Dir. Eli Roth, US, 2002, 93 mins
Cast: Rider Strong, Jordan Ladd, Joey Kern, Cerina Vincent, James DeBello
Celebrating the end of their college days together Paul (Rider Strong) and his friends Karen (Jordan Ladd), Bert (James DeBello), Marcy (Cerina Vincent) and Jeff (Joey Kern) head off to stay in a cabin in the backwoods of Carolina. However, soon after their arrival they have a nightmarish encounter with a strange and horribly disfigured man who wanders from the woods asking for their help. Things rapidly take another terrible turn for the worse when one of the kids becomes ill with a mysterious flesh eating disease. The remaining friends realise that in order to survive they must defend themselves not only against the sickening disease, but also against the weird local hicks, and even against each other.
Eli Roth's feature debut is a watchable but fairly lightweight take on very familiar horror material. He's got the stock group of friends, the remote cabin in the woods, the freakish neighbours, lots of blood, and there's even a big snarling hellhound. The idea of a flesh-eating virus has some potential given the media hysteria's of recent years, but Roth fails to convey the real panic and horror inherent in his premise. The relationships between his leads are so flimsy that there is no sense of shock when they begin to turn on each other. In fact the film's best moments are those which feature quirky minor characters - the high-talking old man who runs the general store, the feral child who sits on the swing-bench outside - played by unknowns. Giuseppe Andrews as the bizarre local Deputy Winston also gives a fantastic and very funny performance. All in all Cabin Fever is undemanding Halloween fodder - as cheap as a pair of eyeballs on springs and about as scary, but good fun all the same.
Elizabeth Griffin
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