Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014)

Cabin Fever: Patient Zero

IMDB rate: 4,6

Genre: Virus

Starring: Sean Astin, Mitch Ryan, Jillian Murray

Another Cabin Fever movie. I actually did not necessarily hate the first Cabin Fever movie. I just liked the idea of it, of a virus killing people and stuff. It's definitely a movie not to take seriously, and then you might be able to like it a bit perhaps. I always enjoy watching the first Cabin Fever movie, even though it's not a very good movie. The second movie was a lot less serious and gave it a somewhat comedic twist, but that didn't turn out great either. Part three is a lot more serious again, and in my opinion a bit better compared to part 2. It's still a bad movie though. 

First of all, I'm a bit disappointed in Sean Astin for lowering the bar so incredibly much. First he was the hero of Middle Earth (come on, Frodo was a whining prick), and now this? He played patient zero in this movie, and it just had so many flaws. Of course you get to know nothing about the virus again, this patient zero is supposed to be the most interesting character in the movie, but instead they just test on him, he turns out to be a dick and that's it. The focus in this movie is again on the partying teenagers, which is quite a shame because this patient zero's story could've been so incredibly interesting. You would've gotten to know how the virus would've reached spain, what the connection was with Cabin Fever 1 and 2. Instead the focus is all wrong, which makes it just another terrible Cabin Fever movie.

I really had high hopes when I read last year that there will be a Cabin Fever movie called Patient Zero.  The story would've gotten a lot potential, a whole story about this virus and how it all works and stuff. Of course I should've known better that this is not how horror movies work, and that the makers always choose partying teenagers above an actual interesting story.

The moment you saw that a girl would join these guys on their bachelor party you know which way this movie would go. Of course she would try to seduce the man who would marry, even though her boyfriend's with her, because in horror movies, every girl is either a slut or a virgin. A bit tired to see this actually, it would've been nicer if the girl would've been left out. But hey, how else can they show the grossest scene in the movie where the boyfriend goes down on the girl who is sick, and show his mouth filled with blood, because he can't taste or feel the difference between a shit load of blood and you-know-what. He also can't seem to hear the difference between screaming and moaning... right...

Cabin Fever is overal a pretty lame movie, but it does always have great special effects, and the make-up looks awesome as well. The moment where one of the guys tries to pull his girlfriend up and the skin of her arms just rips off is kinda awesome. Incredibly far-fetched, but awesome as well. Or the moment where on of the doctors shoots his gun but because of his illness, his hand rips off leading to a gun in his head is pretty awesome too. 

Cabin Fever: Patient Zero is not a good movie. The acting is pretty bad, with the exception of Sean Astin. The plot of a patient zero is unfortunately not used enough, only with some lame ending scene. This movie is pretty exaggerated, but it does have some pretty cool effects. Now all we have to do is wait for the next disappointment called Cabin Fever: Outbreak ;).

My rate: 4,5/10

Review: The Bay (2012)

The Bay
IMDB rate: 5,6
Genre: Virus, Mockumentary

A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie The Bay, I've heard pretty good things about this movie and for a long time I thought it was just another shark movie. I was of course terribly wrong with this, since it's not about sharks at all, I can't even remember why I figured it would be about sharks. Anyway, The Bay is a pretty good movie, it was much better compared with what I expected it to be.

It feels like a pretty real documentary, you can notice this pretty fast in the movie because the webcam lags as hell, which is pretty realistic since I have never seen a not-lagging webcam in my entire life. The reporter also seem genuinely surprised with everything that's happening around her, instead of just reporting emotionlessly what's going on, she's actually trying to give a name and a face to everyone she's interviewing.

In my opinion the camera was a bit too shaky. I know that is pretty standard with mockumentaries, but in this movie it was just too much. It made my eyes hurt and gave me headache, meaning it's really too shaky. I had the same by the way with the Poughkeepsie Tapes, that's why I never finished watching that movie (although I'm still interested in watching it someday). It was a bit annoying to watch at times, and even more so because the subtitles happened to be synched wrong (which is Netflix' fault of course, not the fault of the movie). Unfortunately some parts where a bit too difficult to understand, meaning I may have missed some important information going on.

I was pretty curious about what would happen at the start of the movie, because you know that a virus will be spread, but you have no idea yet how big this will be and what will happen to those infected. I also was a bit skeptical since it's another found-footage movie, and this combined with the IMDB rating I didn't really had high hopes for this movie, but it turned out better than I expected it to be. It's really one of those rare good found-footage movies ;).

