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Cabin Fever (film)
Encyclopedia
Cabin Fever is a 2002 American horror
comedy
film
about a group of college graduates who rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a flesh-eating virus. The film was the directing debut of filmmaker Eli Roth
, who co-wrote the film with Randy Pearlstein. The inspiration for the film's story came from a real life experience during a trip to Iceland
when Roth developed a skin infection. The film's title is a double entendre, referring both to the phenomenon
, which is seen in the declining of the student's friendships, and also to the illness spreading through the cabin, although fever is not one of the disease's symptoms.
Roth wanted the style of his film to make a departure from many modern horror films that had been released in recent years. One modern horror film, The Blair Witch Project
, did inspire Roth to use the internet to help promote the film during its production and help gain interest towards its distribution. The film itself, however, draws from many of Roth's favorite horror films, such as The Evil Dead
, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
, and The Last House on the Left
. Roth was tired of what he called the "watered down PG-13" horror films of the studios, and refused to compromise on the violence or nudity, saying they were essential ingredients to an '80s-style horror film.
In February 2010, a newly restored director's cut
was released on Blu-ray
.
) comes upon a dog he believes to be sleeping. After poking it a few times, he pulls the dog up and notices that its flesh is rotted, spurting blood on him in the process.
Five college friends, Jeff (Joey Kern
), Marcy (Cerina Vincent
), Paul (Rider Strong
), Karen (Jordan Ladd
) and Bert (James DeBello
), have rented a cabin in the woods. While driving to it they stop at a local convenience store for food. Outside the store, Dennis (Matthew Helms), a mentally handicapped young boy, bites Paul on the hand. At the cabin, Jeff and Marcy have sex and Paul and Karen go swimming in the nearby lake. Bert goes hunting for squirrels in the woods with a BB gun, but accidentally shoots the man who discovered the rotting dog, mistaking him for a squirrel. The man's face is badly rotted
. Scared, Bert shoots at him again to repel him before running back to the cabin. Later, the friends hear a knocking at the door and discover it is the diseased man. Desperate for help, the hermit tries driving away in their car, but vomits blood inside it. After the man exits the car Paul sets the man on fire and he runs into the woods, dying in the lake.
A young deputy, Winston Olsen (Giuseppe Andrews
), shows up at the cabin and tells Paul he will call a tow truck. Karen drinks a glass of water from the lake and begins feeling ill. That night she is quarantined in the tool shed once Paul discovers rotten spots on her thighs. Fearing that they will also become infected, the others argue about what they should do. The next day, Bert realizes that he is also infected with the virus, but does not tell the others. When Paul and Marcy insist on helping Karen, Jeff, wanting to avoid becoming infected, runs into the forest with the remaining beer, which is the only reliable drinking source. Bert drives off to find a doctor.
Paul finds Marcy alone in the cabin, lamenting that they will all get sick. Since they're "gonna be dead soon, anyway," Marcy seduces Paul and they begin having wild sex. Paul expresses his concern that they are not using a condom
, but Marcy half-heartedly assures him that she is healthy and they continue. Paul is not convinced and after they finish, he secretly attempts to disinfect his penis by pouring Listerine over it. Marcy discovers suspicious red hand-shaped marks on her back where Paul had grabbed her in the heat of passion.
Bert drives to the convenience store that the group visited earlier, pleading for a doctor and showing increasing signs of infection. Dennis stares at Bert and begins yelling, “PANCAKES!!” He then grabs Bert’s hand and bites it, infecting himself. His father (Hal Courtney) comes outside, accuses Bert of infecting the boy, and tries to kill him. Bert speeds off and the father grabs two of his friends (Richard Boone and Tim Parati) who arm themselves with rifles before pursuing Bert.
Marcy admonishes Paul for being so rough when they had sex, though seeming to secretly suspect the sores on her back are really a sign she is infected. Paul leaves the cabin to search for Jeff. Soon after, the marks he made on Marcy's back devolve into scabby wounds, revealing she has long been sick. Paul comes upon the reservoir and finds the infected hermit's body floating in in. Marcy notices her legs deteriorating as she is shaving them. She runs out of the cabin in horror, only to be killed by a mad dog. When Paul hears Marcy's screams he returns to the cabin to find Marcy's body ripped to pieces and the infected dog eating Karen's face. Paul kills the dog with Bert's rifle, then kills Karen with a shovel to end her suffering.
