I Made It! I’m Okay! (25)

Top 30 Greatest Movies of All-Time # 25

Title:  Cabin Fever

Actors/Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away:  Eli Roth directs, Rider Strong stars.

Introduction:  I watched a movie (don‘t ask me what) around the same time that Cabin Fever came to DVD and it had the trailer for it.   I then watched the movie based on that (probably rented it) and one day ended up buying it from Wal-Mart for five dollars.   Totally worth it.

Location:  In a cabin in the woods.

Plot:  Some kids go into a cabin in the woods and all start dying from some mysterious disease, most likely spread through the local water supply.    But you already knew that.   What makes this movie great is that it came out at a time when horror movies had grown stale.   Sequel after sequel after revived franchise came out, and while it had some interesting qualities to it, you just wanted to see something new and original.    Plus you wanted to see something that literally made the hairs on your arms stand up.  In the preview (and during the movie) the scene where the girl is shaving her legs still stands out in my mind as one of the coolest, grossest, most disturbing yet pleasing things I have ever seen.   It is this sort of “Why are you making me watch this?” mixed with “Wow, no one’s done that before!” mentality that makes me truly love this movie.  I believe if it wasn’t for Cabin Fever, there would be no Saw series and modern horror as we know it would be forever changed.

Acting:  For who is in it, they act well, yes.

Production:  You can tell it was somewhat low budget, but it still looked good and had the right amount of blood.

Sex/Nudity:   There is a sex scene or two, but they aren’t pointless.  It’s always great to see when someone is infected.

Special Effects:  For what I’m guessing was a small budget, they’re actually really good.  Everything looks so real.

Overall Verdict:   Eli Roth brought back horror, plain and simple.  Someone else could have done it if he didn’t, sure, but Eli Roth did and for that I put this movie in my list.   Thank you, Mr. Roth.

The List Thus Far:

(25) Cabin Fever

(26) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

(27) Uncle Buck

(28) Donnie Darko

(29) Demolition Man

(30) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory