Cabin Fever (2002)

Strangely enough, I've never seen Cabin Fever.  I really love Eli Roth and yay, disgusting flesh-eating viruses, so it's weird that I've never gotten around to this flick.  But now it's out on Blu-Ray and that's the only excuse I really need, so let's check it out.

I feel like Cabin Fever was expressly written to be a cult-like 20-somethings movie a la I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, et al.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  This movie is rife with sex, booze, and endless cliches and that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it.  It's also chock-full of homages to horror classics, from the infamous cabin in the woods (Evil Dead) to the fact that the crew is listening to "The Road Leads to Nowhere" (The Last House on the Left).

Cabin Fever is about a group of college students who head to a remote cabin post-graduation.  There's Paul (Rider Strong) who harbors a secret crush on close friend Karen (Jordan Ladd), insatiable couple Bert (James DeBello) and Marcy (Cerina Vincent) and annoying macho tagalong Jeff (Joey Kern).  We even get a fun cameo by Mr. Roth himself.  They stop in a random general store to buy beer, and are harassed by the store's owner, as well as bitten by some strange kid.  But, the group moves on, excited to start a week of partying with no classes or distractions.

They arrive to find that the house is in good shape, but quite secluded.  Paul and Karen take off to go swimming, which Bert and Marcy lock themselves in the bedroom for some adult fun.  Jeff, in his typical fashion, takes off to shoot squirrels.  On said shooting expedition, he runs into a bloody vagrant who begs for help.  Jeff ignores him and returns to the house.  Later that evening, the group's fun is interrupted by a knock at the door.  It's the creepy guy again, looking worse for the wear.  They try to get him off the property, but instead, he bleeds all over everything, destroys the car, and takes off for places unknown.

From here, things pretty much go downhill for our happy campers.  With a non-working vehicle and no phone, there's no help to be found as Karen falls ill.  The remaining healthy friends search for nearby help, but to no avail.  They begin to turn against each other as things become bloodier...

This was a fun and gory movie, and I liked it.  Sure it had some amateur elements and you could have cut the crazy pancakes kid and some other nonsense.  But it was a good time and I'd definitely see it again.

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