CABIN FEVERUSA, 2002
Director: Eli Roth
7/10
My frequent readers know that I'm a HUGE hater of torture-porn poster-child Eli Roth. IMO he's an annoying self-pretentious douchebag, a mediocre and not-so-talented director, and all of his full-length features (yes, all three) are overrated and overhyped, thanks to the cocksuckery of Quentin Tarantino and Peter Jackson.
That said, I have to admit that over the years I became quite a fan of "Cabin Fever", Roth's best movie so far. It's no masterpiece (like some people continue to claim) and it's far from being perfect (very slow build-up, horrid pacing), but it's so full of amusing characters and memorable scenes, you just have to love it.
The cast is fun and nearly everyone delivers a cool performance, especially Cerina Vincent ("Jeff's mom got the stupidest ideas. 'Let's get a cabin'... so gay."), Jordan Ladd ("That guy asked for our help. We lit him on fire. You'll understand if I'm not in a particularly social mood."), Giuseppe Andrews ("All the girls see you walking down the street. They don't know you've got 5 pounds of dangling meat.") and a super-hilarious James DeBello.
("Burt! What the hell is that?" - "Huh? Oh, I'm gonna go shoot some squirrels."
"Why would you wanna kill squirrels?" - "'Cause they're gay."
"Burt, don't be a fucking retard!" - "I'm kidding. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I'll kill them either way.").
The gore is not as insane as expected, but still pretty gross. There's the nasty scene where the guy rubs the infected girl's blood-dripping pussy, and the painful scene where the other girl shaves the skin off of her legs. We get to see people vomiting buckets of blood, a screwdriver stabbed into an ear, hacked off limbs, decomposing bodies and a girl's face chewed off by a dog.
Other hilarious highlights: the PANCAKES! boy, the guy who accidentally swallows a harmonica, the old shopkeeper and his niggers, and the outrageous campfire story about the bowling massacre.
The movie is well shot and well directed, camera work and editing are decent and the soundtrack is pretty eerie.
Overall, a fun little gore-flick. In terms of Cabin-themed movies, a way more entertaining movie than "Cabin In The Woods". I mean it!
Wiki ~ Imdb
CABIN FEVER 2: SPRING FEVER
Alternate Title:
Cabin Fever 2
USA, 2007/2009
Director: Ti West
7/10
Alternate Title:
Cabin Fever 2
USA, 2007/2009
Director: Ti West
7/10
Oh my goodness, nearly everyone seems to hate this movie. The critics, the bloggers, the horror websites. Hell, even director Ti West hates it, or at least the final cut which which differs from his orginal version as it was radically re-cut by the studios.
Well, I admit: the movie has its problems (mediocre build-up, totally unsatisfying ending), but all in all, I enjoyed it about as much as the first part. I mean it!
Well, I admit: the movie has its problems (mediocre build-up, totally unsatisfying ending), but all in all, I enjoyed it about as much as the first part. I mean it!
"Cabin Fever 2" is hilariously funny and completely over-the-top, packed with gallons of gore (loads of people vomiting blood, dismembered limbs, fallen out teeth, pulled off fingernails, death by nailgun, death by fire extinguisher, the bloody afterbirth spraying out of a girl's vagina, bashed heads, smashed faces etc. etc.)
and extremely disgusting scenes (people vomiting pus, close-up of a penis with blood and pus flowing out, a girl slowly spitting out a huge amount of sperm, a guy pissing blood into a bowl of punch, etc.).
Visually, it's not as great as Part 1, but it has a way cooler soundtrack [Patrick Hernandez - BORN TO BE ALIVE / Paul Zaza & Carl Zittrer - TONIGHT IT'S PROM NIGHT / The Cave Singers - DANCING ON OUR GRAVES (god, how I adore this song!!)],
lots of fantastic nods and references to great genre classics ("Carrie", "Prom Night 1&2", "Evil Dead 2", "Irreversible"), and an amazing-looking animated opening credits sequence (see below).
