It’s sad to say that I was pretty bored by this. It’s hard for me to point to anything in particular that was wrong with the project. The photography during the first half was really very nice. Very well lit, some nice vivid colors. Once the story reaches the outbreak portion, it starts going downhill.
I kept finding myself wondering what exactly was wrong with the movie.
When I think back to what worked about the original Cabin Fever, I think the primary strength it has is the misdirection. That movie misdirects the audience into thinking that it’s a teen slasher, but betrays every audience expectation by turning it into a viral outbreak movie. Crossing that with some heavier gore sensibilities, and a bit of paranoia, it was a very fun and unpredictable movie.
This one seems to mostly focus on characters turning into very gory versions of themselves, and then fighting. There are two bits in particular that stood out as being especially weird and fairly dumb.
First, a guy who is very far along with the disease attempts to fire a gun, and the kickback of the gun tears his hand off, and flips the gun so that it embeds in his face. Strangely, they don’t address what happens to the bullet that he fired.
Second, two female characters are half-rotted. Lots of skin missing. I think we see one of them showing exposed organs. They decide to have a fight on a beach. They tumble around, punching and choking each other. All the while I’m wondering how they have the energy for this. I think that flesh rotting off you would really take some of the fight out of your spirits.
By the end, the story is just a prequel to the first two Cabin Fever movies, but it doesn't actually provide any insight into them.
One other thing I was a little disappointed with. I was hoping that the two stories being told in parallel would have a different relationship to each other. I was hoping that the research lab story would turn out to be the backstory to the other story. That would be a much cooler structure.
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