There are actually quite a few good scares in this movie, and the make-up of the sick people is very good. The movie is pretty gross most of the time, which may make it hard to watch to some people. I liked the gross parts though, I thought it made it a lot more realistic. I think the movie is best described as an intelligent movie, it's not the standard horror movie where there's bad guys who slaughter people, this movie is much more interesting than that.

I thought The Bay was a very interesting movie with good acting and great effects (also, a great poster). I did think it was a bit too shaky though and because I couldn't hear everything they said (lack of decent subtitles) I am still confused about a few things. Other than that, a very good found-footage movie.

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: Contracted (2013)

Contracted

IMDB rate: 5,2

Genre: Virus

Contracted is another one of Netflix' brilliant selection of horror movies. I wouldn't necessarily say that Contracted is such a brilliant movie though, to be honest I don't really know what to think of this movie. It was a bit of a weird movie, although interesting as well at moments. It was somewhat original I would say. 

A young girl contracts what she thinks is a sexually-transmitted disease - but is actually something much worse.

I don't think this review will be spoiler-free so beware! 

The movie begins with a short scene in what appears to be a morgue, here we see two legs with a name tag on someones toes, also, it appears that someone is having sex with that body. Normally you don't really pay a lot of attention to these first scenes and you often forget about it very quickly again, but with this movie it's something that you need to keep in mind during the movie, especially since it's not mentioned again after this. 

This movie is over a timespan of three days and in this three days we see a girl get very sick. It's a pretty good build-up I think. The sickness starts small but quickly gets worse. The make-up effects of this illness are pretty impressive I would say, they look very realistic. 

There are a few huge plot holes in this movie though, for example the doctors are just terrible. At first she gets a blood test and she has to wait for the results, that's okay because there doesn't seem to be a whole lot wrong at that time. But after two days she comes back to the doctor and looks just gross and terribly sick, and this point the doctor still says to wait for the test results while she's at a point where she's definitely too sick to be walking on the street again. Why not send her to the hospital immediately? Even when it's not a STD, it still could be something infectious. 

I enjoyed the storyline of this movie, but I was terribly annoyed with the acting. It was HORRIBLE. Najarra Townsend plays the main character Samantha and she's just a terrible actress. This movie would be so much more appreciated if her acting was better. She's definitely not the only terrible actor in this movie, I think I haven't seen a good one to be honest. But well, she's the one that pretty much carries the movie, so if her acting was a bit better I think you wouldn't be as much annoyed with the other horrible actors as well.

The dialogues are pretty dumb as well, Dumb and Dumber seem more clever than this bunch of people. 

SPOILER: I thought the ending was kinda unsuspected, I thought she would just die eventually or get killed because she had nasty sick sex or something. But what appears to happen at the end is that this girl is turning into a zombie. I seriously did not see that one coming.

Contracted is a pretty original movie and I honestly was surprised by the ending. The acting in this movie is terrible though which ruins pretty much the entire movie. The dialogues are horrible and unreal but the make-up is very good. I'm just not really sure what to think of this movie.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009)

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

IMDB rate: 4,2

Genre: Virus

I finally was able to watch Cabin Fever 2, I was a bit curious about it because the first one was funny in a very weird and bad way. I always like to watch virus movies, especially when it's in a setup like this one where it's continues where the previous part ended. It's kinda like REC, but well, obviously only the continuation part. 

Cabin Fever 2 isn't much of a good movie, it's a lot like the first one but a lot more random and with a bigger setup.

A High School prom faces a deadly threat: a flesh-eating virus that spreads via a popular brand of bottled water.

It was kinda funny, the movie starts with Rider Strong, the same actor as the first movie ends with, and he is listed at the top everywhere, but he's only in the movie for about.. 3 minutes or so? I would have liked to see his part a little bit bigger, perhaps him finding some sort of cure or explaining some stuff, but well, it kinda ended very fast.

The movie is still a bit comedic-like, just like the first one. While the first one had some disgusting skin parts, I think that the sequel was even more disgusting. It really made me a tiny bit sick in my stomach a few times, quite funny really since it's a ridiculous movie.

As expected, Cabin Fever 2 was filled with sex again. But in this one, it was more in a nasty level. Blow-jobs with nasty lips, pus from penises, tits with nasty humps, miscarriages, it was like they tried to shock everyone even more. I don't mind though, while it made me sick looking at it, it was also kinda a cool twist to actually show these nastinesses. 

