Line #77 Film/CabinFever


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cabinfever_2208.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:Step 1: Have sex.\
3	Step 2: Die.]]
4
5	->''"Time stands still\
6	Contamination's calling, and now our skin is crawling\
7	Is it a crime to kill?\
8	If we're only sinking deeper, and love can't stop the fever"''
9	-->-- '''Music/IceNineKills''', "A Rash Decision"
10
11	''Cabin Fever'' is a 2002 American {{horror}} film directed by Creator/EliRoth, about a group of college students who stay in a secluded cabin on a camping trip and subsequently find themselves falling victim to a flesh-eating virus[[note]]hence the title ''Cabin '''Fever''''', [[DontExplainTheJoke geddit]]?[[/note]].
12
13	Roth's directorial debut, the film's story was inspired by a trip to Iceland during the course of which he developed a skin infection. It was also inspired by many of his favorite horror films, such as ''Franchise/EvilDead'', ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974'', and ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'', and was the result of him wanting to step away from what he saw as "[[{{Irony}} watered-down]]" studio horror films. Rather, he considered violence and nudity to be essential ingredients of what he saw as a throwback to '80s horror. Roth would later continue down this path with the ''Film/{{Hostel}}'' series and ''Film/TheGreenInferno''.
14
15	''Cabin Fever'' was followed by a [[InNameOnly sequel]], ''Cabin Fever: Spring Fever'', in 2009, and a prequel, ''Cabin Fever: Patient Zero'' in 2014. A fourth film, ''Outbreak'', was also tentatively planned but was jettisoned in favor of a RecycledScript remake in 2016.
16
17	Has nothing to do with ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' sixth book.
18	----
19	!! This series contains examples of:
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder: The series]]
24	* ApocalypseHow: The flesh-eating virus variety.
25	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The infection ''acts'' like a bacterium - replicating in water without a host, remaining contagious long after a host expires, being inspired by RealLife flesh-eating bacteria - but is ''called'' a virus by the scientists in the prequel. They're completely different types of pathogens, people!
26	* BloodFromTheMouth: One of the later symptoms of the virus (how much later seems to vary between movies) involves vomiting blood--[[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank a lot of it]].
27	* BodyHorror: It's a horrifying flesh-eating virus. What do you expect to happen? [[spoiler:(And in the second movie, this is turned up to 11.)]]
28	* CoolClearWater: AvertedTrope. The virus is ''waterborne''; it thrives in the nearby river.
29	* FacialHorror: People in the late stages of the disease tend to have their lips rot away, exposing their teeth.
30	* {{Gorn}}: Again, horrifying ''flesh-eating'' virus.
31	* InescapableHorror: Getting more so by the end of each movie...
32	* KarmaHoudini: Winston the Party Cop. He [[IdiotHero repeatedly survives]] encounters with numerous infected people in the first two movies, most of the time not even being aware of the true danger of the virus or even caring, as he's preoccupied with ''partying''. At the end of the first two movies, he unknowingly ruins any hope of containment by accidentally spreading the virus ''even further''. He's avoided getting infected so many times that it's quite likely he must have some sort of natural immunity to it.
33	* MadeOfPlasticine: It's a flesh-eating virus and it rots your flesh. This is what happens to your body as a direct result. Inevitably that would make the virus even more dangerous - it's tough to take samples to create a cure because it deteriorates so quickly.
34	* ThePlague: It is hinted that the disease will reach pandemic levels, insofar as the hint practically parades in front of the audience in stiletto heels and fishnet stockings singing "[[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Sweet Transvestite]]" and twirling flaming batons.
35	* QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice: The cops and the government try to keep the virus contained---and because it is so lethal, it involves killing anybody unlucky enough to be on the infected area (even if it's a bunch of ''kids''). And every time, the virus still manages to escape...
36	* SplatterHorror: Naturally, given Roth's enthusiasm for bloodshed in horror movies and the inclusion of a flesh-eating virus. While other horror series may start tame and ramp things up over successive movies, ''Cabin Fever'' starts out over the top and stays there.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder: ''Cabin Fever'']]
40	* AnatomicallyImpossibleSex:
41	** Watch Paul's arm when he embraces Marcy at the end of their sex scene. It's level with the top of her hip. So her crotch must've been pumping Paul's belly or chest, not his penis.
42	** Even more apparent in the full-screen cut, [[PanAndScan where you can see]] how impractically wide Marcy is straddling Paul and how high her thrusts go.
43	** Just the opposite for the other sex scene, as it's the '''widescreen''' cut [[PanAndScan that spoils the illusion]] - you can see that ''"naked"'' Marcy is wearing underpants.
44	* AsYouKnow: "You don't use condoms?" This is a pretty obvious question when you are literally in the middle of a sexual romp and your partner hadn't made you put on a raincoat before she climbed aboard. But, of course, without a mid-coital dialogue about it, how would the audience know that there are virus cells swimming through those mixing bodily fluids?
45	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Bert & Jeff.]]
46	* BadCopIncompetentCop: It's incredible that Winston isn't the page image for this trope.
47	** Whereas Winston is mostly just incompetent, the remainder of the Sherriff's department appear to be downright psychopathic. They unilaterally decide to simply murder every potential carrier of the disease, to avert an outbreak; burn all the evidence to cover up what they've done; then charmingly feign ignorance when other members of their community ask them about the whereabouts of the friends whom they have cold-bloodedly murdered.
