Official Tagline: A group of five friends are terrorized at their getaway cabin in this remake of the 2002 film Cabin Fever (2002).
Written by: Randy Pearlstein, Eli Roth (original screenplay)
Directed by: Travis Zariwny
Starring: Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, Louise Linton, Dustin Ingram
Cabin Fever is a remake of Eli Roth’s 2002 film of the same name. Was there an outcry for a remake? For a remake to be successful the new version should give a nod to the original film, but offer a new and unique version of the story while staying true to the spirit of the first film. This is not the case with the 2016 version of Cabin Fever and is in many ways an almost exact copy of the original. Writer Randy Pearlstein has done little more that take the original screenplay he co-wrote with Eli Roth, changed a few lines of dialogue added and deleted a couple of scenes and received a nice payday.
Travis Zariwny decided to not go the originality route and just copied Roth’s shot list with a couple of different camera angles. The biggest difference between the two versions is the gender switch of the stoner deputy Winston .The new cabin with its surrounding lake and woods are more picturesque than in the original film but that isn’t enough to justify a remake.
The cast is a relatively attractive group, but the cast of the 2002 film were a much more charismatic bunch. Jordan Ladd was much more convincing as the kind of innocent ,tease Karen than Gage Golightly in the same role, who comes off as a more slutty tease. Nadine Crocker takes on the role of the highly sexual , Marcy and is attractive, but pales in comparison to Cerina Vincent’s version of the character who was able to give a certain sense of vulnerability to the part that Crocker is never called on to perform by lackluster director Zariwny. The same can be said of all the new actors when compared to their counterparts in the original film, all are a pale imitation of the original characters.
Cabin Fever 2016 covers no new ground and isn’t as good as the original film and I’m wondering why they spent the money to make such an unoriginal, paint by numbers remake. Save your money and watch the 2002 version of Cabin Fever or do a back to back viewing of both versions and see what I’m talking about, maybe you’ll like the new version better, but I doubt it.
Screen Writer Ink
Fade In Is Just The Beginning