\Cabin Fever"" is a movie that guarantees to generate a passionate response. Those who enter the theater expecting anything more high-brow than campy goodness will be disappointed.
The movie tests the viewers' ability to toss aside their standards of quality and have fun in spite of themselves. If one gets in on the joke, ""Cabin Fever"" is a rewarding experience. But if a viewer's expectations are high due to the movie's slick marketing, perhaps his or her money would be better spent elsewhere.
The plot of ""Cabin Fever"" is so cliched by now that it is hardly worth mentioning. Five kids go on a summer getaway in the middle of nowhere. Drinking and sex abound until a sick man ""terrorizes"" them. Who will be the next to catch cabin fever? How will they get help with no phone or car and a backwoods town that seems to be in on the whole thing? Really, who cares?
Getting the answers is not the fun part. It is all the nonsense in between that may give ""Cabin Fever"" cult status. The movie is not afraid to poke fun at itself and it is that tongue-in-cheek attitude that saves it from being a total bomb.
""Cabin Fever"" finds a way to tie in everything from ""Deliverance""-esque locals, ridiculous and disgusting sexual escapades, obscene amounts of obviously fake blood, a boy with an affinity for pancakes and karate and, of course, a doctor dressed as the Easter Bunny. The viewer should expect nothing less from a movie that boasts Rider Strong (Boy Meets World) as its dramatic lead.
It is difficult to be angry at ""Cabin Fever"" for what it is. After all, its most solid, coherent storyline is a throw-away joke about a rifle and a bottle of fox piss. Anyone who takes ""Cabin Fever"" seriously as the final credits roll should be pitied.
If viewers are looking for a good comedy-whether or not it is intentional-""Cabin Fever"" is a safe bet. If they are willing to cast away their maturity and good taste, there is no doubt that this movie will become one of the greatest comedies of all time.
