Cabin Fever (2016)

"Cabin Fever" (2016, Travis Z, Armory Films, Contend, Pelican Point Media, IFC Midnight) is the remake of Eli Roth's movie of the same name and premise from 2002. Roth produced this remake, but it still doesn't really explain why it was made...

A group of fairly unlikeable young people go up to stay at a secluded cabin in the woods to party. The kids are soon exposed to, and eaten quickly alive by, a flesh eating virus which pretty much ruins their plans.

Z used a slightly modified version of Roth's original script and so the film is almost a direct remake of the original, but without some of Roth's gory humour. Essentially, the film is neither as gruesome nor as good as the original because it takes itself too seriously. The characters are completely disposable because they're just pretty horrible people and the locals are equally so. Deputy Winston, this time a female portrayed by Louise Linton, was a fairly inspiring deviation from the original and took that specific element in a new direction, but essentially the film as a whole is serviceable but fairly forgettable. I just can't fully fathom why they decided to make this remake in the first place!

[Armory Films, et al]

Hani

Savaged

"Savaged" (2013, Michael S. Ojeda) is a rape-revenge story which explores some pretty dark themes but manages to create a funny and gory film.

A pretty deaf mute girl called Zoe (Amanda Adrienne) heads out on a road trip to move in with her fiancé. As she goes she documents her trip with her camera phone. A habit that both saves and condemns her.

A near miss on the road causes her to stop and she's taken by surprise by a group of American Indian-hating red necks who have sickening plans for her, ending in her death.

She's found by a witch doctor who tries to revive her with magic, but what comes back is so much more than Zoe, and it's out for revenge.

The film touches on several dark themes: rape, racism, murder, black arts, the destruction of the indigenous race of the USA, brutality towards women and police corruption.

But "Savaged" is not a cerebral or preachy film. It's a self-aware, gory, silly horror with lots of action, excellent gore effects (a scene with barbed wire will stick with you for a while) and an interesting, if completely batshit, plot.

It's an odd mix of rape-revenge, zombiism, spirit warriors and comedy gore. The feel is a cross between The Crow, I Spit on Your Grave and an x-rated episode of Goosebumps (I blame the green mist for that last comparison, an effect that was often used in the children's horror show).

While nothing new, it's entertaining and a good first film at Glasgow Fright Fest 2014.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974, Tobe Hooper, Vortex, Bryanston Pictures) is the original of what was to become a franchise with the memorable gruesomely masked, chainsaw wielding killer, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen).

Sally (Marilyn Burns) and her wheelchair bound brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), are travelling in a camper van with their friends, Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Terri McMinn) on a road trip to their old family home in the country. They hear of some odd goings on at the graveyard, pick up a psychotic hitch hiker, get some odd chat (and barbecue) from a local petrol station and eventually make it to the deserted house. Only they find that this isn't the end of their troubles as their neighbours would like to have them for dinner...

 This much copied Tobe Hooper classic is still standing strong to this day with some truly chilling scenes and disturbed themes. Although by today's gruesome standards it's not as splatter happy as it was back in the 70s, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" still manages to make audiences fidget uncomfortably in their seats. And it's still disturbing.

I like a Slasher film as much as the next horror nut, and Leatherface and his family are a truly scary bunch. The depravity of the film makes it one I don't watch too often, but when I do I have to admit that it is a creepy and unnerving film which, regardless of its age, still scares me on a base level.

[Image: Bryanston Pictures]

Hani

Trailer Park of Terror

 "Trailer Park of Terror" (2008, Steven Goldmann, Summit Entertainment) is a humorous splatter film with some exploitation nods. It's based on the Imperium Comic book series of the same name.

A group of troubled teens take shelter in a seemingly abandoned trailer park after their bus crashes. They find the odd, kind of creepy and seductive hostess Norma (Nichole Hiltz) there who makes them and their guardian, Pastor Lewis (Matthew Del Negro), as comfortable as you can be in a gross, old trailer park. However, Norma isn't all she seems and she isn't alone....

It's a bit of a mash up in genres. Kind of "House of 1000 corpses" meets "Death Becomes Her". You have the rapey hillbillies with some deviant fantasies, but they also happen to be zombies... Some of whom are better at keeping themselves together than others.

Depraved, gory and a bit dumb, the film mainly sticks to the horror comedy realms, with a singing zombie cowboy on guitar. But it also delves into the more gruesome torture-centred gore, which seems to be the focus of a lot of horrors at the moment.

Not really scary or creative, and not the best zombie or hillbilly horror comedy out there, but I don't think it deserves all the bad reviews it's been getting. I think it suffers for being just another submission to the zombie/redneck/torture basket. But it's entertaining.

[Image: Summit Entertainment]

 

Hani