Cabin Fever

Review - Director Eli Roth's indie horror flick is just left-of-center enough to be enjoyable. While following many horror film cliches Eli Roth gives his film a bit of freshness by filtering those cliches through his own twisted sense of humor. Yes, his sense of humor.

Roth is apparently a good friend of David Lynch (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet) and Cabin Fever has very Lynch-like moments. Not so much an homage as straight copying; at least it felt that way to me. Roth has even instituted Lynch's musical counterpart, Angelo Badalamenti to write a couple of themes for the film. These themes are great and help to complete the Lynch feel.

However, the homage (if we can call it that) doesn't stop there. Cabin Fever's got plenty to pay tribute to. While mainly praising 70's horror (or semi-horror) films, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverence, Eli Roth has taken pride in film goers and reviewers seeing influences as far as Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn.

With all of this tossed in, how can it be original?

Well I didn't call Cabin Fever original. I said it feels a bit fresher overall. Not so terribly dumbed down as most teen-slasher movies are and it definatly has shock-value. Believe it or not, you'll find yourself at points wondering, did they really just do that? And the creep factor remains as high as the gore.

As a follow up note, the gore in Cabin fever has so much to do with the elevation of creppy terror that it impressed me. At moments. quite disgusting, but so very neccessary. If it were happening to you, it'd scare you out of your mind.

DVD Note - Be sure to enjoy the compliment of bonus material on the disc. They'll certainly showed Eli Roth's semi-crude sense of humor and his comraderie with everyone involved in the film. The special features include:

Cabin Fever - The Family Version (Feel free to watch this before you enjoy the actual film.)

Beneath The Skin - A 30min. docu on the making of the film. Great nterviews and insights. A Must See! If you enjoyed the film.

Chick Vision - Turn this effect on, then watch the movie. Shadow fingers appear and cover 80% of the screen during the scary moments.

Rotten Fruit - Not for the kids. These claymation shorts are crude. Semi-funny but crude all the way.

-m-