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© DSFC |
CABIN
FEVER
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| SICKNESS SWEET | ||||||||||||
| by
pat I see a lot of horror movies. Shocking, isn't it? I know the tricks, I know the rhythms, the patterns, the characters, and so on. It's tough to surprise me, make me pull back in my seat, and most importantly, it's very tough to keep me from thinking so far ahead of the movie that I usually spend the last act just waiting for it all to be over, not matter how much I'm enjoying the execution, because I have it all figured out. You almost always can tell early on who will live and who will die, what the last shot will be, or what the big surprise will be. Not here. I'm going to, by necessity, have a few spoilers, but I'll try to be vague. Before I do, though, in case that scares you off (and I do recommend seeing this with as little knowledge going in as possible, like I did), as a blanket statement I have to say this is definitely worth seeing. The hype machine will probably make you think this is the bee's knees, the freshest thing in years, and so forth, and I'd hate for that to put forth expectations that no movie can ever live up to. In truth, what we have here is a movie that is incredibly fun. You'll jump, you'll cringe, you'll laugh, you'll get those sympathetic twinges, and as long as you don't let all of us that have seen it and totally loved it gush about it until our gushing floats the bar above reason, there's no good reason you should be disappointed. This movie is entertaining as hell. Now we get into dangerous territory for those who want to remain as unspoiled as wax fruit, which doesn't really spoil, unlike normal fruit or milk, but nobody ever made wax milk, thank goodness. Yuck. Anyway, the loose plot is that five college students go into the woods at the end of their semester to party. There's a really sick guy in the woods, and not in that new slang way. He makes an Ebola monkey look like Howard Hughes. Not literally, but now I have this tragic but adorable image of a monkey with a white beard, long fingernails, and bleeding eyes. Poor monkey. So stuff happens, and now they're stuck in the woods, not sure if they are contaminated or not, unclear on how this spreads, and essentially up the river to Aintry without a bow and arrow. I'm really trying not to ruin any of the scenes that worked, because that's the fun of it. Argh, stupid restraint! I've seen it! Damn those who haven't! I'll be good. Change topic. The jock character. Yeah. The jock character, Bert, is the kind I usually hate in a movie. They have generic lines, loud obnoxious behavior, and are typically the ones who make the dumbest decisions, costing everyone dearly. Bert is a bit loud and obnoxious, but when he is, he's actually damn funny. You never wonder why these people are friends with him, or why he's with them. He shows an amazing amount of range for what I consider one of the worst stock conventions to put into a horror movie. The whole cast has a good chemistry and charm, one that makes you really feel like you know them and feel sorry for them, but I figured the best example would be that this movie actually took someone I typically hate and make him one of my favorite characters. Very impressive. A lot of promotion I've seen concentrates on the horror angle, and rightfully so. It is, at core, a horror movie, and one with some great scares and a lot of suspense. I'd feel remiss, though, if I didn't point out the comedy. It's not prevalent enough to make you think they weren't taking the movie seriously, but it shows that they had a sense of fun. There are some absolutely great gags, some with quick payoffs, and a few toward the end that just kill. I initially though the epilogue was almost too funny, seeing what the general impression of the film was, but the more I though about the stuff that happened, the happier I was it was there. It gave the audience the resolution that fit the story, but still made sure that those who might not have liked it left smiling, ready to pass along a good word from a last impression. Overall, this was just a clever film. It had good pacing, realistic but sharp dialogue, new takes on some old ideas, and production value well above what you'd expect for the budget. It had some nudity (hey, I'm a horror fan (and a guy (and making excuses))), some blood, some loose threads left open for discussion after the film, which I'll get to in the Crackpot section of the site, for total separation. Overall, this showed again why the best horror comes from the independents. I so love Lions Gate. This, "American Psycho," "House of 1000 Corpses," I could go on. They've put out most of the only great true horror films of the last few years. "Cabin Fever" is a great true horror film, the kind of thing studios can only imitate. The kind that just does its own thing. That's the only way you can really not know what comes next. |
 NO GUN: VERY HOT GUN: WAY HOTTER  HOW DID A N.Y. HOMELESS GUY GET INTO THE WOODS?  CHLOROFORM GETS YOU WAY HIGH  WOULD YOU TAKE BOWLING SHOES FROM THIS MAN?  THE DUKE BOYS DIDN'T AGE SO WELL |
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