Bert returns to the cabin, severely weakened by the disease, and meets up with Paul. They set a trap for the men from the store. Bert is killed after killing one of the hunters, then Paul takes out the other two.
Paul runs back to the hunters' car and drives into town, angrily massacring a group of campers who are partying with Winston. He collapses on a highway and is picked-up by a passing trucker and brought to the hospital. The sheriff and doctors interrogate him, trying to discover the source of the infection, but Paul is unable to answer all their questions. The doctors determine he should be transported to a larger, nearby regional hospital; his driver turns out to be Winston. Paul tries to warn him about the water in the reservoir but cannot speak coherently and only says, "water". Winston says he will take him to get water. The next morning, Jeff comes out of the woods and realizes his friends are dead. He is suddenly shot to death by the police; they add his body to the others, which are burned in a fire pit.
Unconscious and close to death, Paul is dumped into a stream where further down two kids are collecting water for their lemonade stand. They sell some lemonade to the sheriff, his deputies and more locals at the store. A natural spring water truck leaves the store with bottles of infected water.
Secondary characters
Other characters
co-wrote Cabin Fever with friend and former NYU
roommate Randy Pearlstein in 1995 while Roth was working as a production assistant for Howard Stern
's Private Parts
. Early attempts to sell the script were unsuccessful because studios felt that the horror genre had become unprofitable. In 1996, the film Scream
was released to great success, leading studios to once again become interested in horror properties. However, Roth still could not sell his script, as studios told him that it should be more like Scream. Many potential financiers also found the film's content to be unsettling, including not only the gore, but the use of the word "nigger
" early in the film. The script was not produced until the fall of 2001, when Roth and Lauren Moews raised $50,000 to begin production with producers Evan Astrowsky and Sam Froelich. The rest of the money was raised during the shooting.
The auditions for the character of Marcy had been scheduled to take place on September 11, 2001. The scene producers had chosen for the auditioning actresses was the build-up to Marcy's sex scene with Paul. In the scene, Marcy is convinced that all the students are doomed and despite Paul's reassurances, she describes their situation as "like being on a plane, when you know it's gonna crash. Everybody around you is screaming "We're Going Down! We're Going Down!" and all you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck them, because you know you're going to be dead soon, anyway." After which, she looks over at Paul (the person next to her), followed by a cut to her throwing him down on the bed and having sex with him. Eli Roth and the producers tried to cancel the Marcy auditions, but the general chaos caused by the attacks made it impossible for them to reach many of the actresses who were scheduled to try out for the role. Consequently, the auditions went ahead and Cerina Vincent
won the role. Roth has said that he chose her for her 'expressive eyes'.
Composer Angelo Badalamenti
agreed to compose some musical themes
for the film out of enthusiasm for the material. However, the bulk of the film's score was composed by Nathan Barr who has gone on to score both of Eli's Hostel films. Actor Michael Rosenbaum
was originally cast to play Justin aka Grim, but when Rosenbaum wasn't able to commit to the shoot due to another production, Smallville
, that was taking off, the role was filled by the director himself.
Joey Kern
sustained numerous unrelated injuries to his eye during filming, each one requiring a trip to hospital. His injuries disrupted the filming schedule and many scenes that were to be shot later were rescheduled at the last minute, so that minimal shooting time would be lost while Kern recovered. This resulted in numerous supposedly daytime scenes (mainly ones inside the cabin) being shot in the middle of the night.
Roth originally wanted Cerina Vincent
to show her naked butt during her sex scene with Rider Strong
. However, Vincent, who had previously played a nude foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie
was afraid that exposing too much of herself would lead to being typecast as a nudity actress and vehemently refused to bare her butt in the movie. At the peak of this stand-off between actress and director, Vincent told Roth that if he wanted the shot so badly, he would need to re-cast the role of Marcy with another actress. But they managed to reach a compromise - Cerina would bare one inch of her butt on camera, no more, no less. Eli Roth brought a ruler along to the filming and measured Cerina's butt crack, to be sure he got his one inch. Bedsheets were then taped to Vincent's backside at the designated level and the scene was filmed. Only the second (behind-the-back) shot features this one inch, in the first (over-the-shoulder) shot, the bedsheets cover Cerina's butt completely.
