![]() Color reproduction is surprisingly strong, including flesh tones (and Cerina shows plenty of it). Gimme my hand back, I need it for the banjo duel. This was done to give it a '70s horror feel. For example, as the film progresses, grain shows up and the video desaturates. ![]() ![]() I was a little thrown by the video tricks done through the movie designed to change the tone. Just that it doesn't look like it was shot on a DV cam. That's not to say it's perfect, by any stretch. It could have been much worse, given that it was shot for so little. ![]() The Video Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the video doesn't look bad at all. Just don't go into it expecting something groundbreaking. For non-picky horror fans, none of this may matter. This movie would have been so much more effective had it gone for straight intensity rather than trying to be funny. The humor in those 70s movies worked because the acting was so bad and the effects so cheesy. Director and co-writer Eli Roth seems to think that adding weird humor, like a goofball local cop who "just wants to party, man" or the Deliverance reject kid who screams "pancakes!" works in between scenes of people bleeding out. Our victims are forgotten and we close with cheap gags. It just makes no sense, especially in the context of this movie. They never bother to explain the infection, and while they imply it's in the local water supply, the ending is terrible. They got a lot out of their minimal budget. Made for $1.5 million, there's no CG here, just a lot of colored corn syrup, but it's pretty good. Try not to ruin it this time, you stupid fat hobbit. Gee, guess you really cared about Karen, bub. He bangs Marcy, because she wants one last screw before dying. Yet as she lies dying in a shed, what does he do? Bedside vigil? Keep her company? Nope. He's been in love with Karen for years and it's never been reciprocated. Paul's behavior, on the other hand, escapes logic. Idiotic Bert actually tries to take charge of the situation but ultimately fails. The most logical character is Jeff (and I'll give Kern credit, it's amazing to see how different he is here from his Grind character.) who does what anyone would do when the situation presents itself he runs and hides. Well the poor sap makes his way to the house, now bleeding from open sores everywhere. Bert says he'll go get help and ends up leaving him. Stifler, er, Bert goes out shooting with a gun at, well, anything, and ends up injuring a guy who looks to be in rough shape. How appropriate that they cast Vincent, who was in Not Another Teen Movie, because this bunch is every bit as generic as that cast. Suave, Jeff (Joey Kern), his hottie girlfriend Marcy (Cerina Vincent), the sweet girl Karen (Jordan Ladd), the dork with an unrequited crush on her, Paul (Rider Strong) and the knucklehead, Bert (James DeBello). All five come right out of the Hollywood mold of teen horror movie victims. Five college kids head off to a cabin in the woods after finals end. The Movie If you saw Evil Dead then that's half the story. He really should be more judicious in lending his name to second-rate stuff like this. The cover features a kudo from Peter Jackson, who has gained ten tons of gravitas in the last few years. Cabin Fever, the product of a Troma alumnus, is every bit as derivative as Pitch Black and Equilibrium but populated with a bunch of idiots, inexplicable scenes and logic holes. Plus I liked Rhada Mitchell's character and Keith David is always great. Pitch Black may have been a total rip of Aliens but Riddick was an enjoyable character because I like soft-spoken villains who operate by menace, not screaming. What helped make them enjoyable was the characters, and their actions.
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