Hey folks, Harry here... Don't forget CABIN FEVER this weekend. There's a lot of film coming out, quite a bit of it worth seeing, but none that absolutely NEEDS your patronage the way CABIN FEVER does. Original hardcore T&A & GORE horror that isn't a remake and isn't a sequel. In the days where every single day we're hearing a new horror remake... be it, THE FLY, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, AMITTYVILLE HORROR, INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES THAT BECAME... oh... they haven't gotten to that one yet. Anyway - I know that the next horror film Eli Roth will do, won't be some pointless remake. I know that it will be something genius... Just as soon as he gets his ribald sex comedy and Olsen Twins/Monkey movies out of the way... or maybe combine them all. Anyway, here's a great review of a wonderful genre film from the country that understands the value of redmeat horror... Enjoy...
Hello Aicn,
Do you remember your first sexual encounter?
That first time when your trembling hand softly caressed her beautiful hair, her luscious red lips, her morbid breasts... that time when -thinking about it you still don’t understand how you were able to do it but- you somehow found the courage to slowly sink your hand towards her sculpted tummy... “Oh my god, she’s getting goose bumps... Is that good?... Of course is it good. But what do I do now? Should I... Does she really want me to...?”.
Ahhh, it’s tough taking decisions, isn’t it!
Hesitating, paralysed by the fear of doing something wrong, you went on fiddling with your sweaty fingers around her stomach, her hips, then her stomach again, until... until she took that “both-feared-and-desired” decision for you, and answered all your doubts with one single look straight into your eyes. Yes, now you knew what to do. She closed her eyes. You took that one long deep breath that felt like an eternity, and finally slid your shaking hand into that HEAVEN hidden in her panties. It felt warm, it felt soft, it felt wet... but WHAT IF IT FELT TOO WET, TOO LIQUID...?
And what would you’ve done if you had taken out your hand only to see it covered with A SHOCK MASS OF BLOOD AND ROTTING FLESH...?
THESE DAYS there aren’t many movies that linger in you after you see them, that compel you to write about it; usually they tend to disappear pretty soon after you leave the cinema. Well, I’m proud to admit that last week I attended to one of the best movie going experiences I've had in a long time, Eli Roth’s CABIN FEVER, a fantastic roller-coaster ride into gore and black humour.
THE PLOT
Five college friends with various degrees of intelligence and hormonal activity rent a remote cabin in the woods to celebrate the end of their college life. After a brief encounter with the local towns freaky rednecks, the teenagers almost don’t find the time to start the partying, that they are approached by a strange man with corroded skin vomiting blood everywhere. Fearing infection, they are able to turn him away, not without any problems. From this pointthings escalate from bad to worse.As the flesh-eating virus spreads among the friends, they surrender to the paranoia of avoiding the contagion and their true feelings and personalities emerge as they struggle to survive not only the virus, but also each other, a vicious dog, and the hostility of the local rednecks.
THE ACTORS
The performances of the leading actors Rider Strong, (Boy Meets World), Jordan Ladd (Embrace of the Vampire, Never Been Kissed), Joey Kern (Super Troopers, Grind), and Cerina Vincent (the NAKED CHICK from Not Another Teen Movie) were all quite good, and so were the performances of the eccentric and offbeat rednecks, especially the psychotic hog lady,the-kung-fu-fighting-kid-with-a-mullet-Dennis,and Robert Harris’s old, gay convenience store owner who has particular issues on his African-American clients.
Two performances really stood out: Giuseppe Andrews and James De Bello, both from Detroit Rock City fame/infamy; they were the ones who continuously stole the show: the former as the laidback Deputy Winston who just wants to party, and the latter as drunken dick-head Bert, the fear of all the gay squirrels in the woods.
A particular mention goes also to Justin (played by Eli Roth himself) and his big-ass bag of weed, to the “Harmonica Man” and especially to the “Happy Bold Guy” from the bowling campfire tale.
THE BAD
Like I said, not much, except maybe for some abrupt cuts and the really overlong and gratuitous “Yes. I made it. I’m still alive. I made it”, at the end. And there could’ve been more nudity; there’s always room for more nudity in my book...
THE DIRECTOR
From the wonderful “buzzing” title sequence all the way to the ironic conclusion ELI ROTH, showing off his status of “Horror Film Lover" taking his cues from classic independent horror films of the 70’s and 80’s (Evil Dead, Friday The 13th, Sleepaway Camp, The Burning,Deliverance, Night of the Living Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc.), delivers an almost perfect first horror film, that never slows down, never gets boring and even avoids the plot clichés you think you see coming, thanks to a meticulous balance between laughs and scares.
To keep things short – yes, everything you've heard is true. This movie really kicks some serious ass and really deserves the buzz that is surrounding it since it’s first screening at last years Toronto Film Festival. So, if you love the sight of rotting flesh, sore wounds, putrid fluids, rotting bones, and people vomiting up buckets of blood, you owe it to yourself going to see this movie, and you surely won’t be disappointed.
But beware, “Don’t Sit Next to Dennis!”
QUICK SIDE NOTE:CABIN FEVER comes out on September 12th...
Is the whole staff of Lion’s Gate on Dope ??????????????????????
What the hell were they thinking? In the last few weeks the regular moviegoer already had the opportunity to satisfy his horror appetite with the release of 2 Horror Movies back to back, Freddy vs. Jason” and Jeepers Creepers 2; then we got Helgeland’s long delayedoccult supernatural disaster...ehm, thrillerTHE ORDER/SIN EATER. Talk about over-saturating the market! And sadly, that’s not nearly all:
After winning the rights in a crazy bidding war back in Toronto,
and after a quiet decent marketing campaign – I can’t believe that they’re now wasting CABIN FEVER’s box-office potential by releasing it the same weekend opposite ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, COLD CREEK MANOR (both aiming basically at the same target) and Ridley Scott’s MATCHSTICK MAN. To make matters worse on September 19th we’ll get Harry’s “Wet-Dreams-Movie” UNDERWORLD (yeah, the one with Vampires and Werewolves in it) – and voilà , CABIN FEVER will be gone,crushed by the competition, and so will all the others wannabe-gory-and-sex-crazed-R-Rated-movies that are lingering in development/distribution hell.
But that’s just my opinion. Who knows, maybe Lion’s Gate knows what they’re doing, or maybe positive word of mouth will save it, or maybe not – only time will tell – but I’m sure enough that CABIN FEVER’s cult status will grow strong with the reiterated viewings on Dvd, (exactly, as it did with the Evil Dead Series).
PERFECT POPCORN
P.S. I know, when I reviewed Jaime Balaguerò’s DARKNESS back in February, I promised to send you infos about the new Dario Argento flick “THE CARD DEALER”, but unfortunately, since then, nothing particularly new came out, no spoilers, no new pictures, no reviews, no teaser/trailer, nothing... it seems they are keeping it very well hidden. The only thing that has been set is the Italian release date: January 04, 2004.
In any case, as soon as I know something, I’ll let you know.
Ciao from ROME.
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