Today’s Prayer Focus

Cabin Fever

MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA) for strong violence and gore, sexuality, language and brief drug use.
Moral Rating: Extremely offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Adults
Genre: Horror Suspense
Length: 1 hr. 34 min.
Year of Release: 2003
USA Release:
Copyright, Lions Gate Films Copyright, Lions Gate Films Copyright, Lions Gate Films Copyright, Lions Gate Films Copyright, Lions Gate Films Copyright, Lions Gate Films
Relevant Issues
Copyright, Lions Gate Films

FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer

Every time you buy a movie ticket or rent a video you are casting a vote telling Hollywood “That’s what I want.” Why does Hollywood continue to promote immoral programming? Are YOU part of the problem? Answer

Featuring Jordan Ladd, James DeBello, Rider Strong, Joey Kern, Cerina Vincent
Director Eli Roth
Producer Evan Astrowsky, Sam Froelich, Lauren Moews, Eli Roth
Distributor Distributor: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Trademark logo.Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: College friends embark deep into the mountains on a vacation filled with sex. They drive to a remote cabin to enjoy their last days of decadence before entering the working world. Then somebody gets sick. Karen’s skin starts to bubble and burn as something grows inside her, tunneling beneath her flesh. The group is so repulsed, shocked and sickened watching their friend deteriorate before their eyes; they lock her in a shed to avoid infection.

As they debate about how to save her, they look at one another and realize that any one of them could also have it. What soon began as a struggle against the disease turns into a battle against friends, as the fear of contagion drives them to turn on each other. The kids confront the terror of having to kill anyone who comes near them, even if it’s their closest friend. The survivors have to find help before they’re all killed by the virus, or by the local lynch mob out to destroy anyone who may have come in contact with it.

We could provide very specific details about the perversity of this film, but this disgusting movie really doesn’t deserve the attention, and the description alone would be extremely offensive to most of our readers. Suffice it to say that this film does not deserve the admission dollars of followers of Christ or anyone else.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Negative—This movie is extremely gory and disgusting. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. I think it is one of the grossest things I’ve seen, and the plot is lacking in substance. There’s a lot of blood, sex, cursing, and drinking. They used the f-word so many times, I asked my husband why it was so necessary. Steer Clear!!
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive / 2]
Nikki, age 23
Negative—As a survivor of flesh-eating disease, I watched the recent DVD release of this gore-fest in the hopes of giving some context to my own real-life nightmare. The true gore was the gratuitous swearing, the silly sex, and the over-the-top despicability. Believe me, the only thing evident during an infection like the one depicted in the film is a helplessness before your Creator. Isolate this one, don’t go near the featurettes, and maybe watch something a little more healthy. I should have.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive / 3]
Doug Lloyd, age 45
Negative—First of all this movie was not rated properly by the film industry. It did say it was rated “R”, but that was for its gore. It said absolutely nothing about the nudity and pornographic-looking simulated sex between two of the teenagers. I would never have gone to see this film if I’d known (how lame it was for one) that there was nudity in it. Don’t waste a minute of your life on this absurdity.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/1]
Fancie, age 40
Positive—The bad: It has it all… and it’s very graphic and very offensive. On moral grounds the movie is indefensible. It goes without saying that children should not see this film.

The good: It is what the best horror movies are… disturbing. Once it gets revved up, you will be terrified and riveted at the same time. For the people who complain that horror just isn’t what it used to be, that it just isn’t frightening anymore… THIS is the movie for you. I was literally afraid to drink water from the tap after viewing this film.

This is a movie that gleefully goes all the way with the gore as we squirm in our seats to the point of almost having to turn away from the screen. And it does it without some chainsaw wielding madman or supernatural monster… the real monsters are the victims themselves. They are their own worst enemies.

Bottomline: If you’re someone who is highly impressionable and easily distraught by the gruesome trappings of horror films… STAY AWAY. If you’re a true horror fanatic… this is the type of unpredictable, original horror movie you’ve been waiting for.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/4]
Andrew Wilkerson, age 24
Comments from young people
Negative—I went to see “Cabin Fever” with a group of friends, and not one of us managed to get through it without having to look away at least once. It is absolutely horrific, easily one of the most disgusting horror films ever, with so much bad language it almost gets ridiculous to watch. For fans of extreme horror films, this will probably provide some entertainment, but you would do a lot better with much-less offensive horror movies such as The Ring; or for a strictly adult audience, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which provides twice the terror of “Cabin Fever,” without the needless swearing or on-screen gore and sex.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/2]
Chris Rogers, age 15
Movie Critics
…filled with ugly behavior, profanity and obscenities. Avoid it like the Ebola Virus; it’s sick.
Preview Family Movie and TV Review
…Over 130 f-words… God’s name is abused at least 25 times… Vile. Gruesome. Exploitative. Mean-spirited. And just plain gross.
Loren Eaton, Plugged In!, Focus on the Family
…gutting a squealing pig (on camera)… crass shots of animal eviscerations and virus-ravaged flesh… lack of character development
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
…This is a wretched movie, and not in a good way. …Marcy realizes that she’s cut the flesh off her legs, and she starts crying, …Then she staggers outside on her bloody, fleshless legs, and gets dismembered by a dog…
Erik Nason, CinemaSpeak
…[Writer/Director] Roth has fun encoding his clear-eyed political polemic in southern-fried slapstick… These teens aren’t punished for the pot they smoke or the unsafe sex they partake in, but for the conservative political ends they serve: themselves…
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
…this is one fright flick that ultimately coaxes more titters than jitters… the picture keeps going into the kind of satirical overdrive that has already been well served by the “Scream” and “Scary Movie” franchises…
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
…Sex/Nudity: Extreme | Profanity: Extreme | Violence: Extreme
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