CABIN FEVER DVD
By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

Lions Gate Entertainment / $26.99 / Rated R / Widescreen 2:35:1 / 92 Minutes / English 5.1 Surround & Dolby Surround / English & French Subtitles / Trailer

Finally, a horror film about vicious, mean kids only interested in self-preservation! Five vacationing college kids, cute Karen (Jordan Ladd), sweet Paul (Rider Strong), temptress Marcy (Cerina Vincent-who provides the requisite teen sex and bath nudity), pretty Bert (James DeBello), and obnoxious Jeff (Joey Kern), set out to spend a week in an isolated cabin in the woods. Loudmouth Jeff, who thoughtfully brought along an assault carbine to shoot rabbits, accidentally hits a very sick man (Arie Verveen) spitting blood. He’s been infected with a mysterious, flesh-eating virus. Instead of helping the man when he comes to their cabin door, the teens quickly assume he’s contagious, bludgeon him, and set him on fire. They all simply rationalize away their behavior. Call the police? It is placed under discussion. When the man’s body falls into a reservoir, he infects the drinking water.

Virginal Karen is the first to sip some water. She starts bleeding profusely. There is no sympathy for Karen. She is immediately locked up in a shed and left. Bert is horrified. He wisely dons a towel over his mouth for the rest of the movie. Having destroyed the car themselves when the infected man attempted to get away in it, they are stuck without transportation, no phone, and hillbilly neighbors not receptive to outsiders. Each goes off in pursuit of help, entering other people’s homes and meeting up with uncooperative locals. When they do get the car started, nobody wants to touch or even sit next to Karen. Bert, my personal hero, abandons the group. Whatever it is, it might be airborne.

A wonderful bow to David Lynch appears in the person of Deputy Winston (Giuseppe Andrews). He taunts the audience momentarily sidetracking us. What’s up with him? The splattering horror of blood and oozing sores keeps the teens and us on a frenzied roller coaster ride that is creepy, funny, and malicious. All the characters are smartly drawn. There’s not one idiot among them. Writer/director Eli Roth disrupts the genre by toying with outright racism and gay slurs. He taunts us with the question: What the hell does this racist comment mean?

Roth gives his characters a mean-spirited edge. There is always one character that cries a lot, does something furiously stupid, and falls down while being pursued by a crazed maniac. The others stop and go back to help. In CABIN FEVER, such noble self-sacrifice would be laughed at. And the end? Roth delivers on all levels a highly enjoyable teen horror movie. If you thought the dreadful DREAMCATCHER killed the genre, Roth has gloriously resurrected it.

The DVD extras: The sickest films are the most fun to make! Eli Roth is a Generation-X guy in his twenties with a big smile on his face who appears in the terrific behind-the-scenes tracks with his dad. Roth is clearly a fun-loving prankster who wants to share with us the "joyous" experience of making CABIN FEVER. The DVD has so many extras and, in a tribute to the designers, they got it all on a single disc. This is also a “how to make" a horror movie training class.

"Cabin Fever: Beneath The Skin" is a 30-minute documentary on the design of the cabin, the music (Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch's composer, plays one of the film's themes on the piano), the gory effects, (Roth loves covering his actors in blood!) the training of the "killer" dogs (they picked one that worked with Patrick Swazye in "Black Dog," but it was fired for being too nice!). There are also some clips from the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, where CABIN FEVER was shown to a packed theater (there was a huge bidding war to produce the movie, and Lions Gate won).

On the DVD you get a "Family Version" of CABIN FEVER! (Okay, it's only a minute long) and a feature called "Chick Vision" which will "automatically block out the most frightening scenes as they approach, offering a happier viewing experience." Simulated fingers "cover" the screen, though not every "frightening" image is covered up (this was probably done on purpose). It's like when your girlfriend covers her face at the movies, when she thinks a "frightening image" will appear. We'll be seeing this on television soon: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre tonight on FOX- in Chick Vision!"

The CABIN FEVER DVD has five (count 'em, five!) commentary tracks, the second-most of any DVD I've seen (THE RULES OF ATTRACTION DVD has six commentaries, and that's a Lions Gate DVD, too). All five commentary tracks feature Eli Roth: A Director's commentary; Roth with "The Guys" of Cabin Fever; Roth with "The Girls;" Roth with the filmmakers; and Roth with star Rider Strong "who talked so damn much we had to move him to another track." The DVD also has some weird home movies and food animation under the sections "Pancakes" and "The Rotten Fruit."

Victoria Alexander can be reached by visiting FilmsInReview.com or, directly, at masauu@aol.com