At one point, during a break in filming, Strong went exploring alone in the forest. He had been filming one of his more gruesome scenes and his face was covered in bloody make-up. He stumbled upon a group of schoolgirls on a field trip. The girls were initially horrified by Strong's appearance (not realizing it was make up), but then someone recognized him as the actor from Boy Meets World
, and Strong soon found himself trying to escape from a mob of starstruck girls. When he eventually found his way back to the film site, he vowed never to wander off between takes again.
Priddy's General Store, built in the 1890s in Stokes County, North Carolina
, was used for a scene. Rebecca Clark of the Piedmont Triad
Film Commission showed the store to Roth, who said, "This is perfect." Years later, the movie's fans still visit the store.
magazine. Rotten Tomatoes
, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 63%, with the consensus "More gory than scary, Cabin Fever is satisfied with paying homage to genre conventions rather than reinventing them."
Peter Jackson
loved the film, and gave a quote to use in the advertising. Quentin Tarantino
cited Cabin Fever as the best new American film in his Premiere magazine
interview for Kill Bill Vol. 2, and called Eli Roth "The Future of Horror." The film was also #28 on Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments"
Roger Ebert
, however, scorned the film, stating "The movie adds up to a few good ideas and a lot of bad ones, wandering around in search of an organizing principle." The film received a "Two Thumbs Down" rating on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Richard Roeper
called it an "ugly gorefest" and said "Cabin Fever is a particularly disgusting and brainless version of this all-too-familiar horror film". Ebert said "Director Eli Roth is trying do about four things at once, to make a horror film, a comedy, a satire and a political parable about infectious diseases and none of them work", summing up the movie as "a mess". He ended the review with Roeper suggesting to viewers "don't bring snacks, if you insist on going to this movie, don't bring any food into the theater because you'll be losing it on your way out."
Cabin Fever over time has grown to be a cult classic
, and Roth was nominated for several Saturn Award
s, and an Empire Award
for Best Newcomer. It was voted Best Horror Film by readers of the website Bloody Disgusting
in 2004.
is directed by Ti West
(The Roost
, The House of the Devil
) from a screenplay by Joshua Malkin, story by Randy Pearlstein and Ti West. Rider Strong
briefly reprised his role as Paul and Giuseppe Andrews
reprised his role as Deputy Winston. Larry Fessenden
and Alexi Wasser also star.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
about a group of college graduates who rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a flesh-eating virus. The film was the directing debut of filmmaker Eli Roth
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
, who co-wrote the film with Randy Pearlstein. The inspiration for the film's story came from a real life experience during a trip to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
when Roth developed a skin infection. The film's title is a double entendre, referring both to the phenomenon
Cabin fever
Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period...
, which is seen in the declining of the student's friendships, and also to the illness spreading through the cabin, although fever is not one of the disease's symptoms.
Roth wanted the style of his film to make a departure from many modern horror films that had been released in recent years. One modern horror film, The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
, did inspire Roth to use the internet to help promote the film during its production and help gain interest towards its distribution. The film itself, however, draws from many of Roth's favorite horror films, such as The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area...
, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
, and The Last House on the Left
The Last House on the Left (1972 film)
The Last House on the Left is a 1972 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Sean S. Cunningham.The story is inspired by the 1960 Swedish film The Virgin Spring, directed by Ingmar Bergman, which in turn is based on the 13th century Swedish ballad "Töres döttrar i Wänge"...
. Roth was tired of what he called the "watered down PG-13" horror films of the studios, and refused to compromise on the violence or nudity, saying they were essential ingredients to an '80s-style horror film.
In February 2010, a newly restored director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
was released on Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
.
Plot
While walking in the woods, a man (Arie VerveenArie Verveen
Arie Verveen is an Irish actor whose recent feature films include appearances in Fire with Fire, the upcoming drama starring Josh Duhamel, Rosario Dawson and Bruce Willis, Across the Hall with Brittany Murphy, and the lead role in Boiler Maker with John Savage.-Biography:Arie Verveen worked season...
) comes upon a dog he believes to be sleeping. After poking it a few times, he pulls the dog up and notices that its flesh is rotted, spurting blood on him in the process.
Five college friends, Jeff (Joey Kern
Joey Kern
Joseph Daniel "Joey" Kern is an American actor. He is most widely known for his roles in the 2003 films Cabin Fever and Grind.-Early life:...
), Marcy (Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent is an American film actress, and model best known for playing the Yellow Ranger Maya in the television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, a naked foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie, and Marcy in Cabin Fever. She is considered a scream queen.-Early life:Vincent was...
