Cast the Runner-Up: Eli Roth was going to play Winston himself, but Giuseppe Andrews gave a really impressive audition. Eli then took the smaller role of Justin.
The Cast Showoff: The "pancakes" scene was made up during filming after Eli Roth saw Matthew Helms practising tae kwon do during a break. He discovered that Helms was a real-life black belt, so he decided to add the scene to give Helms a chance to show what he could do.
A scene where Paul throws one of the dying rednecks who were trying to kill him into the cabin's previously unseen basement. The original release only had a brief mention at the end by the authorities about "finding a dead body in the basement", with no explanation to the audience about who they were talking about.
Bert's death is shown in explicit detail, namely, his head getting blown to pieces by a shotgun.
A brief extra scene during the night before the final day. In it, we see that Jeff is now sleeping in bed alone and his girlfriend, Marcy, is now sleeping (fully clothed) with Paul. This alludes to a fight between Jeff and Marcy, and also Marcy growing closer with Paul, a plot point that culminates with their sexual affair the following morning.
A fight scene between Jeff and Marcy is set immediately after their sex scene. It included not only abusive language but also them throwing objects at one another. Unlike other scenes on this list, this one wasn't even included in the Director's Cut of the movie.
Cerina Vincent's depressed demeanor during her final scenes (after Jeff breaks up with her) was enhanced by the filming conditions - It was well after midnight for most of those scenes and the set was freezing cold. As if that wasn't enough, you'll remember that poor Cerina was buck-naked for most of those scenes. Also, she hadn't even expected to film those scenes on that particular day. Some accidents on set meant that the filming schedule had to be changed on the fly, meaning that Cerina suddenly had to prepare for sex and nude scenes she thought weren't being filmed for some time yet.
Turned up to eleven during the bathtub scene, as Cerina Vincent, once again buck naked on a freezing cold set was sitting in a cold bathtub full of goo and fake blood associated with her prosthetic makeup. While completely sanitary, Cerina reveals on the DVD commentary that it felt extremely ickky.
Jordan Ladd's distress during her final "faceless" scene was genuine as she had just moments earlier seen herself with the gruesome mask on in a mirror for the first time and the sight reportedly drove her to tears.
Executive Meddling: Eli Roth had been shopping the script around since the 90s. Once Scream came out, he faced executives trying to make the film more like that.
Inspiration for the Work: Eli Roth originally got the idea for this movie while working in Iceland on a horse farm. He got such a bad skin infection from the rotting hay in the barn that his face broke out in sores, bled, and peeled off when he shaved.
Never Work with Children or Animals: The original killer dog "Jake" was hired without a rehearsal and sight unseen because Eli Roth loved the idea of using the dog in Black Dog and there by being only "two degrees from Swayze". The problem was the dog was by then four years older, arthritic, and tired. After a full day of shooting, and if all the few-second bits were spliced expertly together, they only had about a minute or so of usage footage. All dog scenes had to be re-shot with a new dog. With no time or money to find a replacement, the producers cast a real police attack dog that was so vicious and unpredictable no actors could appear with it on camera. The crew would hide behind trucks during its scenes, and cameras were operated by remote control.
Similarly Named Works: A lot of people were quick to notice not only how similar The Cabin in the Woods' title and premise (at least what could be gleamed of it during production) was to Cabin Fever, but also how incredibly similar its original pre-release poster was to the Cabin Fever poster. For an added bonus, both movies feature former Power Rangers - Cerina Vincent and Anna Hutchison. Both actresses are playing The Whore, both go topless and both die first. Oh and both were the Yellow Rangers too.
Sleeper Hit: This movie had the lowest budget of any Lion's Gate Film released in 2003, ($1.5 million) and was their highest grossing film of 2003 ($22 million box office.) It was also the most profitable horror film released in 2003. Saw, another horror film released by Lionsgate, would beat this film's record the following year in 2004 for highest grossing film over a similar low budget (grossing over $100 million with a budget of $1.2 million).
Those Two Actors: Cerina Vincent and Joey Kern, the hot-and-heavy boyfriend/girlfriend duo from this movie reunited a few years later to play husband and wife in a movie called Complacent.
Throw It In!: The infamous "pancakes" scene was thought up because Eli Roth saw Matthew Helms practising tae kwon do between takes.
Wag the Director: Eli Roth wanted Marcy to be fully nude for her sex scene with Paul. Cerina Vincent however had just come from Not Another Teen Movie where she played the student who never wore clothes. Not wanting to be typecast as a nude scene actress, Cerina refused to show her ass. After much arguing, they came to a compromise - Eli Roth measured one inch of her ass (with a ruler!) that would be visible on camera and taped a Modesty Bedsheet to cover the rest.
What Could Have Been: Ironically in contrast to the above, Marcy was down in the script to wear a robe for the scene where she sees the hand-prints on her back. Cerina Vincent found the scenario unrealistic and volunteered to go topless for it anyway.
Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever:
Alan Smithee: Ti West was so ashamed of the final result, particularly the amount of reshoots and editing done by the producers, that he requested to use the name, but since he was not a member of the Directors Guild of America, his request was denied. To this day, West still treats it as an Old Shame, viewing it more as a product of Lionsgate and the producers than himself.
as an Old Shame, viewing it more as a product of Lionsgate and the producers than himself.