Review of "Cabin Fever" DVD (2003)

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com

Kids in the woods, with a car that won't start. Sexy young lovelies and the awkward boys who lust after them. A lonely cabin and a scary sheriff's deputy. Blood. Lots of blood. If all of this sounds familiar, it isn't. Did you notice I didn't mention a maniacal killer?

Cabin Fever is the story of five college cuties off to spend a weekend in the woods, where they have rented a rustic log cabin and brought plenty of beer. Before long, boy meets flesh-eating virus and everything starts to go terribly wrong.

Wrong for the characters, that is -- in the movie everything goes just right for us horror mavens. Writer/Director Eli Roth has done a great job of paying tribute to some of his favorite films (Evil Dead, Friday the 13th) and evoking just the flavor without ripping off the whole recipe. Roth brings a fresh twist to a story that could easily be written off as Blair Witch Project meets 28 Days Later.

Cabin Fever showcases the usual suspects with above-average  actors to lend some credibility to the  clichés: there's the nice, clean cut guy with a dark side, Paul (Rider Strong from Disney TV's Boy Meets World); the too sweet blonde tease, Karen (Jordan Ladd, daughter of a certain Charlie's Angel); the sex kitten Marcy (Cerina Vincent, who made an unforgettable appearance in Not Another Teen Movie); the self-absorbed good looking guy, Jeff (Joey Kern, from Grind); and the coarse jokester Bert (James DeBello, from Swimfan).

The kiddies have to contend with the local yokels, a crazed and diseased hunter, a pot-smoking camper (director Roth in a fun cameo) and his rabid dog, a blood-and-vomit soaked truck that won't start, and something that is killing them off one by one.

Cabin Fever does have a very off-kilter sense of humor -- you'll either get it, or you won't. (Same goes for the flesh eating virus, known as Necrotising Fasciitis to doctorly types. It takes the lives of about 1,500 folks annually).

Additional release material on the DVD includes several audio commentaries, plus a fun making-of featurette. Not so fun are the director's shorts ("Rotten Fruit" which, as far I can tell, have nothing to do with the movie) and a kung-fu short called "Pancakes!" (the Dennis character was amusing in the movie, but personally I don't need to see any more of him). There is also a "music-only" track, with which you can watch the movie.