Where to start? Well, I have to say up front that I’m a huge fan of Eli Roth’s original Cabin Fever. I was there on opening day when it made its wide theatrical release back in 2003, excited after reading so many great things about it and seeing an awesome behind-the-scenes look in Fangoria. Suffice it to say, I was not disappointed. It quickly became one of my favorite modern horror films and turned me into a Roth fan right off the bat. I’ve seen the movie countless times over the past thirteen years, have owned multiple copies of the DVD, and have had the poster hanging on my walls (throughout multiple dwellings) over the course of that time. .  I’m just letting you know where I’m coming from here.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk Cabin Fever (2016). Not a fan.

If you’re somehow not familiar with the plot of Cabin Fever, it basically goes like this: A group of friends goes to a cabin in the woods for some fun and relaxation. They encounter a guy with a flesh-eating disease, which quickly spreads among them, but that’s really only the beginning of their nightmarish outing.

I feel like I’m writing a review for Martyrs all over again.

I tried to remain cautiously optimistic about this one ahead of viewing it. There was a always a great deal of skepticism (wow, I feel like I’m writing a review for Martyrs all over again), but I like to try to keep an open mind about these things. I knew they were working from the script of the original film that I love so dearly, and not only did the film have Roth’s blessing, he had an executive producer credit and has been enthusiastically championing it. Don’t read too much into any of that.

The film, directed by Travis Z., does indeed heavily rely on the original’s script and makes the occasional tweak. That alone could make the entire endeavor seem pointless, but it not only suffers from being an uninspired rehash of the same dialogue, it basically strips out 90% of what made the original fun (the remaining 10% being the inclusion of popular sequences from the original film done less effectively).

It not only suffers from being an uninspired rehash of the same dialogue, it basically strips out 90% of what made the original fun

The acting isn’t bad. It’s just forgettable, making for a boring shadow of the more entertaining versions of the characters created by the original cast. Dialogue that was funny in the original film is just dull here (and again, it is largely the same dialogue). Stand-out scenes from the original like the meeting of Dennis and the gory campfire story are present. They just eliminated everything that made those scenes memorable.

Throughout the majority of the film, there is very little deviation, but once the shit starts hitting the fan, things begin to diverge a bit, and you’re reminded that there’s still a possibility that you’ll see something that’s more than a diluted run-through of the original Cabin Fever script. Unfortunately, this deviation brings little of interest to the table at best and is nonsensical at worst. If you make it to the end, make sure you watch into the credits a little because there’s one last thing to see. Unfortunately, it might be the most nonsensical part of the whole movie.

Ultimately, if you’re a fan of the original Cabin Fever, I honestly can’t imagine a scenario in which you’ll really enjoy this version. Somehow, I feel like the same could be said if you aren’t a fan of the original. Will you enjoy this if you’ve never seen Cabin Fever at all? I have no idea, but I can tell you you’ll be much better off checking out Roth’s classic. As a matter of fact, I’d recommend Cabin Fever 2 (whose director disowned it) over this as well.

In a world where the original Cabin Fever didn’t exist, this movie could be considered decent. It certainly wouldn’t have left the impression on anyone that Roth’s original did. There is literally nothing about it that improves the experience in any way.

Cabin Fever is available on VOD as of February 12th.

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