), Paul (Rider Strong
Rider Strong
Rider King Strong is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.-Early life:...
), Karen (Jordan Ladd
Jordan Ladd
Jordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
) and Bert (James DeBello
James DeBello
-Filmography:*Transylmania *Ghouls *After Sex *National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 *Steel City *National Lampoon's Adam & Eve *The Hillz *National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze...
), have rented a cabin in the woods. While driving to it they stop at a local convenience store for food. Outside the store, Dennis (Matthew Helms), a mentally handicapped young boy, bites Paul on the hand. At the cabin, Jeff and Marcy have sex and Paul and Karen go swimming in the nearby lake. Bert goes hunting for squirrels in the woods with a BB gun, but accidentally shoots the man who discovered the rotting dog, mistaking him for a squirrel. The man's face is badly rotted
Necrotizing fasciitis
Necrotizing fasciitis , commonly known as flesh-eating disease or Flesh-eating bacteria syndrome, is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily spreading across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue.Necrotizing fasciitis is a quickly progressing and...
. Scared, Bert shoots at him again to repel him before running back to the cabin. Later, the friends hear a knocking at the door and discover it is the diseased man. Desperate for help, the hermit tries driving away in their car, but vomits blood inside it. After the man exits the car Paul sets the man on fire and he runs into the woods, dying in the lake.
A young deputy, Winston Olsen (Giuseppe Andrews
Giuseppe Andrews
Giuseppe Andrews is an American film actor, writer, and director known for his roles as Lex in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, a bizarre sheriff's deputy in Cabin Fever , a small role in Never Been Kissed , as well as appearances in The Smashing Pumpkins videos "1979" and "Perfect".Andrews has...
), shows up at the cabin and tells Paul he will call a tow truck. Karen drinks a glass of water from the lake and begins feeling ill. That night she is quarantined in the tool shed once Paul discovers rotten spots on her thighs. Fearing that they will also become infected, the others argue about what they should do. The next day, Bert realizes that he is also infected with the virus, but does not tell the others. When Paul and Marcy insist on helping Karen, Jeff, wanting to avoid becoming infected, runs into the forest with the remaining beer, which is the only reliable drinking source. Bert drives off to find a doctor.
Paul finds Marcy alone in the cabin, lamenting that they will all get sick. Since they're "gonna be dead soon, anyway," Marcy seduces Paul and they begin having wild sex. Paul expresses his concern that they are not using a condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
, but Marcy half-heartedly assures him that she is healthy and they continue. Paul is not convinced and after they finish, he secretly attempts to disinfect his penis by pouring Listerine over it. Marcy discovers suspicious red hand-shaped marks on her back where Paul had grabbed her in the heat of passion.
Bert drives to the convenience store that the group visited earlier, pleading for a doctor and showing increasing signs of infection. Dennis stares at Bert and begins yelling, “PANCAKES!!” He then grabs Bert’s hand and bites it, infecting himself. His father (Hal Courtney) comes outside, accuses Bert of infecting the boy, and tries to kill him. Bert speeds off and the father grabs two of his friends (Richard Boone and Tim Parati) who arm themselves with rifles before pursuing Bert.
Marcy admonishes Paul for being so rough when they had sex, though seeming to secretly suspect the sores on her back are really a sign she is infected. Paul leaves the cabin to search for Jeff. Soon after, the marks he made on Marcy's back devolve into scabby wounds, revealing she has long been sick. Paul comes upon the reservoir and finds the infected hermit's body floating in in. Marcy notices her legs deteriorating as she is shaving them. She runs out of the cabin in horror, only to be killed by a mad dog. When Paul hears Marcy's screams he returns to the cabin to find Marcy's body ripped to pieces and the infected dog eating Karen's face. Paul kills the dog with Bert's rifle, then kills Karen with a shovel to end her suffering.
Bert returns to the cabin, severely weakened by the disease, and meets up with Paul. They set a trap for the men from the store. Bert is killed after killing one of the hunters, then Paul takes out the other two.
Paul runs back to the hunters' car and drives into town, angrily massacring a group of campers who are partying with Winston. He collapses on a highway and is picked-up by a passing trucker and brought to the hospital. The sheriff and doctors interrogate him, trying to discover the source of the infection, but Paul is unable to answer all their questions. The doctors determine he should be transported to a larger, nearby regional hospital; his driver turns out to be Winston. Paul tries to warn him about the water in the reservoir but cannot speak coherently and only says, "water". Winston says he will take him to get water. The next morning, Jeff comes out of the woods and realizes his friends are dead. He is suddenly shot to death by the police; they add his body to the others, which are burned in a fire pit.
