Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I reviewed MY LITTLE EYE about two weeks ago. Good little horror film from England. I have not been fortunate enough to get a peek at CABIN FEVER yet, although our own Mr. Beaks is still struggling to sum up his experience with the movie. All I know is, it’s a good time to be a horror fan, as we actually have some strong, smart choices out there and things to look forward to.
First up, a guy who really flipped for MY LITTLE EYE:
Harry,
A critical film review is intended to examine both positive and negative elements of a film, and this approach will be respected in the following look of ‘My Little Eye’. However, before peeling the layers of the film away, let me make something very clear: I have personally never been so terrified in a cinema before in my life. My friend and I still quiver upon being reminded of the film.
The film was made with English money and helmed by a Welshman but features American actors in a Canadian location (although the geographical location matters very little). It revolves around a reality television game show broadcast over the internet, with very simple rules: five people are put in a house in the middle of nowhere and must stay in the house for six months. If they all stay there, they receive a million dollars but if any one of them leaves, they get nothing.
It is obvious that critics have labelled the film ‘Big Brother’ meets ‘The Blair Witch Project’: the concept of the game resembles that of the television show while the low budget is reminiscent of Blair Witch. However, the tone of the film completely removes it from the above-mentioned ‘influences’: this film has little room for satire and is firmly in the tradition of classic horror movies, something that I feel that Blair Witch was removed from. It is essentially a haunted house where accidents are waiting to happen.
The negatives also descends from its roots in classic horror films: the acting is pretty poor in the first half of the film, and none of the actors are helped by two-dimensional characters that spew out some silly and simple dialogue. But the film does not want to preach lessons like many horror films, its cleverness does not have to be spelled out to us as viewers, and so the chills commence soon after the film’s start and I was haunted for the rest of the film.
This has one of the most effective soundtracks ever for a horror film. Incorporating traditional creepy noises- stairs creaking, owls hooting, heavy breathing- into the music keeps you rooted in the reality of the film while still sounding cinematic. The look of the film is also incredibly exciting, using digital cameras to great effect and obtaining most of the footage from the cameras around the house. And while this is well used, director Marc Evans is not afraid to show us footage outside the house, ensuring that there is no anal attention to detail as there is in other films such as ‘Series 7: The Contenders.’
I really do not want to give away any more of the film, but I will say this: this is a cynical concept made by sick minds, and the horror scenes are absolutely nasty. This is extreme cinema, something that Hollywood would not be able to make no matter how much money they would pump into the project. For me, horror films do not get much better.
Call me Chad Palamino
Thanks, Chad. Zartan’s up next, and anytime I even see the title CABIN FEVER, I flash on this Eli Roth interview I read where he talked about a shaving accident (“my skin was like water and just... peeled away in strips...”) that allegedly inspired this film of his. Red meat is a rare thing these days in horror, and the idea of a smart gorefest right around the corner makes me giddy.
You've probably received at least a dozen reviews for Cabin Fever already, but here it goes. It is definitely a throw back to early 80's horror, which to me is its main selling point. Five kids off on a camping trip in the middle of the woods...blah, blah, blah. Standard horror set up. Each of the character archetypes are represented: the vain/shallow pretty boy, the crude jock, the sensitive underdog and the love of his life, and the dim hottie. The film starts off pretty strong delivering a fair share of jumps and gore and then it just falls apart at the end (possible spoilers ahead). It starts out serious with an unknown virus eating away at its victims flesh. An infected man shows up at their cabin for help and they get scared and kill him. One by one they each get infected and they begin to turn on each other (think Thing paranoia). And that's basically it, no closure, you never learn what it is and it has one of the biggest cop out endings of all time. I don't mind leaving the cause up to our imagination, but you get the feeling that the writer couldn't think of anything. A few cool questions are raised during the film, a mysterious "kit" that is brought to deal with the infected - it never gets used, we never learned what was inside the kit. A crazy kid that bites anyone who sits on a bench next to him...we learn his brother died from a disease and that his family is at least familiar with this sort of thing (hence "the kit"). Well, there is no pay off to any of that back story. After all this build up, does any of this come together at the end? No. The local authorities show up, kill everybody and forget anything ever happened. Of course the virus isn't actually stopped, it makes it past the quarantine area. All that was missing was the bad sting music.
Zartan
Hehehe... as Quint said, hype could kill the thing, so maybe it’s good to set our expectations low and let the charm of this one creep up on us.
"Moriarty" out.