48	* BaitAndSwitch: Done brilliantly. The store owner is asked what the rifle behind the counter is for, and he replies "That's fer niggers." Later, a group of black people walk into the store and he quickly grabs it [[spoiler:and politely hands it to them because they dropped it off for repairs.]]
49	* BrickJoke:
50	** "That's fer niggers."
51	** When Paul gets bitten by Dennis, he tells Dennis's dad there should be a warning sign about the kid. Guess what's there in the final scene?
52	*** Ironic since the next person Dennis attacks, Bert, ''doesn't'' sit next to him and still gets bitten.
53	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Subverted via a strange coincidence. During the credits, a band plays [[PublicDomainSoundtrack "Swing Low"]], a song very much suited to the movie's perennial theme of facing death. One verse being:
54	-->''"I looked over Jordan and what did I see?''
55	-->''Coming for to carry me home?''
56	-->''A band of angels''[[note]](i.e. death)[[/note]]'' coming after me,''
57	-->''Coming for to carry me home."''
58	** Which is an uncannily meta set of lyrics, considering that the main characters first discover the prospect of death bearing down on them when they look over Karen (played by '''Jordan''' Ladd) and see sickly wounds upon her leg.
59	* ButWeUsedACondom: Inverted. Paul and Marcy make a point of telling the audience they are doing the deed without a raincoat. Of course, [[TemptingFate riding bareback with a deadly disease spreading through the cabin is just asking for trouble]]. [[spoiler:Obviously, Marcy]] is already infected and is leaving [[spoiler: poor Paul]] with a bad case of Cabin Fever.
60	* CoolOldGuy: Old Man Cadwell, who seems racist [[spoiler:but is actually PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy]].
61	* ComingAndGoing:
62	** Marcy and Paul's impulsive romp in the sack is framed around a shot of motionless Karen dying alone in the tool shed. Marcy's aroused breathing has even been inserted into the Karen shot. This was done to illustrate the moral decay that had developed within the cabin (with two teens selfishly enjoying a good screw while their friend croaks).
63	*** Afterwards, it happens quite literally as [[NotStayingForBreakfast Paul goes shortly after he... Ahem.]]
64	** Undertones of sex are subtly present across the entire spread of the disease throughout the main characters:
65	*** Karen is discovered to have the deadly illness when Paul is feeling her up - it's implied that her first wound was near her vagina because that's the area Paul was touching her when he found the blood.
66	*** Bert's first disease wounds are discovered just above his crotch.
67	*** Marcy's first disease wounds are the rashes on her back that appear during her passionate sexual encounter with Paul.
68	*** Paul actually contracts the disease from his unprotected sexual encounter with infected Marcy. In addition, his first definite sign of being sick are small wounds he finds down near his crotch. Of course, this doesn't mean it's an STD going around, but Getting On Down with somebody who's dying from a waterborne infection is not really the best idea...
69	* CoversAlwaysLie: The back cover states that there's "something burrowing beneath [the character's] flesh", implying a parasite of some sort.
70	* CreatorCameo: [[Creator/EliRoth Roth]] plays the memorable character Justin.
71	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL-IaFKsIw4 Ooh, faced!]]"
72	* CreepyChild: Dennis, hands down.
73	* CruelTwistEnding: "I MADE IT! I FUCKING MADE IT!" gunshot [[spoiler:Given what an ass he was, some don't think Jeff's sudden death was all that tragic.]]
74	* DeadlyBath: The actual bathing is not shown, but Marcy tells the group she's going to take a bath after an argument earlier in the movie. Possibly how she initially became infected ([[spoiler: the virus is waterborne]]).
75	* DeathByIrony: Oh, yes.
76	** [[spoiler: Karen]] is ironically infected by [[spoiler:the man who loves her, Paul]], who does so while attempting to comfort her, not realizing that [[spoiler:the glass of water he's offering her]] contains the disease.
77	** [[spoiler:Bert]] seals his own fate by forgetting about his bet with Jeff and [[spoiler:drinking a sip of water]].
78	** [[spoiler:Paul's]] infection with the deadly disease is doubly ironic. First because [[spoiler: Marcy explicitly assured him she was healthy while they were having unprotected sex]], while in reality she was '''un'''healthy and was passing her deadly sickness over to him. And secondly because [[spoiler:having unprotected sex with her in the first place]] went directly against his own advice to Marcy and Jeff earlier in the movie to [[spoiler: have'' 'safe sex' '']].
79	** [[spoiler:Jeff's]] death is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] DeathByIrony. After successfully evading the virus for two days, he stands upon the cabin porch, proudly proclaiming: "I fucking made it!", [[spoiler:only to be immediately gunned down by a squad of trigger-happy sheriff's deputies]].
80	** [[spoiler:Paul's]] depicted ending is ironic in that he tried to warn Winston that [[spoiler:the virus was in the water supply]], only for Winston to misinterpret his utterances of, "Water..." as pleas for some water to drink, subsequently leading to Winston [[spoiler:abandoning Paul by a stream]] under the strange belief that he was giving [[spoiler:Paul]] what he wanted.
81	*** Especially ironic in that [[spoiler:Paul's]] efforts to warn others of the danger ultimately led to him [[spoiler:contaminating the water supply of the whole community]].
