Cabin Fever Film Analysis

Cabin Fever is a 2002 horror comedy film about a group of university graduates who rent a cabin in a woods and begin to fall victim to a flesh eating virus.
Directed by Eli Roth, the films inspiration came from a real life experience when during a trip to Iceland, Roth developed a skin infection.


Firstly, the title itself, "Cabin Fever" has a polysemic meaning, the obvious being that the students did infact catch a disease, slang named 'Cabin fever' and secondly how cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustraphobic reaction which happens when a person or group is isolated or shut in a small place, with nothing to do for a long time, which is what happens with the students are they are used to urban surroundings, yet find themselves in a woods for however long.


The film begins with idents.

• Red bus home entertainment
• Black Sky entertainment presents
• In association with Deer Path Films
• A downhome entertainment / Tonic Films production

The whole background is a ''dirty yellow'' colour and also has blotches of red which could connote blood stains, and the yellow could connote infection.
''Starring'' Is then introduced, connoting that the cast is already famous. 'Starring' is also in serif font and at the top left hand side of the screen, possibly connoting that it is not important.
Names of the actors starring are at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, this denotes that the audience will automatically look there. The text of the actors names are in Sans Serif font which could add suspense.


STARRING:

• JORDAN LADD
• JAMES DEBELLO
• CERINA VINCENT
• JOEY KERN
• ARIE VERVEEN

the actors names text is also in capitals, in contrast to the 'starring' text which is in lower case, which connotes that the actors names are more important.

Casting by AYO DAVIS and JOE ADAMS
Costume Design by PLOMA CANDELARIA
Production Sesign by FRANCO GIACOMO CARBONE

The sound of a swarm of flys is introduced, connoting drama is going to occur soon and making the audience feel 'on edge'.

Special makeup effects by KURTZMAN, NICOTERO AND BERGEREFX GROUP, INC.

Tense music begins to build up to connote that the opening scene of the film is getting closer.

''Red Dream'', ''Deputy Winston Theme'' and ''Love Theme'' BY ANGELO BADALYMENTI

Music by NATHAN BARR
Edited by RYAN FOISEY
Cinematography by SCOTT KEVAN
co producers BRUCE COWEN AND MICHEAL LAUER
Co executive producer JEFFREY D HOFFMAN.

Tense music and the sound of the swarm of flys gets louder and more persistant.

Written by ELI ROTH AND RANDY PEARLSTEIN
Produced and Directed by ELI ROTH.

CABIN FEVER centers the screen in a black Sans Serif font, in capitals.

OPENING SCENE

Extreme longshot of a lake is introduced, displaying a sunrise, which connotes a calm, peaceful naturistic enviroment, which could forebode tragedy further on in the film

A high angle establishing shot of a rural area is used which signifies where the film will be set and what sort of habitat it is set in, it also gives the audience a guess on where in the world the film is set, they could be thinking Australia or America, they know it is not the UK as there are cliffs and forests, the weather is also sunny.

A low angle extreme long shot of a forest floor is shown, the camera lense moves indirectly down to show a moving long shot of darkly dressed figure carrying a dead rabbit in one hand and a trap in the other hand (the tense music gets louder) this connotes that this character is already a killer, and could possibly be the villian in the film. The dead rabbit could forebode a death later on in the film.

A dutch angle is introduced as the man stumbles past the camera lense, the shot then moves to show a long shot of the man walking towards the camera, which connotes that he is on a journey.

The camera lense moves to a dutch angle of a dead alsation dog, the dog could be mistaken for a wolf which fits in with the woods habitat.

The dark clothed man says ''Hey Boy'', which denotes that he is not surprised to see the dog there, connoting that he may have murdered the dog.

There is a close up of the mans feet next to the dead dogs head which could trick the audience into thinking that the dog may wake up and bite the man.

The man bends down to look at the dogs injury, he lifts up the dogs leg and blood spurts onto his face, this is showing the beginning of the infection being spread.

