Matchstick Men get Cabin Fever April 21st, 2010
Originally Written 09/29/03
We went and checked out Cabin Fever last night. I wasn’t expecting a lot from it, but it was kind of a neat, fun movie. It had it’s problems, and some things about it were just plain strange, but it was also kind of clever and had a nice dark humor and satire to it. It obviously referenced other movies, but it cribbed from the best, such as Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead, and it copied the films in a good way.
Like NotLD it had some comments on a study of society in a microcosm. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun to watch. It was effective with the visceral horror in a couple of places too. I liked how it was a slasher/horror movie without any monsters or supernatural events, it was all biological. First 28 Days Later and now this, I wonder if we’re seeing a new trend?
We also saw Matchstick Men on Friday night. That was pretty good as well. I originally had some mixed feelings on it, but the more I thought about it after the movie was over, the more I appreciated the story and how things were set up. It was certainly an interesting situation and cast of characters.
I liked some of the visual effects they used to show Nicholas Cage’s character’s mental states when he was suffering from acute attacks of OCD, but at the same time, that got a little overwhelming, which was no doubt the intention of the director.