82	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: Subverted with the unexpected LoveTriangle that develops between Karen, Paul, and Marcy late in the movie. Both ladies die within minutes of one another, leaving Paul [[spoiler:(who ultimately dies himself)]] with no hope of ending up with either one of them.
83	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: Though not as bad as many horror examples.
84	* DespairSpeech: Marcy's ''"We're all gonna die... It's like being on a crashing plane..."'' speech certainly qualifies.
85	* DontGoInTheWoods: You just never should in general. Everything will want to eat you, including the bacteria.
86	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:None of the four main characters live to warn somebody (though Paul tries). The kids buying and selling lemonade made with contaminated water are infected with the virus and will most likely infect the rest of the townspeople, and the water is bottled and shipped to another part of the country.]]
87	* DroneOfDread: A sickly whine is used frequently. Mostly to overlay shots of the infected water, or to indicate the moment a character becomes infected or realizes they are infected (or both, in one case).
88	* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Paul feels Karen up whilst she's in a sickness-induced sleep, going as far as [[spoiler:fingering her. Somewhat subverted, as it's not actually her vagina, and he comes away with blood-covered fingers]].
89	* EarAche: Fenster, one of the hillbillies, dies when a screwdriver is jammed into his ear.
90	* EatenAlive: [[spoiler:Marcy]] is chased and eaten by a vicious dog.
91	* EthicalSlut: Though she's mostly known as the film's MsFanservice, Marcy was also one of the only two people who cared enough to comfort Karen and clean her up after she started vomiting blood. She also seemed to be the most remorseful of the group about locking Karen in the shed, as she brought Karen dinner soon afterward.
92	* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: "...Goodnight, fucker..."
93	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
94	** Paul advises Jeff and Marcy to have ''"safe sex"'' when he accidentally walks in on them about to do the horizontal hula at the start of the movie. Though it's not clear one way or the other if they actually take his advice, it would later turn out to be extremely important advice [[{{Hypocrite}} that Paul, himself, fails to follow]] when '''he''' has sex with Marcy later on.
95	** During the campfire scene, Marcy tells Paul, "Trauma bonds people," and Paul corrects her, "It bonds the people '''who go through it'''." Throughout the remainder of the movie, Marcy and Paul go through trauma together to the point they end up having sex.
96	** Marcy's quote: "...All you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck the shit out of them because you know you're going to be dead soon anyway." This turns out to be an eerily accurate description of her remaining lifespan. Pretty much all she does after that speech is grab the guy sitting next to her, have sex with him, and then die shortly afterward.
97	** The director's cut version includes an extra scene that shows how everybody spends their last night in the cabin. Marcy and Paul are shown sleeping in the same bed, both fully clothed due to how Marcy's relationship with Jeff has deteriorated throughout the night. This, of course, foreshadows Marcy and Paul "sleeping together" in the more Biblical sense.
98	* GilliganCut:
99	** Jeff, Marcy, and Bert are fretting about their difficulties in getting help after their traumatic first night in the cabin. Bert remarks that it's unlikely that the police will show up to save them as, if they knew about the group's confrontation with the hobo, they would've already visited the cabin to investigate. Cut back to the cabin to see that a cop has just arrived; however, he is [[BadCopIncompetentCop so incompetent]] he will end up being of no assistance at all.
100	** A play on variant #2 of this trope: When Marcy alludes that she wants to sleep with Paul, Paul simply stares at her in silent disbelief - as if he thinks he must've misheard her. Cut to Marcy throwing him down on the bed, and immediately beginning sex with him. Paul still appears to be stunned with disbelief. The situation has escalated far beyond anything he had ever anticipated.
101	*** According to Creator/EliRoth, the premiere audience for the film actually burst out laughing when Marcy's sexual dialogue transitioned to a full-on sex scene so abruptly.
102	* GreatWayToGo: When her friends start succumbing to the disease, Marcy decides that what little time she has left would best be spent doing the horizontal mambo.
103	-->'''Marcy:''' '''It's like being on a plane when you know it's going to crash. Everybody is screaming "We're going down! We're going down!" And all you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck the shit out of them because you know you just gonna die soon anyway.
104	* HandOrObjectUnderwear: Marcy leaves her breasts hanging free and visible when we first see her washing up after her intense sex scene. But she soon covers them with her arms while holding a small towel up to her face and keeps them covered for the duration of the scene.
105	* HeroicBSOD:
106	** Marcy virtually shuts down completely after Jeff abandons her. Before, she is assertive, selfless, and driven. But afterward, all she does is have one last screw, resign herself to death, and have a bath.
107	** Paul grows increasingly out of control after seeing [[spoiler: Marcy's mangled remains]]. Supposedly the hero of the film, he ends up [[spoiler: going on a killing spree, killing several people including his own love interest.]]
108	* HeroicSacrifice: After spending most of the movie being an incorrigible prick, [[spoiler: Bert sacrifices himself, allowing Paul to kill the evil townsfolk.]]
109	* HomageShot:
110	** [[spoiler: Paul's and Marcy's sex scene]] draws on the first two ''Film/{{Species}}'' movies in numerous ways:
111	*** The scene begins with [[spoiler: Marcy]] forcefully hurling [[spoiler: Paul]] down onto the bed, just like Creator/NatashaHenstridge did to Creator/AlfredMolina.
112	*** The initial shot of them is very similar to shots of Natasha Henstridge having sex with Alfred Molina; similarities that would've been even more apparent if Creator/EliRoth had had his way and Creator/CerinaVincent had [[ModestyBedsheet filmed the scene completely naked]], just as Natasha Henstridge had been in her scene.
