UPDATE: One of the companies involved in distributing the film submitted a bogus copyright ID case against me on YouTube. It's bullying, plain and simple. They gave me the rights to post their trailer to my YouTube account and conveniently forget when they decided to steal my ad revenue. I'm small potatoes compared to the unaffected larger outlets. The film bombed, so they're trying to get back every sent they can. As a result of their unprofessional conduct, I will no longer be covering any media that is related to that production company. Shame. They've had some nice work in the past.
Cabin Fever is the film that established Eli Roth as a major force in horror. Aside from being swept up into the New French Extremism crowd for an American independent horror film, Roth proved his knowledge of the genre and his particularly brutal vision of body horror in this film.
It's a standard slasher concept with a body horror twist. Five college friends go to a cabin to party and start coming down with a horrific, bloody, sexually transmitted disease. While trying to figure out how to survive, the locals discover their ailment and set out to stop the virus before it can spread.
Now, Eli Roth is producing a remake of his own film, with a new script adaptation by original screenwriter Randy Pearlstein. Traviz Zarwiny takes on the director's chair and Gage Golightly (MTV's Teen Wolf) stars.
I'm actually optimistic for this remake. There's an interesting twist in the formula thrown in right away. Deputy Winston is now a female role, which immediately changes the dynamic of the character. The character in the original in a lecherous, lurking menace harassing the kids and instigating much of the plot with the townspeople. It will be interesting to see how this character shift impacts the power dynamics in the film.
Further, everything looks slick. I'm all for updating a low budget horror with so much of the original creative team intact. There are clearly ideas Roth and Pearlstein had that could not be executed in the original that will probably pop up here. The technical quality of filmmaking will be higher. Now, whether or not the film loses its edge because more money smooths out the rough edges is another factor entirely.
Here's the trailer, sent to us by our friends at IFC Midnight.
Cabin Fever opens 12 February in NYC and LA.
