The obvious one here is Freddy vs. Jason, which has two 80s Horror Icons duking it out. That seemed to really be the only major one -- the other big ticket Hollywood Horror releases this year reflect more on the 70s than the 80s (read: TCM, Wrong Turn, House of 1000 Corpses, etc.). This little picture, though, is also a nod to the "Golden Days Of Grue" that were the 1980s, starting with its cool poster art (and possibly the best tagline for a horror film since the original Dawn Of The Dead.)
Our story begins with 5 friends setting off to (where else?) a cabin in the woods to celebrate college graduation. (Well, ACTUALLY, it starts out with a little scene of a trapper in the woods, who returns to camp to find his pooch seemingly hollowed out. I guess he forgot to get the worming done!) The kids don't get very far before the weirdness hits though, when a stop at a side of the road general store ends up with nice guy Paul* getting bitten by a weird kid sitting on the swing outside. They get some supplies and food, and then get out of there before any more people get bitten. They soon end up at the cabin, where Jeff and his girl Marcy (Maya from "Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy!" Whoa!) get bizz-ay, goofball Burt goes off to shoot squirrels ("Cuz they're gay!"), and Paul and longtime female-friend-but-not-girlfriend Karen go check out the lake.
Burt keeps good on his promise and tries to shoot some squirrels with his BB gun. Unfortunately for him, he actually shoots the trapper from before! Even before being shot, the guy doesn't look so hot, as it seems some kind of flesh eating disease has taken hold of him. Burt panics, and threatens to shoot the guy if he doesn't keep away, which he keeps his promise on. Burt runs back to the cabin, and plays it off, not telling anyone about his run-in with the hermit. That night, though, while trading masturbation stories (??!!), the old germbag shows up at the cabin, pleading for help. Karen wants to help him, but Burt and Jeff refuse, locking him outside. Faced with little alternative, the hermit tries to steal Jeff's Blazer, prompting the kids to arm themselves and attack the guy. This is not that good of a solution though, as it causes the guy to vomit blood ALL OVER the truck, covering almost the whole thing! One thing leads to another and Paul winds up lighting the guy on fire. So all in all their vacation has gotten off to a rough start.
The next day as they argue about what to do, Jeff and Burt wander around looking for someone to take them to town to get the truck fixed. Marcy, meanwhile takes off in a canoe across the lake to find help, while Paul and Karen stay at the cabin. What none of them see is that the hermit ended up doing a faceplant in the resovour, which leads (via pipes of course) directly to the tap water in the cabin... which Paul promptly pours a glass of for Karen, who promptly drinks it. Doh! Right around this time, Jeff and Burt discover who it is they killed (a cousin of a woman they find slaughtering a hog which has been infected with the same virus). Despite the fact that she is going to help them, they quickly get out of there lest questions start to get raised. Back at the cabin, Deputy Winston (Lex from Detroit Rock City!) has arrived to investigate. Paul tells him... mostly the truth, omitting the part with the fire. Winston doesn't seem too concerned, instead trying to get Paul (and presumably Karen) to come party with him later on. After a bit of this recruitment, Winston leaves (on bike, haha) and the others come back.
Considering the situation, things seem to be going alright. Karen is very tired and has not left the bed all day. Paul comes to check on her, and she asks him to stay, which he of course (being a guy) does. A little later, as Paul starts, ahem, handling the situation, he makes a shocking discovery: the flesh where he was doing his thing on Karen's crotch and upper thighs is now a bloody mass! Panicking, the others lock Karen out in the shed to contain her. With one of their own infected, the other 4 quickly start turning on each other, paranoid that any one of them could be infected and contagious. The snooty Jeff refuses to eat the food Maya, err, I mean Marcy has prepared, out of fear of infection. Plus, to make matters worse, the seemingly crazed dog of a stoner skater they met earlie has decided that he likes the taste of rotting flesh, and is trying to get inside the shed.
The next morning, as Burt gets the truck repaired enough to make it to town, he discovers that he is also infected. Trying his hardest to keep it together, everything falls apart when his illness becomes apparent. Pissed off at all the fighting, Burt speeds off in the truck to find help. Jeff then takes all the remaining beer and goes out into the woods to avoid the others, a hankercheif over his mouth the entire time. Karen, meanwhile, is decaying quickly, and needs help soon if she is going to survive. This doesn't have much effect on Marcy, though, who, thinking she is going to die, decides to seduce Paul, who (being a guy) accepts this idea without question. This leads to an amusing scene featuring some Listerine in a place you would not expect. (I'll leave it to the imagination.) It soon becomes evident that Marcy is also infected, as the skin on her back and legs begins to give up the ship. Burt doesn't fair much better, and by the time he makes it to the general store, looks like crap. Of course, this means that the crazy kid (with his battlecry of "PANCAKES!") bites him -- prompting the kid's father and two friends/brothers/fellow hicks to get in their truck to hunt down Burt!
From there, things start to get really ugly, with the crazed dog trying to get at both Karen and Marcy, and Burt being tracked through the woods by a trio of guys with murder on their minds, while Paul desperately tries to find Jeff. Will the secret of how the Cabin Fever spreads be found -- and if so, will anyone survive to tell about it? This ends up going off in ALL SORTS of directions before the end, so stick around!
Cabin Fever has a good amount of merits in its favor. The premise is excellent, and the KNB effects are downright sickening. Its a pretty nonlinear storyline, which can be hard to follow at times but generally works itself out nicely. The script shows some roughness at spots, making the fact that his is Writer/Director Eli Roth's first film, but taken on the whole its a good effort. The acting is nothing spectacular, of course, and there are logical flaws here and there (which may or may not be intentional). The characters are for the most part unlikeable, even the foppish de-facto hero Paul, who is hard to buy as the hardass protagonist in the final reel. There's certainly a lot of good ideas here, and I am of the belief that Roth, given some more time and money, could have turned out a real modern classic.
As it stands though, Cabin Fever is an enjoyable way to get spooked, but little more. It lacks good pacing, and there are a few elements which could have been either editted sharper or exorcised completely. The direction is nothing special, and some of the "weird" stuff is simply left unexplained, which is a bit annoying. The Evil Dead references are fun, along with an ending where, if I was to name the film it refers to, I would be spoiling it. The best visual ED reference comes in the final act, when we see the advanced stages of the disease on Karen. Just check out this picture, and all you Raimi fans will think the same thing I did: "Give us a kiss, loverboy!"
The other great ED nod is in the credits. Just watch carefully and you will see a credit for "Fake Shemp." If that isn't enough of an obscure reference, I don't know what else I can do for you. Except to suggest that you seek professional help.
Overall, I found Cabin Fever to be fun in a vapid way. This is not a film with a lot of lasting implications, and it certainly has its share of problems. I can't say that, given the hype it received, I wasn't a little disappointed in the final product being so "ordinary." But, as a small, independant horror film, it certainly hits enough of the right buttons to be worthy of catching. Fake Shemps and all.
