Cast:
Rider Strong (Paul), Jordan Ladd (Karen), James DeBello (Bert), Cerina Vincent (Marcy), Joey Kern (Jeff), Arie Verveen (Henry, The Hermit), Giuseppe Andrews (Deputy Winston), Eli Roth (Justin / Grimm), Adam Roth (The Happy Bald Guy), and Robert Harris (Old Man Cadwell) Directed by Eli Roth.
Review:
"At the time, everything was PG-13, and people told me nobody wanted violent horror films anymore. I was also told by “experts” that an R-rated horror film couldn’t make more than $15 million at the box office, which I knew was nonsense. I always believed if you gave people a great scary time at the movies, they’d come out in droves to see it."
Okay, I admit, the curiosity was there to wonder about Eli Roth as a director in horror. The Massachusetts native was interested in film from a very young age (as influenced by Alien [1979]), to the point where he made hundreds of short films before attending the Tisch School of the Arts. He worked a variety of odd jobs such as office work or for Penthouse or producing content for David Lynch. He wrote what would become this film as a script with his roommate Randy Pearlstein, which was inspired by an experience Roth had as a nineteen-year-old, where he handled horses at a family friend's farm and got a ringworm skin infection from dealing with hay that saw him bleed along with skin peeling off before he went to the hospital. So yes, a totally healthy person getting sick when something gets into him is what got him eventually on the road to making this film. Made in less than a month in shooting, Roth struggled when it came to living in his studio apartment (requiring his parents to loan him money) and also in finishing the film to mix and make prints (apparently it involved a VHS tape). Roth cited a screening at the very end of the Toronto Film Festival (after just managing to get a print made for late September 2002) as being key to getting proper distribution, which came after a bidding war won by Lionsgate. The film, released in September 2003, was fairly successful for the budget it was made (roughly $1.5 million); this also included a couple of recommendations on the Internet, whether that was Quentin Tarantino or Peter Jackson. Two sequels followed that were done by different directors with smaller distribution with Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009) and Cabin Fever: Patient Zero (2014) before a remake (as executive produced by Roth) followed in 2016. Since the success of the film, Roth has directed, written. and produced a variety of features (mostly in horror), such as the first two Hostel films (2005, 2007) or The Green Inferno (2013).
Admittedly, the film is infectious to a certain type of viewer when it comes to its dwelling in horror and comedy, which led to a few critiques of being uneven in either. But if people can crow all they want about The Blair Witch Project (1999) and how it was so good when it came to found-footage horror despite being monumentally overrated with its particular type of characters (read: losers), why the hell would I not give slack to a film like this that is more offbeat and, dare I say it, one that actually gets to the point? Embracing the crude (there's a punchline in the ending that loops to the opening that somehow comes about from what is said and seen involving a store owner) when it comes to horror films is something I can't argue against when I actually care about what I am watching. It is a familiar movie at times (The Evil Dead, Deliverance, take your pick), whether that involves the usual suspects of folks causing a ruckus in the woods dovetailing with a possible plague. I actually kind of dig the idea of these imbeciles all getting taken down by going too far in their own human choices. Strong (one of the stars of Boy Meets World, really) might be the best in terms of light performances that inhabit the film, but there is something amusing at times when it comes to DeBello and his thick-headed performance. In a way, the film is about the pitfalls of where prejudice can befall any one of us, whether that involves how horrid a person looks or because they are outsiders. Granted, it isn't exactly the profound type of reaching point, but the film still manages to keep enough focus for a useful 94-minute feature. It takes the time to know these loonies and their proclivities for swears and sex that is, well, familiar to those who know people like that (I can't say I know people who would handle a sick man at the door like that, but being let down by folks you know isn't exactly an experience limited to folks like you or me). One highlight beyond just saying that scene involving "pancakes" (well, these folks are more than just in danger of getting sick from a flesh thing) is probably the one where the skin comes off when someone tries to shave their legs and they just keep going. Well, that, or an ending that sees one character show just a bit too much confidence in themselves or a gradually revealed place of one particular type of townies. As a whole, the film runs through the familiar grounds you might have traveled before in horror with tinges of comedy, but those that buy into what it is selling will be just fine with the film as a creation of the 2000s in all of its standing.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next: Rosemary's Baby.
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