Cabin Fever (film)
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| Cabin Fever | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for the film. |
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| Directed by | Eli Roth |
| Produced by | Evan Astrowsky Sam Froelich Lauren Moews Eli Roth |
| Written by | Eli Roth Randy Pearlstein |
| Starring | Rider Strong Jordan Ladd James DeBello Cerina Vincent Joey Kern |
| Music by | Angelo Badalamenti Nathan Barr |
| Cinematography | Scott Kevan |
| Editing by | Ryan Folsey |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | September 12, 2003 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,500,000 |
| Followed by | Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Cabin Fever (2003) is an American horror film about a group of college graduates who rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus. The film was the directing debut of filmmaker Eli Roth, who cowrote the film with Randy Pearlstein. The inspiration for the film's story came from a real life experience during a trip to Iceland when his face broke out in bloody sores.[1][2]
Roth wanted the style of his film to make a departure from many modern horror films that had been released in recent years.[2] One modern horror film, The Blair Witch Project, did inspire Roth to use the internet to help promote the film during its production and help gain interest towards its distribution.[1] The film itself, however, draws from many of Roth's favorite horror films, such as The Evil Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Last House on the Left.[1][2]
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[edit] Plot
The film centers on five recent college graduates, Jeff, Karen, Paul, Marcy and Bert, who trek to a remote cabin deep in the woods to celebrate with some wanton sex and copius amounts of alcohol. One evening they encounter a vagrant stumbling near their cabin who is clearly extremely ill. When the man asks for their help in seeking medical attention, they panic and turn him away without assistance. He attempts to steal their truck and in the scuffle one of the campers accidentally lights him on fire and he runs into the woods where he falls into the cabin's water supply. They are also visited by another camper, Justin, who has a large dog named Doctor Mambo.
When Karen drinks from the contaminated water, the disease (presumably some sort of rapidly acting flesh eating virus or bacteria) infects her and results in a quick onset of symptoms. Paul discovers her condition the next morning when he attempts to sexually stimulate her and finds that she is feverish, delusional and experiencing extreme vaginal bleeding. Unsure whether to take Karen for medical attention or wait out her fever, the friends cannot determine the best course of action. Fearful that the truck (which the ill vagrant sat in) may be infectious, or that any one of them could be carrying the disease, they begin turning on one another. In order to 'quarantine' Karen, they lock her in a tool shed.
As Karen lies in the shack getting worse, the panicking campers seek help from several sources, to no avail. The townspeople seem demented to some degree, and their interaction with the college grads leads us to feel that they either don't believe anything is really wrong at the cabin, or that they are enjoying the suffering of these inexperienced suburban youths. Either way, they don't help out at all. Jeff and Bert seem driven somewhat mad by the situation, and their actions become more and more irrational. The dog, Doctor Mambo, now vicious and possibly infected, returns without his owner and terrorizes the campers. Ultimately Jeff and Bert are killed, and Marcy becomes infected when she bathes in contaminated water and breaks out in severe lesions. Abandoned by everyone else, Paul returns to the shack in an attempt to finally take Karen for help. He finds her alive but severly infected, with half her face rotted off and her lips completely eaten away. He realizes that there is no hope for her and puts her out of her misery.
The last of the group, Paul flees the cabin but stumbles and falls into a creek with decaying body parts, possibly the origin of the contamination. He makes it into town and asks for medical treatment. Once the doctors in the rural medical center realize the implications of a disease of this sort being discovered in their town, they have the sheriff take Paul out into the woods and dump him in a creek, where he is left to die. The film ends with a shot of the contaminated water being pumped into bottles and loaded onto trucks to be sold as 'natural spring water', an indication that the horrible disease is about to be loosed on a large population.
[edit] History
Eli Roth cowrote Cabin Fever with friend and former NYU roommate Randy Pearlstein in 1995 while Roth was working as a production assistant for Howard Stern's Private Parts.[1] Early attempts to sell the film were unsuccessful because studios felt that the horror genre had become unprofitable.[1] In 1996, the film Scream was released to great success, leading studios to once again become interested in horror properties. However, Roth still could not sell his film, as studios told him that should be more like Scream.[1] Many potential financiers also found the film's content to be unsettling, including not only the gore, but the use of the word "nigger" early in the film.[1] The script was not produced until 2002.
[edit] Production
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The film was shot on a shoestring budget of $1.5 million. Composer Angelo Badalamenti agreed to compose some musical themes for the film out of enthusiasm for the material. The film's score was composed by Nathan Barr, who expanded upon Badalamenti's themes.[2] The original killer dog was so old and tired that all of its scenes had to be re-shot with a new dog. With no time or money to find a replacement, the producers cast a real police attack dog that was so vicious and unpredictable that no actors could appear with it on camera.[2]
[edit] Response
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Grossing $30,553,394 at the box office internationally, the film was the highest grossing film released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment in 2003. Critical response to the film was mixed. Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 63%.[3] Roger Ebert, however, panned the film, stating "The movie adds up to a few good ideas and a lot of bad ones, wandering around in search of an organizing principle."[4] The Hollywood Reporter stated "his [Roth's] flesh-eating virus movie never convincingly gets under the skin."[5] The Los Angeles Times also heavily criticized the film as hackneyed and cliched, stating "...rather than steep his story in dread, ideas or something, anything, fresh and different, first-time director Eli Roth just pours on the blood, along with some recycled surrealism and plenty of giddy movie allusions."[6]
[edit] Cast
- Jordan Ladd - Karen
- Rider Strong - Paul
- James DeBello - Bert
- Cerina Vincent - Marcy
- Joey Kern - Jeff
- Robert Harris - Old Man Cadwell
- Hal Courtney - Tommy
- Matthew Helms - Dennis
- Richard Boone - Fenster
- Tim Parati - Andy
- Eli Roth - Justin aka Grim
- Giuseppe Andrews - Deputy Winston
[edit] Sequel
Both Rider Strong and Giuseppe Andrews will be returning in Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, which is being directed by Ti West (The Roost) from his own script. Larry Fessenden and Alexi Wasser also star.[7][8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g Roth, Eli. Cabin Fever DVD, Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2004, audio commentary. ASIN: B0000ZG054
- ^ a b c d e Beneath the Skin. Cabin Fever DVD, Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2004, documentary. ASIN: B0000ZG054
- ^ Tomatometer for Cabin Fever. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on March 6, 2007.
- ^ Ebert, Roger: "Rogerebert.com", Sept 12, 2003.
- ^ Rechtshaffen, Michael: "The Hollywood Reporter", Sept 8, 2003.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla: "The Los Angeles Times", Sept 12, 2003.
- ^ Two Names Return to Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
- ^ Strong and Andrews head back to the Cabin (March 4, 2007). Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