113	*** Both male characters in these scenes timidly question the women about using a condom. Both times the women overpower their common sense with their aggressive seduction.
114	*** The final part of the scene resembles the first sex scene in ''Film/SpeciesII'', where Creator/JustinLazard's second lover squeezes his back while they are having sex, only to discover he's grown alien tentacles. However, while the horror element is made evident to the woman in Species II, in this movie the disturbing revelation that [[spoiler: Marcy has the disease]] is only revealed to the audience.
115	** The SloMo shot of Marcy walking to the empty house is a deliberate recreation of [[MaleGaze the butt-tracking scene]] from ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974''.
116	** [[spoiler: The sheriff's burning the teens bodies on a pyre is a strong evocation of the ending of ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1969'']]
117	* {{Hypocrite}}:
118	--> '''''Paul when he sees Marcy about to have sex with Jeff'''''
119	---> '''Paul:''' Yeeeeah... Safe sex!
120	--> '''''Paul while Marcy is having sex with him'''''
121	---> '''Paul:''' You don't use condoms?
122	---> '''Marcy:''' Don't worry, I'm healthy.
123	---> '''Paul:''''' (Implied by silence)'' Oh, alright then.
124	* AHouseDivided: None of the characters actually die from the virus.
125	* {{Irony}}: The brand of beer shown in the scene where Jeff takes all the beer and bails on his friends is the very real "Arrogant Bastard Ale".
126	* InsaneTrollLogic:
127	** When Paul shows up at the general store, Dennis is sitting on a swinging bench, minding his own business, and Paul, not knowing the kid is nuts, sits beside him. Dennis responds by biting his hand without warning or provocation. Paul rightly complains about the unwarranted attack and points out that Dennis is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Rather than confine or restrain Dennis in any way, the townsfolk put a sign on the bench saying, "Do not sit next to Dennis." Later on, Bert parks '''across the street''' because the cabin has no phone or radio, hoping he can get the townsfolk to contact the big city to get himself and his fellow tourists some help to deal with the disease. Dennis yells "PANCAKES!" before running over to Bert and biting his hand, infecting himself. Dennis' father then acts as if Bert attacked Dennis and essentially tells him, "This is all your fault, we're going to kill you."
128	** At the end of the movie, Paul gets picked up by none other than Winston, who mistakes his croaked warning of "Water..." for a request to ''drink'' some and dumps him in a creek instead of driving him to a hospital like he was instructed. After the police unceremoniously gun [[spoiler:Jeff]] down, they go on to do absolutely nothing to stop a couple of kids from getting water from ''that very same creek Paul is in'' to make lemonade with... Is everyone in town mentally deficient in some way?!
129	* InstantSeduction: Marcy somehow manages to turn a maudlin speech about how hopeless their situation is, and a pensive gaze into High Octane Nookie Fuel. No sooner has she finished telling Paul how doomed they both are than the film cuts to a shot of them both naked, with Marcy throwing the incredulous Paul down on the bed.
130	* InternalReveal: Just after Marcy [[BlatantLies assures her reluctant sex partner that she's healthy]], we're shown that his hands are leaving unusually nasty rashes as they squeeze her back - cluing us in, [[MusicalSpoiler as if we didn't already suspect]], that Marcy was already riddled with the disease.
131	* ImmodestOrgasm: Jeff makes a lot of noise at the beginning.
132	* IronicEcho:
133	** The second sex scene is an ironic echo of the first one:
134	*** The first begins with Marcy giving a speech about how great the coming week's going to be, and the second begins with her giving a speech about how all they've got in their future is sickness and death.
135	*** Paul advises Marcy and Jeff to use a condom at the beginning of the first sex scene, at the beginning of the second he tells Marcy he's concerned that they aren't using a condom.
136	*** Both scenes are cut into two sections, framed by a still shot of what one of their friends is doing at the same time.
137	*** Both have soundtracks, the first is upbeat and carefree, and the second is [[MusicalSpoiler dark and ominous]].
138	*** The first scene is [[CallingYourOrgasms quite vocal]], and the second one is mostly silent - symbolizing the breakdown of communication/relationships among the group.
139	** [[spoiler: Paul's]] infection is an ironic echo of [[spoiler: Karen's]]. Both come about as a consequence of him attempting to give moral support to one of his overwrought female friends, and both occur accidentally through what was intended to be a'' 'loving' ''gesture ([[spoiler: Paul offering Karen a drink of water]] to calm her and [[spoiler: Paul and Marcy making love.]])
140	** Dennis randomly shouts "Pancakes!" before he bites Bert's hand and gets infected. Later, when he's being treated in the hospital, the man in the bunny costume is actually feeding him pancakes.
141	* {{iSophagus}}: At a party, a guy playing his harmonica gets it shoved down his throat after getting smashed in the face with a guitar. Cue him falling to the ground gasping for air complete with harmonica sounds.
142	* JerkAss: Jeff, who runs off and abandons his girlfriend after two of their friends have caught the virus.
143	* JerkAssHasAPoint: Jeff is an absolute dick who cared only for himself, but he is correct about keeping himself away from the others who have been infected. [[spoiler:He ends up being the only survivor until the local cops kill him to cover up the infection.]]