The movie itself, it wasn't too great. It seemed kinda random to me. We know who is sick and we know what will happen to those who touch the water, so what will happen to most of them is not very surprising anymore. The main story in this one seems to be a guy who likes a girl and they both tried to escape this virus, again, not a very original concept. Well, then the school is being put into quarantine, which makes it harder for them to escape. So the biggest deal from this movie is waiting for them to escape, there's not a whole lot tension in that to be honest.

I think that Spring Fever is a decent sequel for Cabin Fever, considering all these terrible other sequels in the world, it's really not that bad. The acting is definitely not very good and the storyline neither, but the gore is awesome and so are the special effects. This is one of the few movies that actually made me a tiny bit sick, so thumbs up for that! Overall, the movie isn't too good, but it gets a few points for being disgusting.

My personal rate: 4/10

Review: The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies

IMDB rate: 6,6

Genre: Virus

I remember when I first saw this movie in the cinema, it was advertised as if it was a zombie movies, but when the movie has ended you came to the conclusion that this movie is definitely not a zombie movie. Some people might say that the people are in fact zombies and while they are indeed infected because of contaminated water, they do not really have the 'typical' zombie behavior. The people that are infected in the movie are getting extremely violent and aggressive and do not react normally anymore, this is of course a bit of zombie behavior, but they do not bite people. They rather shoot other people. Also I believe that the people can't get infected because of each other.

As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton tries to make sense of the situation while he, his pregnant wife, and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.

To start with, I have never seen the original of this movie. So I have no idea how that movie is. I personally thought this movie was a bit boring. I've seen it a few times already and I can not keep focused on it. The story is reasonable but I thought the violent people could have been a bit more violent. Or more violent people. I could not really see what the real impact was of the virus. Sure, many people died, but you saw almost nothing of it. 

The acting in the movie is quite good but I did not feel any chemistry between the four main characters. The four main characters are actually quite familiar people; Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson and Danielle Panabaker. Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell are definitely good actors but they don't really make a good couple. Timothy's character David came back for Radha Mitchell's character Judy but there was not much love. Well, of course they loved each other, but you did not feel it when you watched it (not literally of course). I liked Joe Anderson, his acting is quite good and he's very badass but a bit under-appreciated my opinion. I would have liked seeing him in a bigger role. I absolutely do not Danielle Panabaker. Not ever, in any movie. I think she's a terrible actress with a weird face. The weird face does not influence her acting abilities of course so I won't continue complaining about that. I actually somewhat liked the remake of Friday the 13th, but again, Danielle Panabaker... grrrrr. I'm sorry but I think she's terrible.

The movie itself has quite a few jump scares, very tensed moments and excellent use of soundtrack. At one point where the woman is going to the harvester (?) I was hoping there was someone behind the wheel and suddenly started to drive the thing. Wouldn't be to surprised since she was standing there in front of the rotating blades, it was kinda stupid. Anyway, if it would have happened it would look a lot like one of the missions in GTA: San Andreas, which is kinda cool.

I did not find The Crazies a very special movie, it's definitely not bad but I found it hard to keep focused on it. The acting is quite good and it's has a few very good scenes. I hope I can watch the original someday so I can compare the two. I'm very sure that the original is a lot better than this, but time will tell!

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Carriers (2009)

Carriers

IMDB rate: 6,1

Genre: Virus, Post-Apocalyptic 

I wanted to see this movie for so long already. I believe I've started watching it once but for some reason I never finished it. Can't remember why though, it's not that it's a movie that is so terrible I can't watch it. The movie itself is quite good to be honest. Well, quite good might be too much but it's certainly enjoyable to watch. It's not a horror movie though, there are not really tensed moments and the only thing that might be considered horror are the infected people. They are just infected people who die after a while by the way, no zombies. I think the movie is mainly about surviving in a lost world, and most important is to save yourself rather than another.

In a world devastated by an outbreak, Brian (Chris Pine), his girlfriend Bobby (Piper Perabo), his brother Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) and their friend, Kate (Emily VanCamp), are heading to a beach where the brothers spent their childhood vacations expecting it to be a sanctuary. When their car breaks down on the road in the desert, they negotiate with a man called Frank (Christopher Meloni), who is also stranded but without gas. He's trying to get his daughter Jodie to the hospital (she is infected with a disease of some kind), they all decide to travel together. During the journey, massive moral dilemmas arise, as event head into a downward spiral.

The acting in the movie is very good. The cast exist from a excellent bunch of young talented people which makes the movie enjoyable to watch. I was especially impressed by Lou Taylor Pucci, someone who I've only seen in one movie before where he played a strange character (I haven't seen the new Evil Dead yet, where he also plays in). He seems like a lame person in this movie so seeing him man up was a nice sight. Chris Pine is also an excellent actor, even though he plays a bit of an asshole in the movie, it was not annoying to watch (for example, yesterday I watched the movie Boo were also a big asshole plays in, but he was annoying to watch). 