Unconscious and close to death, Paul is dumped into a stream where further down two kids are collecting water for their lemonade stand. They sell some lemonade to the sheriff, his deputies and more locals at the store. A natural spring water truck leaves the store with bottles of infected water.
Cast
The Students- Rider StrongRider StrongRider King Strong is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.-Early life:...
as Paul, who grew up with Karen and has a crush on her, although they have never been in a relationship. Paul returns briefly in Cabin Fever 2: Spring FeverCabin Fever 2: Spring FeverCabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is an American horror film directed by Ti West and starring Giuseppe Andrews and Noah Segan.-Plot:A very disfigured Paul escapes from the creek and wanders through the woods, leaving pieces of his own flesh in the way. When he finally makes it to the highway, his body...
. - James DeBelloJames DeBello-Filmography:*Transylmania *Ghouls *After Sex *National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 *Steel City *National Lampoon's Adam & Eve *The Hillz *National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze...
as Bert, a vulgar practical jokePractical jokeA practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
r. - Jordan LaddJordan LaddJordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
as Karen, a young woman who has known Paul for many years. - Cerina VincentCerina VincentCerina Vincent is an American film actress, and model best known for playing the Yellow Ranger Maya in the television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, a naked foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie, and Marcy in Cabin Fever. She is considered a scream queen.-Early life:Vincent was...
as Marcy, a young woman who is in a relationship with Jeff at the beginning of the film. - Joey KernJoey KernJoseph Daniel "Joey" Kern is an American actor. He is most widely known for his roles in the 2003 films Cabin Fever and Grind.-Early life:...
as Jeff, a self-centered young man who is Marcy's boyfriend.
Secondary characters
- Arie VerveenArie VerveenArie Verveen is an Irish actor whose recent feature films include appearances in Fire with Fire, the upcoming drama starring Josh Duhamel, Rosario Dawson and Bruce Willis, Across the Hall with Brittany Murphy, and the lead role in Boiler Maker with John Savage.-Biography:Arie Verveen worked season...
as Henry "The Hermit", the first human shown catching the disease and patient zero in the outbreak. - Giuseppe AndrewsGiuseppe AndrewsGiuseppe Andrews is an American film actor, writer, and director known for his roles as Lex in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, a bizarre sheriff's deputy in Cabin Fever , a small role in Never Been Kissed , as well as appearances in The Smashing Pumpkins videos "1979" and "Perfect".Andrews has...
as Deputy Winston Olsen, a deputy for the local sheriff's office. Winston appears as a lead character in the sequelCabin Fever 2: Spring FeverCabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is an American horror film directed by Ti West and starring Giuseppe Andrews and Noah Segan.-Plot:A very disfigured Paul escapes from the creek and wanders through the woods, leaving pieces of his own flesh in the way. When he finally makes it to the highway, his body...
. - Matthew Helms as Dennis, a mentally-disabled boy who bites strangers without provocation.
- Eli RothEli RothEli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
as Justin "Grim", a fellow camper in the woods. - Hal Courtney as Tommy, Dennis's father.
Other characters
- Robert Harris as Old Man Cadwell, who mans the counter at the nearby market.
- Richard Boone and Tim Parati as Fenster and Andy, Tommy's friends.
- Brandon JohnsonBrandon JohnsonBrandon Johnson is an American football linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisville...
as Ray Shawn
History
Eli RothEli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
co-wrote Cabin Fever with friend and former NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
roommate Randy Pearlstein in 1995 while Roth was working as a production assistant for Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
's Private Parts
Private Parts (1997 film)
Private Parts is a 1997 American biographical comedy film produced by Ivan Reitman and released by Paramount Pictures. Written by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko, the film is an adaptation of the 1993 best-selling book of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern, who stars as himself. It...
. Early attempts to sell the script were unsuccessful because studios felt that the horror genre had become unprofitable. In 1996, the film Scream
Scream (film)
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
was released to great success, leading studios to once again become interested in horror properties. However, Roth still could not sell his script, as studios told him that it should be more like Scream. Many potential financiers also found the film's content to be unsettling, including not only the gore, but the use of the word "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" early in the film. The script was not produced until the fall of 2001, when Roth and Lauren Moews raised $50,000 to begin production with producers Evan Astrowsky and Sam Froelich. The rest of the money was raised during the shooting.
