Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003 Page: 38 of 68
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Does a bear back in the woods?
Even with sissy jokes, slasher flick gets good laughs
By Steve Warren
Contributing Film Critic
Drink beer, not
water!
That's the message of
Cabin Fever, a party
movie if ever there was
one. It's Wrong Turn
done right, stranding
another bunch of snotty
college kids in the back-
woods, the real America
where inbreeding rules.
Because most of us
will never encounter
vampires or even serial
killers in our lives, virus
movies can be the scari-
est kind of horror flicks.
Our bodies are constantly fighting off viruses,
germs and bacteria we're not aware of. The fic-
tional viruses are often metaphors for whatev-
er's going around: AIDS, SARS, anthrax, mad
cow, West Nile or the flesh-eating virus that
inspired Cabin Fever.
If this is a metaphor it's closer to Lord of the
Flies, showing how survival instincts are man-
ifested in a microcosm of society.
Marcy (Cerina Vincent) and Jeff (Joey Kern)
are a couple. They start doing the nasty as soon
as they reach the cabin. Karen (Jordan Ladd)
and Paul (Rider Strong) are not a couple.
They've been friends like, forever, and he's still
hoping to take the next step. Bert (James
DeBello) is an asshole as well as a fifth wheel.
Why'd they bring him along anyway?
We've already met the Hermit (Arie
Verveen), who is splattered with blood from a
dead animal he finds. By the time the kids
meet him, he's bleeding all over and pleading
for help. Despite varying degrees of sympathy
they join in driving him off in flames.
The first half of the movie is devoted to set-
ting up the situation and introducing the char-
acters, including Deputy Winston (Ginseppe
Andrews), a weird dude who likes to party (in
case you've missed that sub-theme). Once one
of the main characters is infected her friends
turn on her, doing what they think they have
to do to stay healthy while hoping secondarily
to get help for her.
There are no scientists here. This isn't a
movie about antibodies, only bodies. No one
thinks about tracing the source of the infection,
although one of them literally stumbles on it;
they're too busy avoiding outward manifesta-
tions.
This sounds like pretty serious stuff, but
writer-director Eli Roth, a protege of David
Lynch, manages to keep his tongue in Jus
cheek a good part of the time. In addition to
rivaling 28 Days Later as the year's best horror
film, Cabin Fever has some of the biggest
laughs in a long time. Some are at the stupidi-
ty of the protagonists, others at the strangeness
of the locals in a place where "everybody
knows not to sit next to Dennis."
Another curious character is a sibilant
Santa clone who sells antiques at the general
store. He mentions having grandchildren but
sounds and acts very gay.
And speaking of "gay" the word is used a
few times in its contemporary sense of a gener-
ic epithet. Then there's the bizarre moment
when someone asks Bert why he would shoot
squirrels and he replies, "Because they're gay."
Cabin Fever is a hoot that ends with a hoot-
enanny. It's pretty much critic-proof because
nobody's trying to win awards, just to show
you a good time. T
Opens today in wide release.
Cabin Fever ★★★ (oof of four)
Starring Cerina Vincent, Joey Kern and Janies DeBello
Written and directed by Eli Roth
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38
SEPTEMBER 12, 2003 DALLAS VOICE
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003, newspaper, September 12, 2003; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616336/m1/38/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.