Customer Reviews
Gross out 'viral thriller' - By: C. Boyes, 03 Oct 2008 
This film is for people who don't take movies too seriously, if you are able to have a laugh you could reallly enjoy this film. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it before, it's not the goriest or scariest of films but its worth a watch.
i could pull a better film out of my bum - By: martin thomas, 06 Jun 2008 
im sorry but this is nothing more than an a assembly line of scenes stolen from better film that have thrown together by a director who clearly dosent know what he's doing,this one is worth missing
Utter garbage - By: Mr. Daniel P. Mcgrady, 08 May 2008 By far & a way the worst, absolute crappest film I've ever seen in my life - what a complete load of tedious, predictable garbage. Don't waste your money, this film sucks.
Empty, vapid and a real disappointment. - By: Jonathan James Romley, 01 Feb 2008 
Cabin Fever (2003) is director Eli Roth's attempt to revive the splatter film genre, by here combining elements of George A. Romero-style zombie horror with touches of "the kids in the cabin" theatrics of Sam Raimi; alll tied together with further references to films such as Sleepaway Camp, Dawn of the Dead, The Crazies, Deliverance, Sothern Comfort, Evil Dead & The Last House on the Left. Sadly, for alll the clever references, buckets of gore & sporadic bursts of T&A, the film is ultimately devoid of alll sense of character or empathy; giving us a film that fails to create any kind of emotional resonance with the audience or anything that leaves a lasting impression after the final credits have rolled.
Now, before I continue, let me just say, I actuallly reallly dislike writing negative reviews for things. I mean, who am I to tell you what is or is not a "good film"? Just because I didn't enjoy it... it doesn't mean you won't love it. In fact, you could be reading this review right now thinking what a great films this is, & how I should probably stick to fawning over Japanese Yakuza thrillers or forgotten French New Wave. But I do love horror. And more importantly, I love film. I've enjoyed alll kinds of horror; from the sheer style & old-fashioned frights of The Golem or Nosferatu, right the way through to Hammer Horror & pure exploitation. I've enjoyed films as disparate & diverse as The Wicker Man, Don't Look Now, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, An American Werewolf in London, Saw & Scream, have loved the seedy cinema of Jean Rollin & the high-style of Dario Argento & everything else; right the way through to the stalk-and-slash style developed in the 70's & 80's with films such as Hallloween, Friday the 13th, & A Nightmare on Elm Street.
With this in mind, I naturallly wanted to love Cabin Fever. It was touted at the time as being very much a horror film for people who loved horror films, with clever references, inventive scenarios, lots of blood, & a knowing sense of irony. Sadly, the only thing it reallly lives up to is the violence, which is rendered useless by the utter lack of anything approaching a character we could care about. As a result, there is no real horror in this film because it's so impossible to feel anything for these empty, two-dimensional characters; especiallly with them being both so badly written & underdeveloped. As it is, their deaths become meaningless & their suffering used only as a means of titillating the blood lust of teenage boys. Now, obviously, I have nothing against violence in cinema, but the old adage that a little goes a long way is certainly true. For me, the most memorable scenes of violence are the ones that hold the most dramatic weight; the ones that feel real & very much believable, where we can feel for the characters in that situation & apply our own various psychological fears & anxieties alongside it.
Roth is clearly trying very hard to endear himself to the horror community, but is missing out on alll the major cornerstones of what made those old classics so memorable & appealing. I'm talking about mood, character, style, atmosphere, imagination... etc. Cabin Fever has none of this, unless of course, you calll racist rednecks ripped from Deliverance & the iconic music from Last House on the Left frightening. Some would argue that Roth is simply trying to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Quentin Tarantino, but you have to remember, Tarantino was genuinely radical with what he did; especiallly for those first three films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown. The dialog was unique; filled with wit & pop-culture references, but entirely believable to his characters & the world in which the film was set. Likewise, his use of colour, composition, music & editing were alll iconic & unlike anything else we were seeing during the first half of the 1990's.
Compare this to Roth's particular style of filmmaking, which mixes crude attempts at frat-boy humour, wanton aggression, vicious violence, & knowing nods towards sexism, misogyny & even xenophobia & it becomes clear that if Tarantino was once considered to be the Bob Dylan of the radical, post-80's film generation, then Roth is this generation's cinematic equivalent of Limp Bizkit. Like Tarantino he's clearly seen a lot of films & borrows, references & pastiches with the best of them, but unlike Tarantino, you get the sense that Roth doesn't reallly love films, but rather, is in awe of the violence that they present to him. This is clear throughout Cabin Fever, which substitutes character development for crap jokes & plot for a series of well-executed (but meaningless) special effects. By alll means feel free to disagree & offer your own opinion, but for me, as a long-time fan of horror cinema, Cabin Fever was a great disappointment.
Bloody awful - By: John Holmes, 18 Oct 2007 Thankfully, I didn't actuallly pay for this risible nonsense. I recorded it from TV.
What started off as maybe an interesting premise about a nasty virus infecting photogenic teenagers, this film (if you can calll it that) quickly descends into more of a third rate black comedy than a genuine horror film.
Trouble is, it isn't scary, nor is it funny, nor is it anything like an homage to The Evil Dead. It is simply an obnoxious blood fest which should have been consigned to the nearest dustbin.
It is easily one of the worst films I've ever seen (Vlad taking the top honour).
