Cabin Fever: Patient Zero

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Welcome back to This Week In Discs! If you see something you like, click on the title to buy it from Amazon. Citizen Koch The sadly ridiculous details of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s election and recall fight are just part of the backdrop for this documentary about the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizen United” ruling and the rise of the Tea Party. At the center of it all are the billionaire Koch brothers (and other immensely rich donors), who having been empowered by the court’s decision unleash a tidal wave of legal support for political agendas. To be clear, this is not an impartial doc looking at two sides of a story. That may sound improper, but some things that look politically slanted are actually straightforward facts. Both sides of the aisle have seen their fair share if disgusting behavior, and this doc looks at the actions on the right that led to a heavy loss for the idea of a democracy of the people. The film spends a bit too much time with ex-governor/Congressman Buddy Roemer, but the core message and theme rings true elsewhere as the power of the people is blatantly replaced by the power of the dollar. You could argue that the people of Wisconsin got what they deserved (via the majority vote) as Walker proceeded to dismantle the state’s unions — and you’d be right — but that doesn’t make the damage and nationwide fallout any less distressing or unfortunate for America’s future. [DVD extras: Deleted scenes, […]


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A small outbreak of a nasty flesh-eating virus has left a single survivor, and now the scientists responsible for it all have turned Porter (Sean Astin) into a human lab rat. Having watched his only son melt in his arms, Porter’s far from a willing participant in the experimentation and instead just wants to return to his wife. Elsewhere on the island four friends have arrived for an impromptu bachelor party. Marcus (Mitch Ryan) is a day away from getting married, so when his brother Josh (Brando Eaton) and their friends Dobbs (Ryan Donowho) and Penny (Jillian Murray) suggest the overnight trip to a secluded island he finds it hard to resist. A brief swim along the shore reveals a curious absence of sea life, but that doesn’t interfere with diving of another sort back in the tent… and it’s not long before the dangers of island cunnilingus come very, very clear. And bloody. They come very, very bloody. Cabin Fever: Patient Zero is the third in the franchise begun twelve years ago by Eli Roth, but while it’s still far from a gem of horror cinema it holds its own thanks to an abundance of expertly crafted and wonderfully gooey gore.


Everybody remembers the 2002 horror film Cabin Fever; it was the movie that made you fall either in love or hate with Eli Roth. And it was a movie about a bunch of kids in a cabin who get stricken with a very violent and rapidly spreading flesh-eating virus. That’s all well and good, but have you ever felt like the original Cabin Fever was just scratching the surface of what the disease-ridden world it created had to offer? No? Well, somebody did, and that’s why there’s a prequel in the works. Sure, watching a bunch of attractive young people get eaten alive by a gruesome disease is fun times, but haven’t you ever wondered what really made that virus tick? Where did it come from, and what was its motivation? Jake Wade Wall (The Hitcher) has written a script entitled Cabin in the Woods: Patient Zero that’s sure to answer all of these burning questions and more. It tells the tale of a Caribbean cruise that runs aground on a research island. One can only assume that the thing being researched there is horrible diseases, because soon after the shipwreck, the passengers of said ship find themselves falling ill and fighting for survival. It kind of sounds like a cross between the original film and Lost, which is a concept that probably has some box office potential.

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published: 12.23.2014
published: 12.22.2014
published: 12.19.2014

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