Cabin Fever (2003) (R) ★★★½

Five friends isolated in a cabin contract a deadly flesh-eating virus and are forced to fight the disease--or fight off their closest friends.

Story

New grads Paul (Rider Strong), Karen (Jordan Ladd), Jeff (Joey Kern) Marcy (Cerina Vincent) and Bert (James Debello), head off to a cabin in the woods to let off some post-college steam before entering the working world. They are a pretty likeable bunch except for Bert, who gets drunk and starts shooting at squirrels with a rifle--and then accidentally shoots a stranger in the woods. Bert keeps mum about the incident until the man, projectile vomiting blood and looking like he's been skinned alive, shows up at the cabin and tries to take their truck. While trying to stop him, Paul unintentionally sets him on fire and the gang watches as he runs ablaze into the woods. What they don't know, however, is that he had a contagious flesh-eating virus. When his charred body falls into the local water reservoir, everyone becomes vulnerable. The first to gulp down a glass of water filled with strange, chunky particles is Karen, whom they forcibly quarantine in a shed behind the cabin when she begins to show signs of the disease. Before long, the fear of contagion turns the remaining four against one another. What's more, a local lynch mob has formed in order to track down and kill anyone who may have come in contact with the virus, which has apparently threatened this small town before. Cabin Fever is definitely a rollicking ride; it will scare you, gross you out and make you laugh.

Acting

Like most low-budget horror films, Cabin Fever's cast isn't exactly stellar, yet the young actors and actresses really elevate the material. The most refreshing thing about the characters is that they react to what is happening to them in a way you and I probably would as opposed to the typical slasher-flick way: Instead of banding together against the common enemy, they bicker, act like cowards and put themselves first. Strong, who last appeared in My Giant but is probably better known as Shawn from the TV series Boy Meets World, emerges as a capable lead as Paul, the most sensible of the group. Although his character comes across as somewhat brighter and more sensitive than the rest, he is still immature enough to try to cop a feel when his love interest Karen is sleeping and feeling under the weather. Karen, meanwhile, is played by Ladd, who has had small roles in several movies including The Specials and Never Been Kissed. Her character is the most compassionate of the gang, and Karen reacts more intensely to events than the others. Kern as cocky know-it-all Jeff, Vincent as slutty tough chick Marcy and Debello as party boy Bert perfectly round out the diverse cast of characters.

Direction

Because of its gruesome subject matter, it is difficult to describe such a vile movie as being good, or even well made, but this one really is. In his feature directorial debut, helmer Eli Roth delivers a truly disturbing horror picture. While most pics of this genre tend to look cold and gritty, Roth saturates his sets with golden, ambient lighting that brightly contrasts the film's dark, dismal subject matter. And dismal is putting it mildly: Cabin Fever shows viewers things that most movies don't because they would be considered too disturbing. Case in point: When the intoxicated Bert drives off for help in his pickup and hits a deer, the animal doesn't just die on impact but struggles in pain, its hind legs flailing through the windshield. Such disturbing imagery escalates by degrees until the very end, when the film takes on a weird surreal quality. For example, the scenes of Paul being pushed through a hospital on a gurney have a dreamlike feel bound to make moviegoers question if what is happening is real. The film's score also has all sorts of unusual instrumental influences, including a Twin Peaks-inspired number when a sheriff comes to investigate the cabin and a Deliverance-type banjo ditty to accompany the locals folk in front of the general store, which adds a touch of humor at the most unlikely moment.

Bottom Line

Eli Roth's extremely disturbing and grotesque Cabin Fever is an artfully executed horror picture with creative characters and a stimulating storyline that will grip you from start to finish.