for a week of R&R. Bert confronts a very bloody man who claims that he is sick, and Bert shoots him and runs off. Everything is going well at the cabin, untill the man returns. He goes into their car and makes it very bloody, untill they set him on fire into the night. They all begin to worry about him, untill Karen begins to get sick. Her skin begins to get like the man in the woods untill she begins to be a danger to her four other friends. The police begin to get interested and the cabin gets a visit from Deputy Winston, a party obsessed police officer who starts parties with under-aged girls, and drinks while driving. The locals also begin to worry about each other's help and the kids try to stay alive without becoming infected. "Cabin Fever" is a horror film that is for people who don't like horror films, only because it is not only a horror film. It has a combination of horror, drama, their is a romance subplot, and humor. What I also like about the movie is that you never find out where the infection is coming from. There are many possiblites, but never a solid cause. It is like AIDS or SARS.Nobody knows where they first came from, but they just came. Much like the sickness of bad horror films, unlike "Cabin Fever." "Cabin Fever" is a rollar coaster ride of a movie, and I liked it. ENJOY! Rated R for strong violence and gore, sexuality, language and brief drug use.
Rating: Summary: Great horror film debut from Eli Roth, Average DVD. Review: I will begin by saying that I was really looking forward to seeing this film in theaters a few months back. I read an interview with Eli Roth in Rue Morgue magazine and was very impressed, this guy obviously has tremendous affection for the genre and much insight. Upon seeing the film I was pleasantly surprised, while not as innovative as many of the seventies films that obviously influenced this film, this is still a take no prisoners approach to horror miles away from the generic big studio crap that has permeated theaters recently (Darkness Falls, Jeepers Creepers 2). Firstly the subject matter is very daring in these Mad Cow, SARS, AIDS obssessed times, I am sure this factor turned off many mainstream moviegoers and probably damaged its box office returns. The story is nothing new drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Raimi's EVIL DEAD, Carpenter's THE THING and Cronenberg's SHIVERS. Basically a bunch of teens isolate themselves in a cabin for a post college retreat. They find themselves encountering unspeakable evil but not in the form of the usual serial killers or demons, but rather an infectious flesh eating disease. As paranoia mounts, the teens turn on each other and the real horror begins. The film is well paced with enough gore and sex to please most horror fans. The cast is excellent too particularly Rider Strong and James Delbello. David Hess' music complements the film really well. The only real problem here is the addition of too many subplots and unneeded scenes: 1) The campfire story involving the murder at the bowling alley is a nice nod to the many horror anthology films that were released in the eighties and nineties(Creepshow, Campfire Tales), but slows the momentum of the film down considerably. 2) The idiot party cop character is obviously derived from the clueless cop characters that have been a staple of horror film forever, see Last House On The Left for more on this. 3) The scene with the deer is reminiscent of the madcap humour of Evil Dead II and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive but is really out of place at the film's climax. As for the dvd, well it is very disapointing especially after plans for the projected extras laden two disc set collapsed. The Cabin Fever family edit is a totally predictable joke and not that funny, certainly not to merit more than one viewing. The Rotten Tomatoes claymation shorts are kind of cool but really have nothing to do with Cabin Fever apart that they were done by Roth, I must admit they are pretty funny though sort of a California Raisins on drugs. The documentary is the run of the mill behind the scenes footage with some interesting comments from Roth. I just wish Roth had gone more in depth in talking about the films that influenced him. On the plus side, the disc contains FIVE COMMENTARY tracks, though who will want to sit through any of them apart from Roth's is beyond me. The bottom line: recommended to fans of gory, hardcore horror and really a unique and special film just don't expect much from the dvd.
