A review of "Cabin Fever: Patient Zero"

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A review of “Cabin Fever: Patient Zero”

By: Brian Cotnoir

You know since the “Ebola Outbreak” is presently a big deal in the U.S. right now, I figured I’d continue to perpetuate peoples paranoid fears of death and disease by reviewing a Horror film that deals with the subject of deadly virus outbreaks. I am a huge fan of Director Eli Roth.  He is one of my favorite directors and I usually reference him and his films when I try coming up with some creative for one of my horror screenplays.  I will watch anything that has his name on it, and I usually enjoy it.  Want to know what I don’t enjoy?  When somebody takes one of Eli Roth’s films or characters and tries to make their own version.  Eli Roth is a good director and screenwriter, but typically when there is a sequel of one of his films made and he is not involved with it in anyway it tanks horribly like “Cabin Fever 2” or “Hostel III”.  So is this sequel as bad as those.      

Just rub a little Neosporin on that,
it'll be all right.

Even though it’s the third film in the franchise, “Cabin Fever: Patient Zero” is actually a prequel film.  It opens up with a man named Porter (played by actor Sean Astin) being taken to a top secret island facility in the Dominican Republic, because he appears to be the only person who is immune to a vicious strain of a flesh eating virus.  The man in charge of the facility is named Dr. Edwards and he is bent on finding a cure within Porter’s blood.  Meanwhile, we cut to a separate storyline about a man named Marcus who is about to get married in the Dominican Republic, but before the wedding his best friend Dobbs and his brother Josh decide to throw him a bachelor party on a remote island.  However, the three gentleman end up partying on the island where Porter is being held captive, and to make things even more awkward, Josh invited and brought along his new girlfriend Penny (who used to be Marcus’s f*ck buddy).  The four friends are completely unaware of all the hidden microscopic danger that lurks around the Island.         

Well this is a mood killer

I’ll be honest; I thought this film was going to suck at first glance.   I thought that this film was going to be to “Cabin Fever” what “Beyond Re-Animator” was to “Re-Animator”, but much to my surprise I found it not only to be enjoyable, but also well made.  Even though Eli Roth had nothing to do with this film, it played out like it was one of his films.  It fits the story arch to Roth’s original film nicely, the characters are written in a style similar to the way that Roth writes and portrays his characters, and most importantly it is violent and gory as all hell!  It was wonderful it was fantastic, and I’m just grateful it turned out better than “Cabin Fever 2”.    

I left the Shire for this???

    Now the film isn’t without its flaws, of course.  The most apparent flaw is when they’re stranded out the island and they all pull out their cellphones to try to call for help.  Since the film is a prequel to “Cabin Fever” which was made and released in 2002, and it was a little confusing as to why they had IPhones, which didn’t come out until 2007.  Again, I know it’s a minuet goof, and I’m just nitpicking, but hey it’s what I do.  Also, Sean Astin’s performance didn’t really win me over.  After seeing him in the role of Sam in award winning “Lord of the Rings” films it’s kind of hard to picture him as anything else, and I feel like he was capable of a more competent performance.  I don’t think it’s entirely Astin’s fault, because even though he is the biggest star in the film, he really doesn’t get a lot of screen time until the end.             

   If you’re already seen the film “Cabin Fever” or are familiar with the films plot, you’ll probably be able to figure out the plot to the prequel very easily and that may put a lot of you off to seeing this film, but I still think you should give it a watch.  If you haven’t seen any of the “Cabin Fever” films yet, then I think you could make a fun movie marathon out of all three films.  Just watch “Cabin Fever: Patient Zero” first, then follow that up with the original “Cabin Fever”, and then skip “Cabin Fever 2” entirely and watch something better like “Cabin in the Woods” or “Evil Dead” after that and you have a great night my friends.