Last weekend my girlfriend and I sat down to watch the DVD for CABIN FEVER, expecting what was supposed to be a pretty good little horror/suspense movie based on all of the buzz I'd heard about it last year went it was playing in theaters. Then we started laughing. In fact, I can honestly say that not a minute of this film is genuinely scary -- not if you've ever seen a horror movie before. As the story became more absurd and over-the-top gross with blood being spattered left and right, only then did it occur to me: CABIN FEVER is a comedy, not a horror movie. Viewed from this perspective, I found the film to be quite enjoyable despite falling apart at the end.

My question is: who the heck marketed this thing and was the campaign brilliant or short-sighted? On the one hand, by going after the teenage demographic that usually flocks to any movie that involves young people being murdered, they were able to generate over 21 million (domestic) at the box office for a movie that cost only 1.5 million to make. On the other hand, is it possible this film could have been more of a cult hit had they sold it for what it really was?

Posted March 11, 2004 | link