Cabin Fever (2002)

Cabin Fever (2002) (see below for trailer and preview images)

Directed by Eli Roth
Written by Eli Roth and Randy Pearlstein
 
Starring: Rider Strong, Jordan Ladd, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent, Joey Kern, and Giuseppe Andrews
 
IMDb 5.6/10                Rotten Tomatoes 62%            Metacritic 56/100

In this film we have five college students that decide to go hang out in the middle of the woods in a cabin to celebrate the end of college.  What awaits them there is far worse than thy could have ever imagined.
 
One of the guys from the group, Bert, leaves his friends to go squirrel hunting in the woods.  He happens upon a man in the trees within the general vicinity of the cabin.  He is begging for water and looks like death warmed over…a hideous death that has warmed over, mind you.  He is obviously sick with something. Bert, fearful as the man keeps walking toward him despite warnings, shoots the man and runs back to the cabin.
 
Over the next couple of days, one by one they start to get sick.  Everyone is upset.  Paul tries to comfort a scared Karen and while they are supposed to be napping Paul, being the gentleman that he is (insert eye roll here), reaches between the sleeping girls legs and tries to get the goods going.  He realizes the “texture” (for lack of a better term) feels weird and withdraws his hand to see blood and flesh all over it.  As they remove the cover they realize she is basically rotting away.
 
The group decides to put Karen out of the cabin, for their safety of course.  What a dick move.  First you take advantage of her while she’s sleeping and then you kick her out because she’s sick.  I mean, wow, some friends.  But Karen isn’t the only to experience symptoms.  Soon others are feeling sick as well.
 
But there’s one guy that is determined NOT to get infected and that is Jeff.  He runs off with a six pack of beer and hides out in the woods until whatever is making everyone sick goes away.  (Genius plan, I must say…another eye roll please.)
 
So, now we have Jeff hiding in the woods like a scared drunken rabbit.  We have Karen that has been put out of the cabin into a shed structure.  Paul, who tried to sleep with Karen, gets his kicks with Marcy.  And some people are just plain freaking out.
 
Now, through a series of events Paul discovers that the infection is in the water that they are using in the cabin that is being pumped from a nearby natural source that is contaminated.  But, by now, how many will be able to be saved?
 
Watch for yourself.
 
OPINION DOMINION
 
While this movie is completely predictable and lacking in true HORROR it does have a fairly decent gore factor and the story isn’t horrible.  The acting is average and acceptable.  It wasn’t painful to watch and I easily got through the whole movie with no issues.  I think the story unfolds well and, as always, I have left things out of my summary. I don’t want to give everything away. 
 
But this is a good horror flick for the average gore and grotesque lover.  The Jeff character is played so well that, even as a member of the viewing audience, I wanted to knock his teeth in.  I have seen this film a number of times so that should at least tell you a little something.  It’s not the greatest horror film by any means but it’s certainly not the worst by any measure either.
 
But seriously.  I thought it was good.  It moved quickly, there was humor in it, there was a lot of good gore and nasty and gross things to look at and the acting was not bad. It’s definitely a movie that everyone should watch at least once.
 
RATINGS
3.5/5 Stars