Cabin Fever (2002) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Cabin Fever was the hottest property at the Toronto Film festival in 2002. Several studios got into a bidding war, which Lions Gate won with a deal that was said to involve high seven figures for the film rights, plus a commitment to at least low eight figures on the marketing and promotional end.

I'm not sure what all the fuss was about. It's a competent horror movie, but a fairly traditional type with no special luster of originality or innovation.

Five college kids, consisting of the usual mix of types, head out to a remote cabin in the woods to chill out before they have to face life. They have the usual foreboding experiences with the locals, who seem to be leftovers from the cast of Deliverance.

Things progress quietly until the kids encounter a hermit covered with pustules, obviously the victim of some new and horrible viral disease. The first encounter of the hermit with the entire group of kids gives us our first strong indication that this is not a movie about real people, but about movie characters. In real life, if someone comes to your door and says, "I'm hurt, I need a ride to the doctor", you say, "OK, but you may be infectious, so just don't touch anything here, and climb into the open flatbed of our vehicle. We'll get you to town". These kids don't behave like that - I suppose because they must know they are in a horror movie, and this isn't just a regular sick guy, but a horror movie sick guy, with some condition capable of destroying them and possibly the world. They recoil in horror, close the door on the poor sap, and eventually end up shooting him, beating him, and setting him on fire. The kids do not unanimously agree on this course of action, but that's what they end up doing.

The infected guy tries to douse the fire by jumping into the reservoir, thus poisoning the water supply. Plague ensues.

The locals turn on the kids, the kids turn on one another, things get ugly.

Critical reaction has been generally favorable, but not without dissents:

• The critics who love the horror genre have really taken this one to heart, so it must be a C+ on our scale - good fare for genre fans.
• Mainstream critics most typically said that it's OK as a 70s or 80s style horror movie homage, but nothing special at best. Roger Ebert assigned one and a half stars, Owen Gleibermann voted C+.

I had about the same reaction as the mainstream guys. I didn't think the film was original enough to praise unreservedly. I don't think I was surprised by one development in the entire film. It seems to me that the IMDb voters have it in the right general ballpark at 5.7/10.

I did think it was a competent movie, with adequate character development by genre standards, some solid horror moments as well as some solid comic relief, and it was above average in at least one way: the widescreen cinematography was often very effective, as good as I've seen in any recent horror film.

I thought the most effective and ingenious contribution to the genre occurred when Cerina Vincent was taking a bath, shaving her legs, all "business as usual" until we see her scraping off some lather to reveal that she has just used her razor to open up various disgusting pustules, spores, and/or lesions. Genre films are supposed to make us react viscerally - like carnival thrill rides. That scene certainly worked. I found it a very effective and lurid stomach-churner which was heightened by Cerina's naked vulnerability. That's the kind of moment that made it a hit with the indie and genre critics.

But make no mistake, it is a genre film for genre lovers, not one that reaches out to mainstream audiences.