NEW SHOT

of a medium close up of a brown haired female shouting out of her window in the car.
she shouts ''College fucking sucks!'' which immedietly tells the audience that she is a student, possibly a rebel, or a steriotypical teenager who hates school. Her swearing also may connote that she is a rebel and has an attitude.

An establishing low angle shot of two traffic lights is shown, connoting the area and how it is different to the woodland, the audience recognise that the habitat and setting has changed to a different place, the traffic lights anchor that the setting is now in a city.
There is loud music coming from the car which is adding to the interpretation of the girl being a steriotypical attitude full teenager.

An extreme long shot of the car leaving the city is used, foreboding that the teenagers are leaving the city to go to the same place as the dark figure and the dead dog in the woods is.

A 2 person shot of a couple in the front is shown to show romance in the group, and 2 boys and one blonde haired girl is shown in the back.

There is a dutch angle shot of the car moving into a quiet if not isolated road with one house on it - near woodland.
The music that the teenagers were playing stops which signifies different scenery and a different attitude in this habitat.

A long shot of a boy with long blonde hair swinging on a rocking chair outside the shop is shown. The boy with long hair confuses the audience into knowing if he is a boy or girl, which could be symbolism for other events in the film that the audience may find confusing or unusal.

A male teenager patronises the young boy as he moves towards him, he is then bitten by the boy, which denotes that this boy is socially unnaccepted and possibly not used to unfamiliar company. This could also forbode violence later on in the film.

A long shot of a large built man in working class uniform is introduced, he is carrying a baseball bat which could connote that he is violent and not used to people outside of his habitat, he shouts 'no Dennis, no' which signifies that this man could be the boys father, it also confirms to the audience that this child is a boy, by his name, ''DENNIS''.

The man shouts at the teenagers, ''everybody knows not to sit next to dennis!' the audience may find this unusual, it could also signify that this boy is always dangerous and violent, and possibly mentally ill. The man then says ''That mongril will give you tetnis!'' confirming that the boy is ill, the teenager that the boy bit then says ''Maybe you should make a sign'' both speeches together could sound as if the teenager and the man were talking about a dog. The audience may be thinking that the young boy could be a villian in the film too.

A medium close up of a large ''jock'' like teenager is shown, he says ''cute kid'', clearly stating that he is the humourous 'joker' of the film and could be the center of comedy.

A point of view shot of the teenage boy who got bitten by Dennis is shown, he is trying to find some water to clean his fresh wound.
The tense music and the swarm of flys sound is again introduced into the film.

A medium shot of the teenager who got bitten by the boy is shown, he is washing his hands in the river, this forebodes that the river and/or water will be used later on in the film, it could also connote that the boy has got the disease that dennis has by dennis biting him, and he has contaminated the water with it.

A sharpe dog bark is used to 'scare' the audience and keep their minds sharpe, this could also forebode a dog attack.

The shot moves back to the single shop, country music is played, and an elderly man with a large cap, big glasses and dungarees is introduced and country music is played, this connotes that the man is southern and the American teenagers have travelled south. The elderly man shouts ''Y'all here for vacation?'' his southern accent connotes that he is a local. A teenager says ''We're renting a cabin for the week', which lets the audience know the plot of the film. The old man replies ''if you go into the woods, be very careful'', which adds suspense and keeps the audience interested in what he has to say.
The man then says ''Y'all have a good vacation now'' foreboding that something bad may happen on their vacation, also leaving the audience in suspense as to why the teenagers must be careful in the woods.

As the teenagers are leaving the shop, with the large jock like teenager at the back, the man (possibly Dennis' father) follows him out, he puts his hand on the jock like teenagers shoulder, connoting that this man is violent. He says ''give me one good reason why you'd want to steal a snickers bar'', which releaves the audience of any hope of conflict and also adds to the comedy of the film; the jock teenager replies ''the nougat?' which connotes that he is a rather dumb character and again connoting that he will supply the comedy of the film.

END