The auditions for the character of Marcy had been scheduled to take place on September 11, 2001. The scene producers had chosen for the auditioning actresses was the build-up to Marcy's sex scene with Paul. In the scene, Marcy is convinced that all the students are doomed and despite Paul's reassurances, she describes their situation as "like being on a plane, when you know it's gonna crash. Everybody around you is screaming "We're Going Down! We're Going Down!" and all you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck them, because you know you're going to be dead soon, anyway." After which, she looks over at Paul (the person next to her), followed by a cut to her throwing him down on the bed and having sex with him. Eli Roth and the producers tried to cancel the Marcy auditions, but the general chaos caused by the attacks made it impossible for them to reach many of the actresses who were scheduled to try out for the role. Consequently, the auditions went ahead and Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent is an American film actress, and model best known for playing the Yellow Ranger Maya in the television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, a naked foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie, and Marcy in Cabin Fever. She is considered a scream queen.-Early life:Vincent was...
won the role. Roth has said that he chose her for her 'expressive eyes'.
Production
The film was shot on a small budget of $1.5 million. The original killer dog was so old and tired that all of its scenes had to be re-shot with a new dog. With no time or money to find a replacement, the producers cast a real police attack dog that was so vicious and unpredictable that no actors could appear with it on camera.Composer Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti is an American composer, known for his movie soundtrack work for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga and Mulholland Drive...
agreed to compose some musical themes
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
for the film out of enthusiasm for the material. However, the bulk of the film's score was composed by Nathan Barr who has gone on to score both of Eli's Hostel films. Actor Michael Rosenbaum
Michael Rosenbaum
Michael Owen Rosenbaum is an American actor and director. He is best known for portraying Lex Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville and Dutch on FOX's Breaking In, and for providing the voice for the Flash in the DC animated universe...
was originally cast to play Justin aka Grim, but when Rosenbaum wasn't able to commit to the shoot due to another production, Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
, that was taking off, the role was filled by the director himself.
Joey Kern
Joey Kern
Joseph Daniel "Joey" Kern is an American actor. He is most widely known for his roles in the 2003 films Cabin Fever and Grind.-Early life:...
sustained numerous unrelated injuries to his eye during filming, each one requiring a trip to hospital. His injuries disrupted the filming schedule and many scenes that were to be shot later were rescheduled at the last minute, so that minimal shooting time would be lost while Kern recovered. This resulted in numerous supposedly daytime scenes (mainly ones inside the cabin) being shot in the middle of the night.
Roth originally wanted Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent is an American film actress, and model best known for playing the Yellow Ranger Maya in the television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, a naked foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie, and Marcy in Cabin Fever. She is considered a scream queen.-Early life:Vincent was...
to show her naked butt during her sex scene with Rider Strong
Rider Strong
Rider King Strong is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.-Early life:...
. However, Vincent, who had previously played a nude foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie
Not Another Teen Movie
Not Another Teen Movie is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Joel Gallen, released on December 14, 2001 by Columbia Pictures. It is a parody of teen movies which have accumulated in Hollywood over the last few decades...
was afraid that exposing too much of herself would lead to being typecast as a nudity actress and vehemently refused to bare her butt in the movie. At the peak of this stand-off between actress and director, Vincent told Roth that if he wanted the shot so badly, he would need to re-cast the role of Marcy with another actress. But they managed to reach a compromise - Cerina would bare one inch of her butt on camera, no more, no less. Eli Roth brought a ruler along to the filming and measured Cerina's butt crack, to be sure he got his one inch. Bedsheets were then taped to Vincent's backside at the designated level and the scene was filmed. Only the second (behind-the-back) shot features this one inch, in the first (over-the-shoulder) shot, the bedsheets cover Cerina's butt completely.
At one point, during a break in filming, Strong went exploring alone in the forest. He had been filming one of his more gruesome scenes and his face was covered in bloody make-up. He stumbled upon a group of schoolgirls on a field trip. The girls were initially horrified by Strong's appearance (not realizing it was make up), but then someone recognized him as the actor from Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World is an American comedy-drama series that chronicles the events and everyday life lessons of Cory Matthews, played by Ben Savage, a kid from suburban Philadelphia who grows up from a young boy to a married man. The show aired for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, part of the...