144	* KarmaHoudini: Jeff, the jerkiest of jerk-faces in the entire movie, quickly abandons everyone and only looks out for himself, even in a rare moment that he actually COULD make a difference. He's the only one that survives. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Well, until the cops clearing out the infected gun him down.]]]]
145	* LiteralMetaphor: Marcy likens her and Paul's hopeless situation to one where "all you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck the shit out of them", which leaves Paul DumbStruck. She proceeds to grab him and fuck the shit out of him.
146	* LudicrousGibs: [[spoiler:Dr. Mambo rips Marcy to pieces.]]
147	* MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: Pancakes!
148	* MercyKill: Paul kills Karen with a shovel to put her out of her misery.
149	* MistakenForRacist: [[spoiler:The shotgun that's "for niggers" isn't to shoot them. Rather, the store owner has some black friends from out of town, and the gun is theirs.]]
150	* ModestOrgasm: Despite the pulse-racing tempo of her [[GreatWayToGo doomsday fling]], Marcy reaches the grand finale with just a quiet gasp and a toss of her hair. Paul's reaction is even less noticeable (though he's shot only from the back, so it's not like we're in a position to see him).
151	* MusicalSpoiler: The sinister background music over [[spoiler: Marcy and Paul]]'s sex scene makes it pretty clear that something dark is happening here ([[spoiler: namely, Paul catching the disease from Marcy]]) as if the [[AsYouKnow expository statement about their lack of condoms]] wasn't clear enough.
152	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
153	** Marcy's sarcastic remark to the men the morning after they accidentally killed the sick hobo to stop him from stealing their car.
154	-->'''Marcy:''' You boys gonna kill ''each other'', now?
155	** Also, when she criticizes Paul for being a little too excitable when they slept together.
156	-->'''Marcy:''' Jesus, Paul, you really did a number on my back!
157	** [[spoiler: At the end of the film, the Sheriff orders the death of all the survivors and their bodies burned. However, Paul was in the later stage of the disease when he arrived at the hospital. Additionally, given that the doctors didn't even know what it was, he likely would have died there. Thus, if the Sheriff hadn't been so insistent about making them disappear, Paul’s body would have never reached the lake and infected the town's water supply.]]
158	* NoBodyLeftBehind: There are bits and pieces of [[spoiler:Marcy]] scattered around the forest after her death, but her intact corpse is nowhere to be found. That dog must've been '''really''' hungry!
159	* NotStayingForBreakfast: Despite Marcy's pleas for him to stay in the cabin, Paul is determined to wander off after their sexual ride, on a seemingly pointless mission. Of course, seeing as he suspected her of giving him the deadly disease, you can understand why he was so eager to get away from her. Also, see SexChangesEverything.
160	** If there is any doubt about his true motive for leaving being the post-coital awkwardness (as opposed to a genuine attempt to save his friends), take a look at the direction Jeff ran off in, and then take a look at the direction Paul returns from after he hears [[spoiler:Marcy's death screams]]. He went ''searching'' for Jeff in the completely opposite direction to where he last saw Jeff running!
161	* OutWithABang: Marcy justifies a spontaneous affair with Paul by rationalizing that they will both soon be infected and dead from the disease, so why not? By doing it, she actually infects (presumably) healthy Paul with the illness she was carrying.
162	* ParasiticHorror: Invoked by the plot synopsis on the back cover, which implies that the infection is a burrowing parasite, rather than Necrotizing Fasciitis.
163	* PokingDeadThingsWithAStick: When Paul finds the vagrant's dead body in the reservoir, he climbs down a ladder with a stick to poke at the corpse and turn it over in the water, only for the ladder Paul is standing on to give way and drop him into the water with the corpse.
164	* PsychoStrings: A double beat string motif is used during the scene where Marcy infects Paul by having sex with him.
165	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The film's inspiration came when Eli Roth developed a skin disease during a trip to Iceland.
166	* RevealShot: When a tense discussion breaks up, the camera pans on to the table to reveal a cup of tea where [[spoiler: Marcy]] had been sitting, indicating that she had drunk some of the infected water during the meeting.
167	* RightThroughHisPants: Marcy is topless but wearing panties during sex with Paul.
168	* RuleOfSexy: Many reviewers, both pro and amateur, have noted how improbable and out-of-place Paul and Marcy's sudden tryst seemed. Likely, it was written-in because [[Creator/EliRoth Roth]] wanted his debut to return to the staples of classic horror (one of which being gratuitous nudity).
169	* ScareChord: After Paul is wheeled into the hospital, he has a dream of him and Karen before everything went down. There's very nice music, the final scene shows the two of them about to kiss...and then it smash cuts to Karen's flesh-rotted face with a JARRING scare chord playing.
170	* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The bottled water truck driving off at the end of the movie is shown in the sequel to have delivered its deadly cargo to the population of a high school prom.]]
171	* SexChangesEveryThing: Subtle hints throughout the film show Marcy's relationship with Jeff decaying while she grows closer to Paul. [[http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=168718 A scene cut from the cinema version even shows them sleeping together (fully clothed)]] on their last night. On their last morning, they do everything together. Then, after Marcy finally has sex with Paul, he can't get away from her fast enough.
172	* SexForSolace: Debatable. Marcy's sudden urge to screw Paul seems mostly due to Jeff breaking up with and abandoning her.