Rating: Summary: Skinny Dipping Review: Cabin Fever made it's world premire at the 2002 Toronto film festival. Lions Gate Entertaiment was so impressed with it, that the company decided to buy, and distribute it. After hearing some buzz about the film--I decided to give it a shot. While it has some promise, the movie, is in the end is still nothing all that spectacular. Five pals decide to go on a retreat to the woods for a little fun after graduating college. What starts as a typical free for all, ends up being a fight for their very surrvival. When a forest-dwelling vagrant (Arie Verveen) stumbles onto their campsite, his skin badly desiccated by a flesh eating virus. Paul (Ryder Strong), Karen (Jordan Ladd), Bert (James Debello), Marcy (Cerina Vincent), and Jeff (Joey Kern) aren't sure what to do with the invader. Fearing for their own lives, they decide to do away with the man, with little success: He ends up in a nearby stream, where his disease quickly infects the local water supply. It isn't long before the oblivious co-eds start to show symptoms of the disfiguring disease Director Eli Roth has many of the typical horror genre trademarks in his film and its not all that different from the rest really. The cast makes this watchable. All of the young leads are quite good, considerng that the gore tends to overshadow them at times. It's almost as if the gross out factor was the most important ingredient and most everything else is tacked on. The DVD is packed with extras. There are no less than 5 audio commentaries. While I enjoy most commentary tracks-I think this many tracks is a bit excessive, even for most disc junkies out there. The featurette, "Beneath the Skin: The Making of Cabin Fever", is fairly standard type fluff stuff. You'll get to see a family friendly version of things, clever extras called Pancakes and chick vision that put an entertaining spin on the film. The Director's shorts and theatrical trailers top off the bonus material. Horror fans may want to check this out--but all others may put off by its gore overkill
Rating: Summary: Let's Do a Ho-Down Review: Honestly there was enough blood! Really! At the end I thought all they were all going to start doing a ho-down! what's with that! This is a really stupid movie! remind me; why did I go see it?
Rating: Summary: Why did I pay for this? Review: Five college students have rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere where they intend to have a week long party. However, something goes wrong when they are exposed to a flesh-eating virus that infects one of them and now threatens all of them. Cabin Fever begins with an interesting plot, but that is all that happens to the story as the audience can see a cascade of terrible storytelling. Even the occasional jokes do not provide a foundation that could save the film. Most of the time the audience will feel lost and wonder what purpose the characters have as the director jumps back and forth between scenes without aim. In the end, Cabin Fever offers a cinematic experience that causes an annoying itch in the mind, why did I pay for this.
Rating: Summary: Redefining the genre? No, but a treat for horror buffs. Review: One of the things that makes Cabin Fever a genuinely fun outing for horror fans is the cast and crew's obvious enthusiasm for what they're doing. Even without viewing the entertaining (if rather short on substance) "Making of" featurette, you can easily tell that the film was a labor of love with a game cast. While the extras don't shed much light on the film's progress from unsellable script to most-hyped horror film of 2003-- which would undoubtedly have made for a fascinating story-- the movie is (almost) enough of a delight to make up for it. Cabin Fever takes pretty much every convention of "classic" drive-in horror films of the 70's, and manages to make them look new again. Curmudgeons may say that it's nothing more than a Scream-esque parody of horror movie chestnuts, but the approach is really quite different. Instead of self-conscious winks to the audience, the walking cliches of Cabin Fever seem to enjoy playing their roles to the hilt, with performances that are as much tribute as spoof. One of the most entertaining aspects of the film is that the lead characters, each a counterpart of a 70's-horror staple, are almost uniformly unlikable. Instead of counting on us to hope that the smug hipster, the ice queen, and the obnoxious jock manage to escape the killer's clutches, we can finally enjoy seeing them get what we thought they deserved all along. I mean, did anyone REALLY identify with any of those too-good-to-be-true high school superstars? Cabin Fever won't have you leaving the nightlight on, although it does boast some solid shocks. It might be a bit of a letdown for fans of gore, but for my part I'm thankful that the more intensely violent moments were off-camera. Otherwise it might have been too dificult to watch. The most striking thing about the film is its big-budget look. The directing is confident, the performances are strong, the effects are convincing, and the photography is excellent (unlike most of its ancestors). The DVD transfer's color is glorious, and the sound really fills a room. It belies its independent origins every step of the way, right down to the Angelo Badalamenti score (the composer's hilarious account of his involvement with the film is one of the featurette's high points). In most ways, the pricey DVD release doesn't disappoint. Most highly recommended to horror fans with a sense of humor. Note: the DVD also includes several short claymation features by director Roth that star a fruitbasket of British rockers who spend most of their time causing mayhem and squirting their own juices over everything in sight. A pleasant enough addition, but they aren't really anything to get excited about. Other features include the clever-yet-useless "Chickvision" option, and a short called "Pancakes" that shows just how much fun the creators were having with their project. Although when the subject grows up, he just might sue them for defamation of character.... The five(!) commentary tracks could probably have been boiled down into just one or two, but their easygoing tone adds to feeling of good-natured fun that went into the production.
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