Hey folks, Harry here... Well got a bunch of reviews and feedback from folks up in Toronto that checked out CABIN FEVER on my tip, and looky what we have... an excitingly fun Horror film that seems to have these folks very fired up... It is nice to see a balls deep horror, sex and gore film get picked up from a festival... Now the rest of us need to see it!!! Up first we have Darius25 of AsiaAICN fame - who took off from his regular AICN mania to check out a flick on my drop... Here ya go, right from the kung fu master himself...
Hey Harry,
Darius25 here, I happened to catch Cabin Fever at its first public screening yesterday afternoon and here's what I thought of it. Essentially it's another campy horror flick that could belong in the same genre as Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Last House on the Left, etc. And unlike the more recent horror flicks (ie. Valentine, Urban Legends, Soul Survivor), this one actually feature balls-to-the-wall gore and even a little bit of flesh!!
Ok first off let me explain my viewing backgrounds to some who don't know me yet. I'm the Asia-AICN guy, and as an avid lover of asian films, I do lovingly embrace absurd flicks that are filled with excess and gratuitous humour, violence, gore, etc. Yeah I like serious films too, but what excites me the most is the type of films that are just plain FUN - nothing meaningful, but just keep us entertained for their short (or long) runtimes. And as you can tell, Cabin Fever is definately one of those type of movies.
The story is a neat little twist on Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, combined with a little bit of Outbreak and those disease-of-the-week movies on TV. A bunch of normal teenagers go up to this remote cabim in prime hillbilly area, and all they wanna do is chill, shag, drink, and get high (if possible). What they don't expect is to be approached by a highly infectious guy (with an unknown disease), which sets off a chain of events that eventually leads most of them to affected by this disease aswell. We never get to know what this thing is, yet we do see as it slowly rots away their skins - right down to the bone (yummy!). You get all the sick and nasty shit possible - rotting flesh, sore wounds, oozing fluids, rotting bones, and yes buckets and buckets of blood. And in the last half hour, the actual violence begins where you see atleast a dozen people get killed in the most violent fashion - complete with shotgun blasts to the head, decapitations, bullet-riddled bodies, and even the good ole' shovel in the face!
As if the violence wasn't enough, the movie is also chock-filled with laughs consistently throughout the plot. In the beginning you get the juvenile humour complete with over-the-top mockery of dramatic scenes found on the WB, combined with the slacker-raunchy humour of American Pie and the current teen movies. You'll also get alot of hillbilly laughs that we haven't experienced in a quite a fucking long time. The plot does to drag just a wee bit until the disease dude enters and then it just rips off into a gore and laughs fest - even past the credits! Trust me, you won't feel sorry for the kids ever, even as they get locked into sheds, mauled by dogs, or just rot and bleed to death. In fact, the psychotic side in you might even laugh at these horribly disgusting things (I did, and so did the filmmakers).
As for the acting well it's the usual teen stuff. The only recognizable character was that guy from Boy Meets World (Cory's best friend - don't ask me how I know that!) and he plays the role like the average pathetic loser guy. We're SUPPOSED to feel sorry for him, but deep down we really do wish that he dies in the most gruesome way possible! There's the funny frat guy who just wants to drink and get high (and he did the most laughs), a selfish jerk who just wants to stay away from everyone lest he gets into contact with the disease, and then there's two girls - one nice (and the object of affection for our hero) and one slutty (who gets two chances to show off her beautiful assets). None of the cast is particularly any good, but they get the job done.
I can't really think of anything else to say at the moment. Basically it was a really entertaining 95 minutes at the theatre and a welcome relief from the clean, gore and nudity free horror flicks that take them self way too seriously. If you like campy horror films with tonnes of disturbing sick images and brutal nasty violence, then Cabin Fever will be right up your alley!!
It'll be a LONG wait till October 2003...
Here's the next one....
Hey Harry,
Caught the final Midnight Madness Movie showing of Cabin Fever the first film by Eli Roth and everything you've heard is true.
Before the film started the director came up to talk a little about the bidding war that went on earlier in the day. While refusing to give specifics on who was involved he joked about MAXing our his credit card and how his favourite band was HARVEY danger till he finally revealed that Lion's Gate would be handling the pictures distribution.
So what does the venerable Lion's Gate have on its hand then? Well if they release it right, and do it around Halloween they could have a monster hit on their hands.
The premise for this film is new, the setting isn't. Five friends, the jock, the sensitive one, the beer guzzling buddy, Ginger and Mary-Ann all pile into a half-ton and head up to the country for some serious after graduation hedonism in the forest. Along the way there they encounter the local town's hillbillies, meet up with a boozing and party wild Deputy and a myriad cast of the kind of small town folk city kids always seem to run a fowl of.
But they are all just cipher's to the film's real bad guy: The flesh eating bacteria. And man, it is the nastiest villain I have seen in a long time.
A film like this is dependant on good makeup effects and damned if the flaking, tearing, bloody mess that I saw didn't look like the real deal. When the gore comes, and it comes quick, your completely sold on it. You could see everyone shifting in their seats, covering their eyes and unintentionally scratching their skin in sympathy to what was going on in the movie.
The film never slows down, never gets boring and even avoids the plot clichés you think you see coming. Humour is also used quite effectively. I really didn't expect to laugh as much and as often as I did. I should also mention the soundtrack, heavy on the Cello and violins like any good horror film, kicking in with the right note to boost the tension on screen.
I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone cuz this will see the light of day and you owe it to yourself if you love gory horror to go and find this movie.