173	* SexSignalsDeath:
174	** Marcy has sex with Paul because she's upset that Jeff bailed on all of them. Paul is concerned that they aren't using a condom, but Marcy claims that she hasn't caught the virus yet. Afterward, Paul douses his genitals with Listerine to be sure - too late! Turns out she was wrong, as we see her with handprint rashes on her back where he touched her immediately after they finished.
175	** Another example happens earlier on when Paul is fondling Karen. He soon finds out that her legs are bleeding and infected, and he is actually touching one of the sores.
176	* ShootTheShaggyDog: See CruelTwistEnding.
177	* ShoutOut:
178	** The ending [[spoiler:where the only remaining uninfected survivor is shot in the head by the arriving posse]] closely mirrors that of ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''.
179	*** Speaking of ''[=NotLD=]'', some locals investigate the titular cabin. While piling infected corpses to burn, one comments that they should check the basement for survivors.
180	** Two characters are listed in the credits as "Shemp" and "Fake Shemp", in an homage to the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' films.
181	*** A ShoutOut of a ShoutOut, in fact, as this is ultimately a reference to Film/TheThreeStooges, who hired an impersonator to be strategically filmed to complete scenes featuring Shemp in their movies after the real Shemp suddenly died during production.
182	** ''Film/TheThing1982'': Karen, like Dr. Blair, is banished to a tool shed by the group.
183	** The second sex scene has numerous ties to the ''Film/{{Species}}'' franchise (see HomageShot). [[note]]It's worth remembering that back in 2002, the ''Species'' films [[FollowTheLeader were regarded as the trendsetters for eroticism in horror]].[[/note]] In addition to the direct stylistic matches listed above:
184	*** The scene is set up much the same way as Creator/AlfredMolina's sex scene with Creator/NatashaHenstridge. The guy walks into the bedroom where the woman is waiting. The [[WomanScorned woman is upset that]] [[StalkerWithACrush things have turned out poorly with]] her real romantic interest. So via some unlikely dialogue, she decides impulsively to bed the nearest alternative available.
185	*** The ''action'' is broken up with a shot of another character lying in bed.
186	*** Both scenes conclude with [[ToplessnessFromTheBack a shot of the woman's bare back]], where, unseen by the man, a cue emerges that reveals that the man is now basically doomed, due to having sex with the woman.
187	*** The scene that immediately follows the actual sex, where [[spoiler: Marcy]] washes up in the bathroom, is very similar to the scene in Film/SpeciesII where one of Creator/JustinLazard's lovers does likewise immediately after having sex. In both scenes, the women discover symptoms that give them grave concerns for their health. Oh, and the character in Species II? Her name is [[spoiler: Marcy]]![[note]]Again, the similarities would've been even more apparent if the scene had been filmed to Creator/EliRoth's design. Roth intended Creator/CerinaVincent to be wearing a robe in this scene, just like [[spoiler: Marcy]] in Species II.[[/note]]
188	** The "rabbit man" in the hospital is supposedly a ShoutOut to the man in the dog costume, briefly glimpsed in ''Film/TheShining''.
189	** The scene in the hospital where Paul pulls up his gown and discovers some of the symptomatic scabs of the disease is reminiscent of the DreamSequence at the start of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' where Ripley pulls back her own hospital gown to reveal a bulge in her belly where an Alien is about to burst out.
190	* ShownTheirWork: One of the sound mixers survived an actual bout with flesh-eating bacteria. He maintains that the makeup in the film is 100% accurate.
191	** Creator/EliRoth himself had flesh-eating bacteria while he was backpacking abroad in Iceland-namely a bout of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_foot Trench Foot]].
192	* SloMo shot of Marcy's [[FanService pert posterior swaying its way]] up a grassy hill.
193	* SpoilerTitle: On the soundtrack album, the audio track that plays over Marcy's unexpected sex scene with Paul (and the speech that led up to it) is called ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Paul Marcy Screw"]]''.
194	* SurrealHumor: The "pancakes" scene.
195	* TemptingFate: See CruelTwistEnding above. Did Jeff not realize what kind of movie he was in??
196	* ThereWillBeToiletPaper: ...Just not nearly enough of it. Not enough in the ''world''.
197	* TooDumbToLive:
198	** How many women, if when they were shaving their legs, and the skin started to come off on the razor with noticeable amounts of blood and scraping noises to Squick pretty much anybody within the county out, would ''continue shaving their legs?''
199	* ToplessnessFromTheBack:
200	** Marcy when having sex with Paul.
201	** Also in one of the scenes in which she's taking a bath. [[FanDisservice It's lost a lot of its appeal by this point...]]
202	* WhamShot: After having sex with Paul, Marcy goes to the bathroom to shower and notices red hand marks on her back, [[spoiler: revealing she is infected]].
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder: ''Cabin Fever 2'']]
206	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: John confesses his love to Cassie while he is pissed off and screaming at her about dating a douchebag.
207	* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Shows the spread of the virus through the water supply as a visible red taint. A corresponding animated credit sequence occurs at the end, showing the further spread of the virus and that the country is pretty much screwed.
208	* ArtifactTitle: There's no cabin in ''Cabin Fever 2''. Almost the entire film takes place in a high school.
209	* AssholeVictim: Principle Sinclair and Marc
210	* BlatantLies: The bus driver claims he didn't see Paul, but Paul was standing in broad daylight in the middle of the empty road for a good 15 seconds. In fact, the bus had to go over the yellow divider in order to hit him.
