Eli Roth introduced Cabin Fever back in 2002 (wow, that was 12 years ago!) and the movie was something fresh in an otherwise dried up field of horror. Since then we had a pretty poor Cabin Fever 2 in 2009 so I was a bit apprehensive about this prequel.
However, Patient Zero works. Really well. The plot revolves around the guests at a Caribbean bachelor party stumbling upon a medical research island where a fatal flesh eating virus is thriving. Can they survive the virus, and each other?
It’s an interesting concept introducing Patient Zero (played by Lords Of The Rings star Sean Astin) as it creates a different twist on the original idea. Now we know why its happening, but it’s still scary as hell!
The reactions of the characters in the Cabin Fever films are more realistic than usual, none of that cliched ‘There’s a killer in the house, why are they running up the stairs?!’ stuff you normally get. In this movie the characters are scared and they panic, which makes them normal people in a extraordinary scenario.
The characters are not only up against a flesh-eating virus, but also up against each other. When your own friend is quite willing to literally stab you in the back, where do you turn to?
This is the first of two Cabin Fever films planned (‘Outbreak’ is due later this year), and Patient Zero should keep it’s cult following happy until at least until then.