As far as the 2000’s go the film industry will hardly denote any horror film in that decade as a classic, but one thing is undeniable, it has its fair share of fun. Of these fun films, along with FINAL DESTINATION and WRONG TURN is a small cabin in the woods thriller from Eli Roth called CABIN FEVER. Five youths out in the woods succumb to a flesh-eating virus and subsequently, all die under nasty circumstances. A low budget flick that quickly garnered cult status amongst a generation of teens and one that’s tried to keep the series going to dire effect. Ti West failed with the first sequel and PATIENT ZERO was a sub par attempt to recapture the gore of the original. So what next? 13 years later, and here comes the remake.

 

Produced by Eli Roth and directed by Travis Zariwny (INTRUDERS, SCAVENGERS) CABIN FEVER is less of a remake and more a case of flogging a dead horse. If after 3 attempts you can’t move the series any way forward, it’s time to start a new franchise. Zariwny refuses to add anything to CABIN FEVER other than bigger production values, if anything, this is the film Eli Roth wanted to make if he had the budget. Better sound quality, a clean visual aesthetic and model stars all make this a polished version of the original, and if this was the first edition it would be a killer, unfortunately it loses the charm of the original and instead is just a shadow of its former self.

 

There’s no point going into the plot or cast as this is just a rereading of the original script and while the deaths are a little more graphic, there’s nothing to entice fans to this entry and newbies would be better placed to watch the original for its grubby charm.

 

It would be interesting to see a truly great sequel but by rehashing the same material, it’s hardly likely that this will get the chance and maybe a complete rewrite and revision will pop up in another 10 years. Here’s hoping not but we’ve seen rarer things happen. CABIN FEVER is not the remake anyone wanted but you could do a lot worse.