Cabin Fever 2003

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: On the surface, Cabin Fever might seem like just another ripoff of the Michigan-made cult classic The Evil Dead, but it has a style and sense of humor entirely its own. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A ferociously entertaining and mean little horror movie that achieves the kind of outrageous vibe best enjoyed in a crowded, noisy theater. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... disgusting and brainless ... Read more

Ellen Fox, Chicago Tribune: It's just a watery, undeservedly smug update of the low-budget, kids-stranded- in-the-sticks bloodfests of the 1970s and '80s. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: An unusually potent blend of dread, gore and gallows humor. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Taken on its own repellently coarse and shocking B-movie terms, it's every bit as infectious in its way as the gross-out virus it depicts. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The movie is well shot and decently acted for its genre, but it lacks the distinctive vision to make it of value to anyone not already convinced of the inherent entertainment value in flying body parts. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: Roth and co-writer Randy Pearlstein choke up the occasional belly laugh in Cabin Fever, but they're so busy selling their jokes and their film-geek smarts they never figure out how to scare us. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: It's a mean-spirited, drunken stumble of a movie unspooling in an endless loop of panicky foolishness. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A clever and bloody romp over the turf of friendship and fear. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Would make a decent midnight movie, but I wish there were something in it that felt original. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A well-timed examination of moral ambiguity. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: The result is something neither scary nor funny ... but marked by a self-satisfaction that permeates every corner of the film like its own contagion. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Only the true aficionado of the horror/slasher/ deadly virus/ mutant-hillbilly movie will appreciate Cabin Fever at all, much less make any sense of it. Read more

Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger: Like much of Cabin Fever, the performances are competent and uninteresting. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Other than a few witty jokes and a game cast, there's nothing particularly special here. Still, the nods to masters like Wes Craven and George Romero -- along with buckets of blood -- ought to thrill horror fans. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie adds up to a few good ideas and a lot of bad ones, wandering around in search of an organizing principle. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Cabin Fever starts small, and stays small, never reaching the transcendent Blair Witch heights of the biggest low-budget successes. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Horror fans will cherish Cabin Fever, and stout-hearted movie lovers in general would be wise to scope it out even if they have to peek between their fingers. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Cabin Fever is imitative, but it's honestly and even reverentially so -- what Roth borrows he at least has the grace to pay back. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: You've got to love a horror movie that wears its bloody influences so happily on its sleeve, and then proceeds to roll it up and start swinging the axe in a different direction. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: [Roth] has more going for him cinematically than the folks who did The Blair Witch Project. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Beginning with the sound of flies over the opening credits, Roth's sure-handed movie is rife with queasy discomfort. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: A loud, derivative grade-Z horror film of no particular distinction. Read more