Eli Roth might be a mainstay in the horror genre now, but the filmmaker’s career as a director began with 2003’s Cabin Fever. Co-written by Roth and Randy Pearlstein, the horror comedy film centers on a group of college-aged youths who rent a cabin in the woods, where they come into contact with a flesh-eating virus. The disease begins to eat them one by one, with those remaining desperate to avoid infection – and the murderous locals.
In a way, this intriguing movie was based on true events. Roth initially came up with the idea for the story in the 1990’s after contracting a skin disease while traveling overseas. Despite pressure from studios to make the script more like Scream, Roth went a different route and gave us one of the most compellingly bizarre horror films of the new millennium. When the film was finally released in theaters, it earned $30.5 million against a $1.5 million budget, proving Roth was onto something with his vision.
The special effects for this movie are very well done, which is key to selling the gruesomeness of the virus. Easily, one of the most memorable and unsettling scenes is when Marcy (Cerina Vincent) is shaving her legs in the bathtub – and it’s quickly apparent she’s shaving off layers of her skin. By the time an infected dog gets done feeding on her soon after, she looks so awful that fans were grateful for Paul (Rider Strong) giving her a mercy kill with a shovel. And that’s one of the many highly-unnerving scenes to be found in this movie.
While the death scenes are all horrific and disgusting, the film’s bizarre humor oddly manages to balance things out. The side characters are just as interesting as those in the main group, if not more so. Roth himself cameos as a wandering stoner named Grimm, and something is clearly off with Giuseppe Andrews’ Deputy Winston – a lousy cop who’s into “partying.” The locals in the area also all seem insane, as nobody who’s seen the film could ever forget that shopkeeper’s son screaming, “Pancakes!” several times, before doing a kung-fu kick and biting Bert (James DeBello) on the hand.
Here are a few fun facts about the visceral film…
- Eli Roth wrote the script while working as a production assistant for the Howard Stern film Private Parts
- Peter Jackson halted production of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King multiple times to screen Cabin Fever for the crew
- The dog from the Patrick Swayze film Black Dog was originally used for Dr. Mambo, but the scenes were unusable and reshot with a police attack dog
- Cerina Vincent was cast as Marcy after successfully auditioning on September 11, 2001. Producers tried to cancel that day’s auditions after the terrorist attacks, but couldn’t reach many of the actresses
- The man in the bunny suit holding a stack of pancakes in a hallucination scene is credited as “We will never tell”
Because of the success of Cabin Fever, the film was followed up with two sequels, subtitled Spring Fever and Patient Zero. As neither of these films resonated with audiences the same way, however, IFC Midnight remade the original film in 2016, using the very same screenplay from Roth and Pearlstein – albeit a shortened version. But not even a near-exact remake could match the charm of Roth’s original, and the universally-panned film wound up with a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Truly a one of a kind classic, Cabin Fever is now officially 15 years old, premiering in theaters on Sept. 12, 2003. While Roth has gone on to direct many interesting films since, the original Cabin Fever is still one of his most memorable. Not like any other film from its time, the movie is just as hilarious as it is disturbing. It’s one of those films that will literally make your skin crawl, and certain moments will definitely have you cringing. At the same time, you’re guaranteed to be entertained.
