Eli Roth makes an auspicious debut with CABIN FEVER. Taking an otherwise traditional set up for a horror film, Roth infuses it with enough energy and originality to make it feel completely fresh. Five friends, just finished with college finals, head for a cabin in the woods to party and embrace their newfound freedom. There's the cute but uptight Paul (Rider Strong), who yearns for pretty lifelong platonic friend Karen (Jordan Ladd); the attractive, but slightly stupid couple Jeff (Joey Kern) and Marcy (Cerina Vincent); and the brute jock, Bert (James DeBello). While shooting squirrels in the woods, Bert accidentally nicks a man, who appears to be suffering from a disgusting disease. Bert returns to the cabin, choosing not to share this information with the gang. But later that night, when the man knocks on their door, the beast is unleashed. Unlike most horror films which make the horror gruesomely visible, the evil in CABIN FEVER is invisible--and highly contagious. And when Karen begins to show signs of contamination, the bond between these close friends begins to unravel. Roth's blackly comic directorial debut shows clear influence from the early films of Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD) and Peter Jackson (DEAD ALIVE).
