Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on January 21, 2004, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Eli Roth, what were you thinking? Five audio commentaries on Lions Gate’s DVD of your horror cause célèbre Cabin Fever? Were you trying to rival the Alien Quadrilogy and Lord of the Rings Extended Edition boxes in keeping DVD reviewers prisoners in front of their TVs for an entire weekend?
Well, OK, it wasn’t really a chore listening to whole lineup, since Roth is an enthusiastic speaker and he’s all over every one of ’em, including the actors’ commentaries. But it’s also true that at least two of them could have easily been combined into one, and it’s unlikely that most people will be compelled to sit through all five. So here’s my humble opinion of where to start…
As sometimes paradoxically happens, the track in which the director is the lone voice is more interesting than some of those on which he’s joined by his collaborators. Roth begins his solo talk by asserting that he’d rather discuss his life and love of horror than burrow into minute details about Cabin Fever, and launches into a highly entertaining biographical chronicle, from his childhood (when horror movies literally made him throw up) through his years at NYU film school (puncturing the pretentiousness of many student moviemakers), memorable encounters with Barbra Streisand and Martin Brest and into a history of how Cabin Fever was conceived, produced and sold. There are plenty of funny stories and savvy advice for aspiring directors along the way, and during the final third, he does get into specifics of certain scenes and has interesting things to say about those as well.
The second best commentary? Rather surprisingly, it’s the one Roth shares with star Rider Strong, of whom it’s said in the menus, “[He] talked so damn much we had to move him to another track.” Good thing, too; Strong is easily the best speaker among the cast, and if, as he says here, he wanted to change his image from his Boy Meets World TV rep, this is a big step in the right direction. Insightful and revealing while maintaining a good sense of humor about himself and his career, Strong makes a number of observant comments about his role, things that changed over the course of Cabin’s shoot, the difference in Hollywood’s perception of TV drama stars and sitcom veterans and how much he enjoyed getting bloody for his part. He also brings out the best in Roth, who says more here about the characters than he does on the other two actor tracks.
Those commentaries, unfortunately, suffer in comparison. One teams Roth with James DeBello (whose slacker wiseguy performance was evidently no act) and Joey Kern, and the director shares the other with Jordan Ladd and Cerina Vincent. Both tracks are more chatty than informational, and while a few fun and unique stories are related on each, many anecdotes are repeated between these and the Strong commentary—where they receive the best telling—and sometimes within the same track. By the end of each, Roth is filling up the remaining time by bringing supporting players and even his parents in for their own contributions—an admittedly fun touch.
Roth goes even further with this approach on the “filmmaker commentary,” which he shares with a revolving door of co-speakers, including producers Lauren Moews, Sam Froelich and Evan Astrowsky (who has the best reminiscences, including the day he spent filming dogs and squirrels and another when Roth directed in a gorilla suit), co-scripter Randy Pearlstein, cinematographer Scott Kevan, Lions Gate executives Jason Constantine and Peter Block and even, by phone, Roth’s old NYU professor Boris Frumin! (Where’s KNB EFX?) The grab bag of points of view results in an amusingly eclectic listening experience—one that also, like the actors’ tracks, becomes a big Eli Roth lovefest at times. Oddly, over the course of all these chats, a few subjects still aren’t explored as much as they could be—the movie’s union problems, for example, and the fact that David Lynch, for whom Roth once worked as an assistant, was touted as the film’s executive producer during the early publicity. In addition, outtakes and deleted scenes are mentioned along the way that haven’t been included as supplements.
There’s plenty else here to compensate, though. A half-hour “Beneath the Skin” documentary is best viewed after the movie (given the number of potential spoilers) and before the commentaries (given the amount of duplicated material). It’s certainly worth a look due to the wealth of behind-the-scenes footage, including several filming-the-FX moments and highlighted by glimpses of an uncooperative dog that had to be replaced—and whose trainer’s face is blacked out in the doc! We’re even taken to the movie’s triumphant Toronto Film Festival premiere, though the biggest treat is video of co-composer Angelo Badalamenti playing one of this themes on the piano.
Along the way, both Roth and Moews assert the movie’s appeal to females who dig gore—which makes it odd that a disc feature which places a hands-covering-the-eyes graphic over the nastier scenes is dubbed “Chick Vision.” (Wouldn’t “Wimp Vision” have been a little more inclusive?) This, and a “Family Version” of the film (the title, some driving footage, and that’s all, folks!) are funnier in concept than in result; much more amusing is The Rotten Fruit, a trio of early animated shorts co-directed by Roth that are delightfully sick in a South Park vein. Letting the last chapter selection menu run for a while leads to an amusing Easter egg, while “Pancakes” is…well, best to let that one speak for itself. You’ll either laugh or you won’t. I laughed.
One thing’s for sure—given how seat-of-the-pants the production was, a remarkably assured and professional-looking movie resulted. One element that hasn’t been given enough due is Kevan’s cinematography, which captures a remarkable and eerie rural ambience, with just the right use of color, lighting and shadow to make the audience feel like they really are stranded in the woods with the characters. The disc’s 2.35:1 transfer is just beautiful, with an image that evokes the mood of the ’70s horror fare that inspired the movie but replaces grain with fine clarity and color. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio is stronger on Nathan Barr and Badalamenti’s score than the sound FX, but none of it sounds unbalanced, and as a whole it conveys the atmosphere of rural isolation quite nicely.
