Cabin Fever DVD > Reviews > More like... 'Cabin Mild Temperature!'

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Very ordinary
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Unmemorable

Advantages:	Gory effects (if u like that kind of thing)
Disadvantages:	Annoying characters, pointless, unoriginal

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I had been told by a friend of mine to avoid this movie as it wasn't very good! But I joined an online rental place (screenselect.co.uk - review to follow!) and I had to pick around 20 movies that I was intersted in so I just put this one on my list. Surely enough, it was in the first batch of movies that fell on my door mat!

The movie follows a group of 5 college graduates who have rented a cabin for a week. Surprisingly the cabin is out in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest town is full of strange local types who don't take well to strangers.

On the first day at the cabin, 3 of the twenty-somethings go on a wonder and explore the surrounding woods. Cleverly, one of them decides to wonder off alone and shoot things!

On his travels he accidentally shoots an injured man, believing him to be some sort of woodland creature. The man is still alive but not too impressed at having just been shot. As the man stumbles out of the crevis where he lay, we see that things aren't right with him. He looks zombie-like and something is eating away at his skin.

Shooting at him to keep him away, the GI Joe returns to the cabin and to his friends for a night of drunken merriment. Does he tell his friends that there's a weird man in the woods.... No!

The diseased ridden, and gun shot wounded, man finds his way to our 5 adventurers' cabin where he begs for help. But instead of remaining calm and helping the needy stranger, they attack him in fear that he's contagious!

With the man gone, the group are left shaken and just wish to go home, but one by one they begin to turn ill. How can this be when they didn't come into direct contact with the strange man? Can any of them get help in time before the flesh eating virus consumes them all?

The suspense in this movie is practically non existent. In reflection of the Blair Wicth Project I found myself getting annoyed at the characters, and didn't really care if they died or not!? Instead of communicating with each other, they fight among themselves and instead of staying together they all wonder off!

The hostility of the local towns people is a little overdone, both in horror movies in general, and in this movie imparticular. When help is asked for, the local shopkeeper's answer is to kill them all with guns...! Of course it is, "Yes sir, the hospital is that way, but I'm gonna grab my gun and kill you instead!" (Not an actual quote!)

The local deputy is a junkie who loves to party and get laid, and when he's called in to check up on the disturbances at the cabin he is so incompetent he can't even arrange a tow truck. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that the truck they travelled in, is now broken! This is practically verging on the ridiculous!

And, in this day and age, who goes to a cabin with no telephone and no TV anyway!? Haven't they heard of Oasis?!

This movie has nothing of any originality in the main bulk of the story. There is a slight attempt at irony at the end, but you may miss it. That's if you're even still watching of course.

This movie kind of plodded along relying on gory effects to make up for the lack of tension. There is the odd jump out of your seat moment but again, nothing that hasn't already been done!

I certainly wouldn't recommend this movie to any friends of mine. But if you insist on still watching then don't expect anything more than a cheap and cheesy horror that could have been pulled straight out of the 80s!

I'd put this movie on par with Jeepers Creepers1.

Technical Stuff:
Duration: 1 hour 31 mins (approx)

Director: This movie was directed by Eli Roth, and as far as I know it is his debut effort... good luck for the future Eli!

Cast: Arie Verveen, Rider Strong, Cerina Vincent, Guiseppe Andrews, Christy Ward, James DeBello and Joey Kern.

All these guys are pretty much unknowns, but I do recognise Rider Strong as Shawn from Boy Meets World!

DVD Extras:
Audio commentaries
Eli Roth Featurette
'Beneath The Skin' Featurette
The Rotten Fruit
TV spots
Theatrical trailer
Interactive menu
Scene selection

I didn't watch the majority of extras on this DVD as I wasn't really impressed by the movie! But I gave a look at the Eli Roth featurette. It tells of how he's been watching horrors since he was 8 years old and so developed a passion for the genre! But after seeing a scary movie he would rush out of the theatre and throw up... A pyschiatrist's dream patient I imagine!

Thanks for reading, you come back y'all...