211	* BloodSplatteredInnocents: Everyone at the prom after the infected punch kicks in and they start vomiting blood all over each other.
212	* BloodyHilarious: The guy driving the truck of bottled water into town, who appears to have a stoma, starts choking while eating at a diner. Borderline dramatic. He tears his shirt open to reveal much of his chest and side have been eaten away by the virus. It's horrifying. He continues choking as a waitress attempts to perform an exorcism on him and suddenly starts spraying the place with blood squirting out of his stoma. Uh...
213	** The projectile blood-vomiting prom scene. At least two of the shots are straight-up visual gags.
214	* BloodierAndGorier: This movie pretty much cranks up all the graphic gore of the first film up to eleven.
215	* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: Invoked by the stripper at the end.
216	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: The girl who was just crowned prom queen before everything goes to hell throws an unholy tantrum because everyone is too busy vomiting out their liquefied internal organs to pay attention to her big moment.
217	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Only one student survives the sudden quarantine of her high school as the virus continues to spread across the nation with no chance of stopping.]]
218	* FanDisservice: The stripper at the end. You may never have an erection again.
219	* {{Fingore}}: The wisecracking best friend sees one of his fingernails coming loose as he is getting ready for prom. He sticks it back in with superglue.
220	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The punch a girl mixes up with the contaminated water looks unusually like blood...and the contamination depicted in the animated title sequence.
221	* JerkAss: Marc, easily the biggest asshole of the movie, not only bashes an infected student's head in but bashes Cassie in the head with a hammer and attempts to kill John. Also, Principal Sinclair spends most of the film abusing and treating John horribly, and any audience members will be cheering when the CDC kills him.
222	* LifeOrLimbDecision: After Our Intrepid Protagonist gets some infected blood on his hand, he tries to forestall his own infection by cutting off said hand with a chop saw, with Cassie's help. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
223	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When faceless government goons come in and start shooting everyone, you're supposed to cheer for the plucky survivors who escape, right? Except [[spoiler: by surviving and escaping, they've essentially doomed the rest of the world to ThePlague]].
224	* OhCrap: Winston when he realizes that the bottled-water company is delivering the infected bottled waters after witnessing an incident at a restaurant.
225	* PromBaby: Happens very gruesomely, wherein a random promgoer has an '''extremely''' messy birth in the school restroom after contracting the virus. There is blood ''everywhere'', including a rather conspicuous trail leading to the trashcan, suggesting a stillbirth. [[TakeOurWordForIt The actual condition of the newborn is left as an exercise for the viewer.]]
226	* SenselessPhagia: To their credit, the promgoers do remark that the punch tastes like piss...
227	* SexSignalsDeath: The wisecracking best friend is treated to some oral sex. [[spoiler: The girl who administers it has a cold sore...which turns out to be the beginning stages of the disease. The disease spreads to the aforementioned friend in a seriously disturbing way.)]]
228	* ShoutOut:
229	** ''Film/{{Carrie 1976}}'': Cassie spends the last third in a prom dress splashed liberally with blood. (And of course, her name.)
230	** ''Film/EvilDead2'': The hero cuts off his hand when it gets infected. It didn't involve a chainsaw, though - he used a chop saw in the shop class.
231	** One of the dance scenes features the theme from ''Film/PromNight1980''.
232	* TheStinger: Daryl and Dane (the only two characters who are clearly not infected) are seen watching a movie at home, and one of them says "Prom blows!"
233	* SoundtrackDissonance: As the students at prom slowly choke to death (both from the infection and the tear gas), hunched over their dance mates and projectile vomiting blood, rock and roll music continues to play in the background.
234	* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Played with. Paul is revealed to be still alive (albeit falling apart) at the beginning, only to get splashed across the front of a school bus five minutes in.
235	* TwoPersonPoolParty: This leads to much grossness when the virus is waterborne.
236	* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Let's just pretend that it's possible for the quirky female love interest to change her mind about going to prom, finding tickets, picking out, and ordering a really nice prom dress, and getting her hair styled in time at the last second.
237	** Most prom dresses are bought weeks or months in advance and her boyfriend had just dumped her so she had probably been planning to go before. Also, not every Prom requires tickets, in fact where I live that's the exception, not the rule. Even ones that do, the tickets can often be bought at the doors as you arrive.
238	** As Phelous pointed out, it seems pretty weird that Liz would treat Alex with disdain and even mock him for asking her to go to the prom with him...when ten seconds earlier she was quite willing to perform oral sex on him.
239	--> '''Phelous''': So he got used...''by getting his cock sucked''? Seems a little backward.
240	** In this case, it wasn't about performing a sex act on ''him specifically'', it was more about using him as a tool to get back at her asshole of an ex-boyfriend. He didn't matter to her beyond that. Although I'm sure he wasn't excessively concerned...
241	[[/folder]]
242
243	[[folder: ''Cabin Fever: Patient Zero'']]
244	* ArtifactTitle: Like with ''Spring Fever'', this doesn't take place in a cabin but rather in a disease research facility on a remote island.
245	* BlackComedy: A few unexpected moments in this relatively serious installment:
246	** A researcher in the late stages of the disease tries to shoot one of the protagonists with a handgun. The recoil snaps his gun arm off below the elbow and propels the gun (still in his hand) back through his skull, killing him.
247	** The CatFight described below is so absurd that it becomes darkly hilarious.