The movie itself is good but it's quite slow. It only lasts for 90 minutes but those 90 minutes sure take long in this case. In my opinion it needed a bit more action or a better storyline. I at least wanted to know the cause of the infection but unfortunately you'll never know. I always find it very interesting in an infection movie to know the different causes for the infection. It's not a movie where you lose your focus easily, because you want to know where it's leading to. But now I finished watching it and think about the movie I find it hard to describe the use for it. Sure, it's about surviving the infection but it needed a deeper going story I think. 

The movie is certainly not a horror movie, even though it's described everywhere like it is. I think it's better described as a drama. Maybe with a touch of horror, but that's only because of the infection. 

The movie has a very touching side. You can leave people behind when you don't know them, but what if a loved one gets infected? What do you do? Can you live with yourself after? This is why the movie is a drama. It's certainly a good drama, but please don't get fooled by the wrong marketing.

The problem with this movie is that it's too slow, also it needed a deeper going story. It's a nice movie to watch but I think this is mainly because of the good writing and the excellent acting. The story itself is not much. Again, this is not a horror movie.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Cabin Fever (2002)

Cabin Fever

IMDB rate: 5,5

Genre: Virus

So my plan to watch Black Out and Blair Witch couldn't go on, so instead I watched Cabin Fever. I've seen this movie a few times before and it's absolutely a ridiculous movie, just terrible. But, I had fun watching it. I can't say this movie is 'so bad, it's good', because it's just not good. But it is 'so bad, it's entertain-able'. Seriously, Cabin Fever is the movie filled with all the horror cliches, which makes us know exactly what is going to happen in advance. But even with the cliches I enjoyed watching it. Don't get me wrong though, it really is a terrible movie.

An offbeat horror tale about a group of five college friends on vacation at a remote mountain cabin when one contracts a flesh-eating virus. As it spreads among the friends, their true feelings and personalities emerge as they struggle to survive the virus and each other.

So the director and writer of this story is Eli Roth. Eli Roth is also the brain behind Hostel, a movie that I personally liked a lot. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a fan of this movie. The movie is funny and very bloody.
The movie is also filled with the usual cliches, for example, your friends are probably all infected but there is a chance you are not infected yet, also there's a girl in the barn bleeding out of every pore she has; let's have unprotected sex, right now at this very wrong moment!
There is also the usual redneck family who run the store in the local town with a weird kid named Dennis who bites people after yelling 'pancakes'! Yeah, the redneck family was what bothered me the most, not only was Dennis the weirdest/creepiest kid I've ever seen, the rednecks themselves were quite weird too. Also the part where they start chasing Bert was kinda stupid and sudden. Also, what was the use of the box?

The group itself was a weird combination of people, but they were reasonable actors. I especially liked Rider Strong (he reminds me a bit of Jared Leto) and through the entire movie you have your fingers crossed that he won't get infected, but, he was the only one. Further it's hard to get any sympathy for any of these people, when a guy asked for their help, they sat him on fire. When one of them gets sick, they lock her up in a barn instead of walking to the town to get help. Even when they finally met a weird but reasonably friendly neighbor they ran off.

Eli Roth himself makes also two appearances, one as the guy in the scary story and the second time as a guy named Grim. Grim was a very useless character I think. I don't really get the purpose of him being in the movie, maybe to bring the dog in, but still, a bit of a time waste if you ask me. When you think about it, there were many useless moments in the movie. Like what was up with the whole Deputy Winston thing, the useless stuff about partying and eventually never showing up. If you ask me it was Eli Roth's way to fill up some time, because I don't know what the whole point was.

One thing that I liked was the ending, with that I mean the very ending with the old man. I won't spoil anything but it's the moment that's point back to the beginning. Now, that's humor. Further one the only other thing that was funny is the fact that the movie is quite ridiculous. But, I think the movie is so ridiculous that it gets entertaining. That may be a good or a bad thing, that doesn't matter. I just know that I had fun watching it.

Okay, so the movie is terrible. Not very good acting, not very likable persons and it's filled with cliches.  I can't recommend watching this movie because when you finished watching it you will probably regret it. When you watch it, don't watch it too seriously because it's too difficult to take this seriously. I only enjoyed watching it because I already knew what a piece of shit movie this was so I was able to watch the movie 'lightly'.

My personal rate: 4,5/10