If the hype you've heard is that this flick is the best thing since The Shinning, well I think you may be a little disappointed, if you go in expecting something as good as or better than Evil Dead 1 & 2 and definitely head and shoulders over BLAIR WITCH then you've heard right. This film will have you checking yourself in the shower like scared bitch for the next couple of days, looking for those first telltale signs.
RYH
Here's a nice long look from Fujison82...
Hey Harry,
First of all, I love your site. Especially, the talkbalks and hearing everyone's opinions and views on different topics. This is the first time I'm writing to you, so you can call me Fujison82. I don't know whether this will be posted, but I decided to give it a try.
I just got back from the second screening (Midnight Madness) of Cabin Fever at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is the first time and the first movie I've attended at a film fest, and it was a very good experience. The only reason why I saw this movie was on Harry's advice. The theatre was full, and this was the last screening for this year's Toronto Film Fest, so the atmosphere was great. I went with a friend, so we found a seat smack in the middle of the huge Uptown Theatre in downtown Toronto. After everyone was settled coming in from the storm outside, the director Eli Roth came out to introduce the cast and thanked us for coming and told us the really cool story of how the studios that turned the film down are now going crazy bidding for the film. He then announced that Lion Gate picked it up. Next thing I knew the show started.
First off all, I'm not going to spoil anything for the people that hope to see the film in the future but I'll give you hints of what's to come. The film is about a group of five teens driving up to a remote cabin that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere for a few nights of beer, pot and some hot sex. But they come across a flesh eating virus and we see how each character deals with the situation at hand. The characters were built up throughout the first half hour and we get to see the relationships grow. The first person I recognized was the Boy Meets World guy, Rider Strong, the person that played Shawn on the show. He played a character that was interested in hooking up with this girl but never got a chance to. Another person I also recognized but not until later was James DeBello of Detroit Rock City. He basically provided the comic relief of this movie. One of the things that I didn't expect from the film was how funny it was. The film combined a good balance of fun and humour with suspense and horror. One moment I was jumping in my seat in laugher, the next I literally jumped out of my seat because of the shock factor. The film is also very graphic, so I don't recommend people that have problem with seeing internal organs and seeing lots of blood (I mean gallons) to see this film. But I love all of it. The pacing for the first part of the film was a little slow, but it was necessary to build up the characters. Yet, I never truly felt bad or really cared if they died or not. The two leading ladies are two of the hottest people on earth (Cerina Vincent and Jordan Ladd) and we get not one but two sex scenes (Both of which was with the lovely Cerina Vincent). The funniest incident in the film was probably the scene that involved a kid called David that likes to bite people and does kick ass karate (Eli said he was so impressed with the actor that played David, he revisioned the scene to incorporate his amazing karate skills). As the film progressed, a long list of unfortunate events happen that prevent them from ever finding help (A little unprobable, but yet realistic), we see each character deal with the disease differently, yet it's realistic and somehow also funny. One person would use anger to express their fear and others would choose to face the fear. The fact that this was also an silent fear produced an interesting reaction from people that were not infected of the people that were infected. It's an interesting moral dilemma. The scary parts of the film was pretty standard stuff, loud sounds, people popping out of nowhere, a mad dog (I don't really get why the dog does what he does. I feel that was one of the major flaws of the movie) The ending was a little un-realistic, but it served it's purpose. I feel it is one of the more extreme ways of dealing with the final problem.
After the movie, there was a Q & A session and we find out that this was the first time many of the actors saw the film. Rider said he felt a little uneasy. Eli also mentioned how sick we were since we stayed for the whole movie and still stuck around afterwards after all the gore and blood in the film.
"MINOR SPOILER" One thing my friend and I felt when we watched the film was the irony of the events at the end of the film to a camp fire story Rider Strong's character spoke of. We found it ironic that in the beginning of the film they were reacting so harshly to the events of the camp fire story, but the events at the end of the film, nearly mirrored what happened and yet Rider Strong's character didn't feel one bit like he did before. He acted almost like it was a natural thing to do. I'm not sure the filmmakers intended this, but it was a nice contrast. "END SPOILER"
Overall, I throughly enjoyed my first film fest film and had a wonderful night out. The movie was funny, scary, and a little campy, but all together a pretty good thrill ride. I would definitely recommend it to people when it's released, and wish the best to Eli, because it was a bang good first directing job. In the future, I hope to write in some more reviews. I hope this is the first of many to come.
Fujison82 out!
Now here's Wyers...
Hey Harry,
Its 3 AM here in Toronto and I just came back from the Midnight Madness screening of Cabin Fever. I'm pretty tired so I'll keep this short and sweet. The film is a blast. Definitely in the tradition of Evil Dead and TCM. This isn't high art but it is a balls out horror film that makes no apologies and doesn't feel the need to be ironic.
I'm sure others will write in with more detailed plot summaries but there really isn't much to say. Flesh eating virus - of no known origin - starts graphically decomposing our young campers. Scares, tons 'o' gore, plot holes large enough to drive a tanker through, and gratuitous sex/nudity... what more could a man ask for in a horror flick.
Great Q&A. Eli was obviously very excited about the buzz surrounding the film and told some hilarious tales about the shoot (including some inspired casting which included a 12 year old black belt and a hillbilly one-week released from a mental institution).
Also great to hear him tell of how he couldn't get any of the big boys to pony up cash for the production of the film, and then to have them all in a bidding war for distribution rights after witnessing the final product (Lion's Gate were the eventual victors - as you reported)
Anyhow, check it out when it comes your way.
Good night.
BTW, if you choose to use this you can call me Wyers.
Harry here one last time... I just can't wait to see this baby!
