'Cabin Fever' Remake Will Use Eli Roth's Original Script
We're far enough away from some of the big horror moments of the last decade that reboot time is coming around for some. Cabin Fever never really caught on as a franchise — Eli Roth's debut film made his career as a filmmaker, but the Cabin Fever films that followed have, er, struggled. (Ti West lobbied to have his name removed from the direct sequel after producers took control of the edit, and the prequel Patient Zero has had a low-key release.)
Now there's a Cabin Fever remake brewing, which we heard about earlier this year. The new info is that Eli Roth is on board as exec producer. Even more weird than that is this fact: the remake will use the original script for the film, written by Roth and Randy Pearlstein.
The Wrap reports that Travis Zariwny is directing, and that Armory Films and Pelican Point Media are financing. The film is shooting now in Portland, OR. The cast includes Gage Golightly (Teen Wolf), Dustin Ingram (Paranormal Activity 3), Samuel Davis (the From Dusk Till Dawn TV show), Matthew Daddario (Delivery Man) and Nadine Crocker (Deadgirl).
Evan Astrowsky, who produced the original film, is on the producing team this time, along with Armory Films' Chris Lemole and Tim Zajaros. Cassian Elwes is exec producing with Roth.
In a statement, Roth said,
Travis had an amazing vision for my original script, and as a scary movie fan I really wanted to see it. I almost see this like re-staging a play, and I'm excited to see what ideas Travis and the cast bring to it. They're all fans of the original and want to make a film that's a new classic and I believe they will.
Oddly, I can get behind this whole concept. I have no real attachment to the original film, which helps, but I have a perverse admiration for the idea of going back to the original script — like doing a play, as Roth says — to hopefully come up with a fresh look at the film. This doesn't have to be a shot-for-shot remake, but at least this time there won't be any of that horror remake business where a script is changed seemingly only for the sake of being changed.