The acting is neat and the characters are all fun, most notably Noah Segan ("Fuck you! He's the worst human being in this fucking school and you... are the best! How does that work, huh?"), Rusty Kelley ("Sandy is not your type? What does that even mean? Does that mean you're gay?")
and, again, Giuseppe Andrews ("Wanna know what kinda pussy you gonna get for this? Oh man, you're gonna get the Sashimi!" - "What's that?" - "Man, that's the Primo Pussy, man. No smell!").
Hardcore fans of Eli Roth and Ti West - Stay away!
Everyone else - turn off your brain and enjoy! :-)
Posts
Looks gory enough for me!
ReplyDeleteYes, these are definitely 2 fantastically gory movies :)
DeleteCabin Fever kept me holding out hope for great things from Roth, needless to say he let me down with the Hostel flicks, still enjoy Fever but just watch it now and wonder what happened to all the promise I saw in him.
ReplyDeleteSurprised part 2 is good stuff, I may have to give it a run since its on Netflx streaming!
Well said, Daniel. Cabin Fever was a great debut, but Hostel 1 & 2 just disappointed. He's currently working on a Cannibal-Holocaust-like horror movie. My expectations are pretty low :)
DeleteI hope you like it. Don't expect a masterpiece. Just turn off your brain, have some beer and enjoy the gore :)
I was working in a bookstore some years ago, deciding what to do about my work in the film industry - take another shot, or do something else. In order to resist temptation I was living with family and working 4 hours from here in Wilmington. So, one evening, I hear a strangely familiar pair of voices in my store - walk around to see who it is - and it's two Wilmington stuntmen I knew well from my film days - John Copeman and Dino Muccio! We all greeted each other - and I asked what they were doing way over in High Point - knowing it had to be some film or TV show. "We're working on a little crappy horror movie called Cabin Fever out in the boonies around here!" So that was my introduction to Cabin Fever. Later after it's finished, I hear it's horrifying and nasty per festival screening reviews. It finally opens there in town a while later - I promptly buy a ticket and sit down - and I thought the movie SUCKED. Not scary - misplaced humor - the supposedly nauseating gore was lightweight - bunch of numbnut filmmakers who were all buddies out in the woods making each other laugh does not a horror movie make.
ReplyDeleteSo time passes, I give up the retail game and come back to Wilmington to approach the film industry from the writing side. And what do I hear is shooting right there in town? Cabin Fever 2! Everywhere I went there for a while - they shot a Cabin Fever movie! It wrapped, then didn't come out for a LONG time. I did hear from crew friends that the copious amounts of blood released during shooting did cause blood to run in the water system for months after wrap! I finally broke down and saw this during the first Crazy Movie Weekend last September - and I liked it - finding it FAR more entertaining than the first one, even in its producer-compromised form.
Harry - when you make it over here for some movie marathon antics - let's try to find Eli Roth and kick him in the balls!
LOL Awesome stories. Looks like the curse of Cabin Fever is following you everywhere you're going :-D
DeleteI remember how everyone said how brutal and horrifying CF is - well, it isn't, but I think it's still a fun movie.
CF2 is one of the most underrated horror sequel of all time. I just don't get all the hate. I mean, hardcore b-horror freaks adore every single silly lowest-budget gorefest - but why they don't adore this one too is beyond me.
Yes, let's go find that little fuck :)
Roth and West: never knew the geniuses had it in them
ReplyDeleteEven a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn :D
DeleteI hate what I've seen of Eli Roth as a person, too, and there are several things about all his movies that piss me off, BUT I love the concept of both Cabin Fever and Hostel and I love the movies for the most part. They both just could have done with a lot less douchebaggery.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the concepts of CF and Hostel are definitely awesome - but the movies... well, I like CF, Hostel is ok but immensely overrated and Hostel 2 just sucks.
DeleteRoth himself is an unbearable idiot, far from being as talented as he believes he is. Still, I'm somewhat interested in his upcoming cannibal-project.