Catching this fever ain't so bad

A midst a slew of this season's revitalization of the horror/thriller genre comes Cabin Fever, hot on the tail of some serious pre-release hype. Peter Jackson himself shut down production on Return of the King twice to screen this romp to the cast and crew. Everyone seems to be getting "Cabin Fever." \nSo the question is: is it all that? The answer: HELL YES! Aware of the flak I'll get for it, I'll stand by that statement.\nThere's something that has been missing from horror movies of late -- fear, gore and fun. Films in the genre just aren't that scary or fun to watch nowadays. Cabin Fever is nothing short of a shout out to those times, bringing back the cheap, gross-out, guilty pleasure fun that audiences know they want.\nThe plot is exactly what you'd expect -- five college kids trot out to a cabin in the woods amidst an inbred hillbilly town. Stocked up on beer and hormones, the gang is determined to have a decadent good time after finals. Unfortunately, a crazy hermit crashes the party, infecting them with his recently contracted flesh-eating virus. The gang turns on one another as they one by one start to rot. \nThere's Paul and Karen -- lifelong friends, the good guy and girl. There's Jeff and Marcy -- the sexually charged couple that just wants to hit the sheets. And there's Bert -- the immature goofball tagalong (whose squirrel hunting montage is priceless). \nAre they stock characters? Yes. Is it fun to watch them die? Uh huh! \nUltimately, Cabin Fever is director Eli Roth's public declaration for a love of old-school horror. Allusions to Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead and others abound. So yes, this movie's not too original. The virus thing was just done with 28 Days Later, but in a completely different fashion. CF is about giving the audience what it wants.\nI'm not saying Cabin Fever is perfect; it's actually far from it. It could've been a lot gorier and more innovative. \nBottom line: what is up on screen is utterly entertaining. The script is witty, fast and flows. Roth's direction shows abundant potential. The acting is decent on all counts. And of course, there's the comfort of seeing people puking up buckets of blood as their faces and bodies rot away into a mushy, disgusting, deformed heap. You'll laugh, jump out of your seat and cringe simultaneously for 94 minutes. For my money, that's almost as good as it gets.