Cabin Fever
by Bobby Blakey
Eli Roth’s 2002 debut film Cabin Fever hit it was an instant hit that took the director on the path to being horror royalty as well as spawning a franchise featuring both a sequel and prequel. Now Roth has stepped in to produce a remake of his original film Cabin Fever, but does it do anything to take it to the next level or is it a virus that we wish would just stop spreading?
Cabin Fever sticks to the plot of the original following five friends who are terrorized at their getaway cabin. Typically when the original creator is involved there is a chance that they are doing it to improve or add to the film in ways they may not have thought of or had the budget to do the first time around. With this one it appears they went for a direct almost shot for shot remake and not only offered up nothing new but didn’t even live up to the original. The original film isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it still entertains on a lot of levels thanks to the gore and the characters you love and hate. Here none of the characters stand out in anyway with all of their performance feeling forced. The story had so many chances to be expanded on, but instead they just retreaded the same thing and managed to actually make a worse film. Sure there are some fun gory moments, but when you have another better version of the film that isn’t all that old in comparison it fails to be worth the time. This film would have worked better had they just gotten a lot more creative with the kills and took it in a more reimagining direction, but instead it just comes across as something you have already seen before almost exactly and just won’t live up to the fun it once offered.
I give props to Roth for trying to bring the focus back to the film, but as a huge fan of his I know he could have really made this remake something special, but failed to do something. That being said if you are a fan of this franchise at all then check out the new version of Cabin Fever and decide for yourself, but comfort in the fact that you still have the original to fall back on.
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