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Topic: 'Cabin Fever' aims for 'Blair Witch' heights (Read 541 times)

Rhune
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'Cabin Fever' aims for 'Blair Witch' heights
« on: Sep 9^th, 2003, 4:24pm »

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'Cabin Fever' aims for 'Blair Witch' heights
Tuesday, September 9, 2003 Posted: 1:33 PM EDT (1733 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Remember "The Blair Witch Project," the ghost story movie that wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival, racked up $140 million at domestic box offices and became a cultural phenomenon in 1999?

Low-budget festival hit "Cabin Fever," which opens nationwide Friday, carries with it the same sort of history and the potential to scare the daylights out of movie fans. But the key difference between it and "Blair Witch," is that it will also make audiences laugh through the fright.

"Cabin Fever" is the story of five college kids on a final, party-'til-you-drop vacation camping trip to a cabin in the wilderness. Once there, a case of flesh eating virus strikes the group, and they must decide who lives and who dies.

Not so funny, so far. But the way the kids act in the face of horror is so human that they end up mocking themselves, and that is where the humor lies.

Tough guy Bert, played by James DeBello, figures he can shoot his way out of the mess; sexpot Marcy, played by Cerina Vincent, opts to shave her legs rather than run for her life; too cool Jeff, played by Joey Kern, abandons the group; and everyday guy Paul, played by Rider Strong, has his mind fixed on the unobtainable and chaste Karen, played by Jordon Ladd.

"You use humor in horror films to release tension," said director and co-screenwriter Eli Roth. "Nobody is ever trying to be funny, but ["Cabin Fever"] is so sick and disgusting, it becomes funny. Though, outside theaters I've seen people fainting and people crying."

Roth is considered a protege of director David Lynch ("Blue Velvet," "Mulholland Dr.," and TV's "Twin Peaks"), so that should give movie fans an idea of "Cabin Fever" quirkiness.

Indie shock
Regardless of whether audiences consider the film horror or comedy/horror -- which may be a new film genre -- its roots are undoubtedly indie.

Roth worked over 10 years to raise money to get the movie made. He said well over 100 producers passed on the idea before he finally got one to say "it's so disgusting, I love it."

On the first day of shooting, he said, his biggest backer pulled out, leaving the filmmaker in limbo after spending $200,000.

Roth said his father took money out of his retirement fund to keep the film going, and his family and friends chipped in what they could, when they could.

"Every year, I just knew it was going to work. Just because everyone was saying, 'this is not going to work,' that didn't mean they were right," Roth said. "I just knew that if you make a horror movie with integrity, you can have something great."

Whether "Cabin Fever" is "great" is a question for critics and audiences. At its premiere at 2002's Toronto International Film Festival, it rocked theaters and indie powerhouse distributor Lions Gate Films bought it -- virus and all.

"Everybody was going nuts," said Roth.

Roth said he believes major Hollywood movie studios can make horror flicks boring because they believe gee-whiz special effects will overcome formulaic stories. Indie filmmakers on low budgets, however, must create original stories to thrill audiences because they can't afford the special effects.

He says the best horror films were those like 1978's "Halloween" or 1974's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," or even 1975's "Jaws" in which Steven Spielberg was forced to improvise when the mechanical shark failed to work as planned.

"Good horror movies are like punk rock. ... They are counterculture. They say f------ to the rules," he said.

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lakelady
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Re: 'Cabin Fever' aims for 'Blair Witch' heights
« Reply #1 on: Sep 9^th, 2003, 6:36pm »