I remember many moons ago when I first heard about the Cabin Fever (2016) remake. My first thought was, it hasn't been that long since the original came out. While it was longer than I recalled, 14 years, I'm still surprised that the original film got the remake treatment, especially since there were only two sequels to be found. Why remake it at all? It isn't like there are a lot of different stories about a flesh-eating virus, but I suppose with the right team, one could come up with a different style of story to tell. That was my hope anyway.
Five friends, two couples, and the odd man out head into the woods of Oregon where they have rented a cabin for a getaway. Unknown to them, a flesh-eating virus has found its way there as well. Everything is right in their little world until a guy who has been infected shows up at their door. Not wanting to get infected, they refuse to help the guy. For revenge, he spits up blood all over their car before being set on fire and runs off. The friends don't know it, but where the guy goes has put them all in danger of the virus, and now it is their turn to know what it can do.
Cabin Fever uses the original script by writers Eli Roth and Randy Pearlstein, with a few minor changes. Personally, I think remakes work best with the people behind it, in this case, director Travis Zariwny, make the film their own with nods to the original film included. With this version of Cabin Fever, we get a nearly shot-for-shot remake. I say nearly because not everything is the same in both films, but it wasn't enough to separate the remake from the original. Instead of making this film his own, Zariwny seemed content with making the same movie but with some changes that don't actually affect the story as a whole. One character who was a guy in the original is now a woman. Some of the things said are slightly different at times. Some scenes have been changed a little or completely left out. While this sounds interesting, maybe, it wasn't really enough. The biggest change between the two films is that the humor and general weirdness is almost completely gone. I can't say that I was a real big fan of the original film, but I did like it well enough. The comedy side of it was fun and the weirdness was something that I liked about the film. This version of Cabin Fever plays it more serious and I thought it wasn't as interesting because of that. If I had not watched the original film, I may think differently about that. After all, it is usually the first film that people watch that they tend to like more. I can't say that Cabin Fever is a bad film really, it just comes across as rather pointless since there just aren't enough changes to matter.
If there was one stand out thing about Cabin Fever, it would be the effects. Some of them are the same that we have seen in the original film, like the leg shaving scene. Even so, there was some pretty gory stuff to be found here. I think the dog that shows up might have been CGI at times, but it was hard to tell for sure, None of the acting impressed me all that much, but it wasn't bad either. The five friends include Gage Gilightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, and Dustin Ingram. Louise Linton takes over for the role of Deputy Winston, who was played by a guy in the original film. Perhaps the best actor, to me anyway, was Aaron Trainer, a backwoods store owner. He always seemed to have this intense feel about him whenever on screen.
While I did notice some things were different between the remake and the original, despite that I haven't watched the original in a long time now, the one thing that stood out to me the most seemed to be that this film had more nudity. I could be wrong, but I don't recall any or hardly any nudity in the original film. All the nudity here comes from Nadine Crocker, who does have a nice body to look at. So, Cabin Fever didn't turn out like I thought it would. As I said, it isn't really a bad film, and would probably be liked more if you haven't watched the original film yet. If you have watched it then you probably won't enjoy the remake a whole lot since it is essentially the same film, with some minor changes. If you are curious about it, which is why I wanted to watch it, then feel free to give it a try. Maybe you will end up enjoying it more since you will know what you are getting into.
2 out of 5 Personally, I like my flesh!
Five friends, two couples, and the odd man out head into the woods of Oregon where they have rented a cabin for a getaway. Unknown to them, a flesh-eating virus has found its way there as well. Everything is right in their little world until a guy who has been infected shows up at their door. Not wanting to get infected, they refuse to help the guy. For revenge, he spits up blood all over their car before being set on fire and runs off. The friends don't know it, but where the guy goes has put them all in danger of the virus, and now it is their turn to know what it can do.
Cabin Fever uses the original script by writers Eli Roth and Randy Pearlstein, with a few minor changes. Personally, I think remakes work best with the people behind it, in this case, director Travis Zariwny, make the film their own with nods to the original film included. With this version of Cabin Fever, we get a nearly shot-for-shot remake. I say nearly because not everything is the same in both films, but it wasn't enough to separate the remake from the original. Instead of making this film his own, Zariwny seemed content with making the same movie but with some changes that don't actually affect the story as a whole. One character who was a guy in the original is now a woman. Some of the things said are slightly different at times. Some scenes have been changed a little or completely left out. While this sounds interesting, maybe, it wasn't really enough. The biggest change between the two films is that the humor and general weirdness is almost completely gone. I can't say that I was a real big fan of the original film, but I did like it well enough. The comedy side of it was fun and the weirdness was something that I liked about the film. This version of Cabin Fever plays it more serious and I thought it wasn't as interesting because of that. If I had not watched the original film, I may think differently about that. After all, it is usually the first film that people watch that they tend to like more. I can't say that Cabin Fever is a bad film really, it just comes across as rather pointless since there just aren't enough changes to matter.
If there was one stand out thing about Cabin Fever, it would be the effects. Some of them are the same that we have seen in the original film, like the leg shaving scene. Even so, there was some pretty gory stuff to be found here. I think the dog that shows up might have been CGI at times, but it was hard to tell for sure, None of the acting impressed me all that much, but it wasn't bad either. The five friends include Gage Gilightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, and Dustin Ingram. Louise Linton takes over for the role of Deputy Winston, who was played by a guy in the original film. Perhaps the best actor, to me anyway, was Aaron Trainer, a backwoods store owner. He always seemed to have this intense feel about him whenever on screen.
While I did notice some things were different between the remake and the original, despite that I haven't watched the original in a long time now, the one thing that stood out to me the most seemed to be that this film had more nudity. I could be wrong, but I don't recall any or hardly any nudity in the original film. All the nudity here comes from Nadine Crocker, who does have a nice body to look at. So, Cabin Fever didn't turn out like I thought it would. As I said, it isn't really a bad film, and would probably be liked more if you haven't watched the original film yet. If you have watched it then you probably won't enjoy the remake a whole lot since it is essentially the same film, with some minor changes. If you are curious about it, which is why I wanted to watch it, then feel free to give it a try. Maybe you will end up enjoying it more since you will know what you are getting into.
2 out of 5 Personally, I like my flesh!
