Cabin Fever: Beneath the Skin (2004 Video) User Reviews

"We knew Eli would make a horror film the day he vomited watching Alien." Enjoyable making-of documentary.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 7 August 2005]

Cabin Fever: Beneath the Skin is a 29 minute documentary focusing on the production of the horror film Cabin Fever (2002) & is widely available on the Cabin Fever DVD.

It is divided up into various mini sections starting with 'The Script' in which writer/director Eli Roth talks about Cabin Fever's origins & that he contracted the flesh-eating disease from the film & stripped layers of skin off his face as he shaved. 'The Kids' which features interviews with the main cast. 'The Look' where Cabin Fever cinematographer Scott Kevan discusses the fact that the film purposely becomes darker & grainier as it progresses & says something about silver in the film stock, but he talks about things that are simply not noticeable in the final finished film. 'The Cabin' is production designers Franco-Giacomo Carbone big moment as he talks about the textures & materials used to decorate the cabin set. 'Music' is self explanatory & both Angelo Badalamenti & Nathan Barr make an appearance. 'Effects' is the best part as we see a lot of the special make-up effects being applied & shot. 'Dirty 'Ole Hermit' is all about Arie Vereen & his trials & tribulations during filming. 'Jake The Dog' recalls the trouble the production encountered with a docile dog that didn't do anything other than sit down & wasted an entire days worth of filming before being replaced with a dog so aggressive that no actors could be in the same shot. 'They Put Creatures In Our Ears!' is about Roth's death scene & the crew putting worms in his ear. 'The Deer Hit' explains the reasoning & effects behind that scene. 'Just Party, Man!' is about the misguided opinion that the rave in the finished film is a nice homage to 70's & 80's horror film with similar scenes. Finally 'Toronto Film Festival September, 2002' where Roth & producers Evan Atrowsky, Sam Froelich & Lauren Meows talk about the premiere & how successful it was. Then the credits run & there's an awful song after them by James DeBello that isn't funny in the slightest.

Photographed, edited, produced & directed by Gabriel Roth, Eli's brother, this documentary features plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, film clips & interviews both during filming & after. One aspect that annoyed me was that Roth kept referring to classic 70's & 80's horror & that he was trying to pay homage to them when in fact Cabin Fever as far as I'm concerned is crap. Everyone comes across a quite likable & it's a good watch if you want to know more about Cabin Fever which thankfully doesn't turn into one long butt kissing session like so many of these things are. I particularly like the special effects footage & we get to see Brett's headless body unlike in the finished film. Definitely worth a watch whether you like Cabin Fever or not.

A little bit self-congratulatory but has moments of interest

[bob the moo · 16 May 2004]

The cast and crew take time during and after the making of the film Cabin Fever to discuss how it came about, how the cast were arrived upon, how the effects were done (and the problems they encountered) and how Roth worked the shots and worked with the actors to develop the characters. Also the problems they encountered when they cast a fat, arthritic and friendly dog to play the part of an angry, diseased dog.

When you find that this film was directed by Roth's brother and that Roth himself is presenting it, you begin to get the feeling that this may not be a 'warts and all', open expose of the making process. In that regard the film is rather weak as it has a little too much in the way of back slapping between the cast and thee director. However, that said, the film still manages to come off as quite fun to watch and also reasonably interesting too. The film breaks the 30 minute runtime down into small chunks about various elements of the making process – some are interesting and some aren't. The background to Roth and the rather smug speech at the Toronto Film Festival are both low points but the stuff about the problems (the dog and the frozen blood) are both interesting. I was also interesting to see the cast getting made up and chatting onset – they all came across as nice people and displayed more personality than they each did in the actual movie!

One bit made me laugh out loud and that was Roth acknowledging that people had told him not to do the deer hit scene (I agreed with them) but his rational is that 'if they're still watching after an hour then they won't care….', not the most sound argument I've heard for a scene that is so silly that it almost threatens to derail the film when it should be at it's strongest! The contributions are mostly just chatter rather than insightful anecdotes but what they lack in real interest, they make up for in terms of fun.

Overall this is a nice addition to the film that is reasonably interesting but, even when it isn't, it still manages to be fun. Roth is an interesting person and my only problem with the movie was that he came off rather smug and starting to fill with his own self-importance – if he gets to direct more films I hope he can keep his feet on the ground.

Making Cabin Fever

[Michael_Elliott · 16 January 2016]

Cabin Fever: Beneath the Skin (2004)

*** (out of 4)

This thirty minute featurette takes us behind-the-scenes of the making of Eli Roth's CABIN FEVER. Roth as well as many of the cast and crew members are interviewed about what it was like working on the film. Subjects include what movies influenced Roth, what the cast members thought of all the gore and of course we're given a look at some of the special effects created. If you're a fan of CABIN FEVER then you'll enjoy getting to hear Roth discuss the making of the movie and how he came up with the idea for it. Everyone seems to be having a good time as they discuss what makes them most sick about the movie so fans will have a nice time with all the footage. A lot of the running time has everyone patting each other on the back but it's not easy to get a movie made so why not?