248	* CatFight: One occurs late in the movie, but any potential fanservice is killed by the fact that both women are in the late stages of the disease.
249	* ChekhovsGunman: The mouse that one of the scientists drops is later revealed to have been infected with the virus by Porter to force a lockdown.
250	* DirtyCoward: Bridgette all the way. She tries tricking everyone outside the medical team into following her direction, but none of them fall for her lies. This eventually is her downfall when she and Penny have their penultimate showdown with one another. Sadly, Penny doesn't survive, but she eliminates Bridgette in the process, so...yay?
251	* {{Fanservice}}: With one of the plotlines centered around a beach vacation, there are plenty of bikini-clad women and fit, shirtless men to go around before everything goes to hell.
252	* FanDisservice: Hot woman in a bikini? Awesome. Formerly hot woman in a bikini, suffering the late stages of a flesh-eating virus that causes her skin to slough off if you pull on her arms too hard? Not so much.
253	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The guy in the late stages of the disease who tries to shoot one of the heroes. The recoil snaps his arm off entirely and sends the gun through his own face.
254	* JerkAss: The lead scientist studying the disease, who is willing to put his own team at risk, imprison a man indefinitely without trial, and ''release the disease into the wild'' so he can make a fortune coming up with a cure.
255	* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: It's unclear exactly ''when'' Porter snaps, but it's clear at the very end that he gives zero shits about keeping the world safe from the disease he carries.
256	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The disease can now not only survive in the ocean but infect two people who just swim through the water. In real life, there is a species of ocean bacterium that can cause necrotizing fasciitis, but infection is very rare since it requires a deep cut in the skin to enter the body.
257	* NoOSHACompliance: Invoked by the lead scientist so he can make a fortune engineering a cure for the flesh-eating disease.
258	* SenselessPhagia: A character performing oral sex on his girlfriend doesn't notice that she is ''bleeding heavily from the crotch'', only thinking that the wetness is a sign that she's ''that aroused''.
259	* TyphoidMary: Porter is an asymptomatic carrier of the flesh-eating disease that killed his family.
260	[[/folder]]
261
262	[[folder: The 2016 remake]]
263	* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
264	** Marcy's seduction of Paul is less forceful and more vulnerable, while she really doesn't seem to think that she might have been infected and when she notices the marks on her back, she seems more subdued and frightened, while not trying to blame it on Paul. Paul himself also seems to have really been looking for Jeff and not just grabbing a pretext to avoid Marcy afterward.
265	** [[spoiler: Rather than trying to kill Paul in the woods and later dumping him in the lake after he makes it to the hospital]], Deputy Winslow [[spoiler: tricks Paul into taking a "shortcut" where he gets lost in the woods and dies of the disease.]]
266	** Paul finds Karen's groin lesions in a consensual bit of foreplay rather than him pawing at her as she sleeps.
267	* BoleroEffect: In this version, Paul and Marcy's ''"It's like being on a plane..."'' scene is backed by sombre strings that reflect the bleakness of their situation. Drums sound as they tentatively kiss for the first time and as their activity becomes more and more passionate, the soundtrack becomes increasingly more powerful; quickly eclipsing its slow beginnings with a much livelier tempo. By the time Marcy and Paul are naked and making love wildly, it has become a commanding tribute to their passion.
268	* {{Callback}}: A well-known piece of [[Trivia/CabinFever trivia]] about the original film is that Creator/CerinaVincent (Marcy) firmly refused to display her ass during her sex scene with Paul. During this film's depiction of that exact same sexual encounter, there is a deliberate close-up shot of Marcy's naked ass. In fact, it occurs at the exact same point where Creator/CerinaVincent was intended to show her rear in the original - during the second portion of the scene, after the brief cutaway to their friend, and just before they ''finish''.
269	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Karen. [[spoiler: In the advanced stages of the disease and gnawed on by a dog, she pleads for Paul to put her out of her misery. He cannot get the gun to fire, so he takes a shovel and attempts to decapitate her. He doesn't do it hard enough so she urges him to try again. He can't go through with it, so he douses her in gasoline and lights the shed on fire. We hear her screaming for a good while.]] To put it lightly, it was... ''not'' the MercyKill she wanted.
270	* GenderFlip: Deputy Winslow's character is made into a woman.
271	* GetItOverWith: [[spoiler: Unlike the original, Marcy actually goads Dr. Mumbo into attacking her.]]
272	* HumanNotepad: Marcy is covered in ink and it's pretty much entirely writing.
273	* IHaveBrothers: After Marcy scares the dog away by shooting the gun, she says this almost word for word when Bert asks where she learned to shoot like that.
274	* LighterAndSofter: In only one respect: [[spoiler:this film, unlike the others, ''doesn't'' end with the implication that the virus spreads further than the cabin, let alone that more people drink the infected water.]]
275	* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Paul is unable to get the gun to fire on Karen or on the redneck shopkeepers. When the latter happens, Fenster [[SayingTooMuch blurts out while laughing]] that the safety is on.
276	-->'''Paul:''' Thanks. ''(guns down the rednecks)''
277	* TheStinger: One of Karen's Facebook friends is going through her recent images. Evidently, her phone somehow captured and uploaded shots of her lesions, followed by her failed decapitation and Paul aiming the shovel at her.
278	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never saw Grim after the initial scene with him. He presumably died like in the original, however.
279	[[/folder]]

Context Film / CabinFever