, and Strong soon found himself trying to escape from a mob of starstruck girls. When he eventually found his way back to the film site, he vowed never to wander off between takes again.
Priddy's General Store, built in the 1890s in Stokes County, North Carolina
Stokes County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 44,711 people, 17,579 households, and 13,043 families residing in the county. The population density was 99 people per square mile . There were 19,262 housing units at an average density of 43 per square mile...
, was used for a scene. Rebecca Clark of the Piedmont Triad
Piedmont Triad
The Piedmont Triad, or Triad, is a north-central region of the U.S. state of North Carolina that consists of the area within and surrounding the three major cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group or "triad" of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the...
Film Commission showed the store to Roth, who said, "This is perfect." Years later, the movie's fans still visit the store.
Reception
Grossing $33,553,394 at the box office worldwide, the film was marked #3 and the highest grossing film released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment in 2003. Critical response to the film was mixed to positive, with a rave review from the New York Times and Film CommentFilm Comment
Film Comment is an arts and culture magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, of which it is the official publication. Film Comment features critical reviews and in-depth analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world...
magazine. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 63%, with the consensus "More gory than scary, Cabin Fever is satisfied with paying homage to genre conventions rather than reinventing them."
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
loved the film, and gave a quote to use in the advertising. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
cited Cabin Fever as the best new American film in his Premiere magazine
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
interview for Kill Bill Vol. 2, and called Eli Roth "The Future of Horror." The film was also #28 on Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments"
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, however, scorned the film, stating "The movie adds up to a few good ideas and a lot of bad ones, wandering around in search of an organizing principle." The film received a "Two Thumbs Down" rating on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
called it an "ugly gorefest" and said "Cabin Fever is a particularly disgusting and brainless version of this all-too-familiar horror film". Ebert said "Director Eli Roth is trying do about four things at once, to make a horror film, a comedy, a satire and a political parable about infectious diseases and none of them work", summing up the movie as "a mess". He ended the review with Roeper suggesting to viewers "don't bring snacks, if you insist on going to this movie, don't bring any food into the theater because you'll be losing it on your way out."
Cabin Fever over time has grown to be a cult classic
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
, and Roth was nominated for several Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s, and an Empire Award
Empire Awards
An Empire Award is an accolade bestowed by Empire, Britain's biggest selling film magazine, to recognize excellence of professionals in the locale and global film industry. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine and in an annual ceremony, the Empire Awards, the winners are presented...
for Best Newcomer. It was voted Best Horror Film by readers of the website Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
in 2004.
Sequel
Cabin Fever 2: Spring FeverCabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is an American horror film directed by Ti West and starring Giuseppe Andrews and Noah Segan.-Plot:A very disfigured Paul escapes from the creek and wanders through the woods, leaving pieces of his own flesh in the way. When he finally makes it to the highway, his body...
is directed by Ti West
Ti West
Ti West is an American film director, best known for his work in horror films.- Early life:West was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He was featured in a 2001 Fall issue of Teen People Magazine...
(The Roost
The Roost
The Roost is a 2005 horror film directed by Ti West. Zombies and homicidal bats terrorize four teenagers stranded on a mysterious farm.- Synopsis :...
, The House of the Devil
The House of the Devil
The House of the Devil is a 2009 horror film written, directed, and edited by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, and Mary Woronov. It combines elements of both the slasher film and haunted house subgenres while using the "satanic panic" of the 1980s as a central plot element...
) from a screenplay by Joshua Malkin, story by Randy Pearlstein and Ti West. Rider Strong
Rider Strong
Rider King Strong is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.-Early life:...
briefly reprised his role as Paul and Giuseppe Andrews
Giuseppe Andrews
Giuseppe Andrews is an American film actor, writer, and director known for his roles as Lex in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, a bizarre sheriff's deputy in Cabin Fever , a small role in Never Been Kissed , as well as appearances in The Smashing Pumpkins videos "1979" and "Perfect".Andrews has...
reprised his role as Deputy Winston. Larry Fessenden
Larry Fessenden
-Life and career:He is president of Glass Eye Pix, an independent film production company based in New York City. Fessenden produced the Dark Sky film The Inkeepers which is directed by Ti West and the thriller Hypothermia, besides his work as producer he stars in the psychological thriller I Can...
and Alexi Wasser also star.