Horror Movie Review: Cabin Fever: Patient Zero (2014)

A group of adventurous young friends on a trip to the Caribbean decide to explore a secluded island, where they unleash a highly contagious, flesh-eating virus after swimming in contaminated water, and exploring a research facility that houses a terrifying secret.

Somewhere on an uncharted island deep in the Caribbean, the doctors at a secluded research lab have managed to quarantine Porter (Sean Astin), the first person to be infected by an aggressive flesh-eating virus.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Marcus (Mitch Ryan) is preparing to get married when his brother Josh (Brando Eaton), Josh’s girlfriend Penny (Jillian Murray), and their best friend Dobbs (Ryan Donowho) lure him onto a luxury yacht to celebrate his last night of freedom.

Upon arriving at a picturesque island that isn’t on the maps, Josh and Penny stay on the beach to do a little snorkelling while Marcus and Dobbs set up the campsite.

Returning to the tent in a panic after spotting the dead fish in the water, Penny breaks out in a rash that Josh credits to some bad local ganja. Later, when Josh also shows signs of infection, Marcus and Dobbs venture out for help and break into the darkened research facility, which appears to have been the scene of a bloody massacre.

Their worst fears are realized when they discover that they have stumbled upon the site of a deadly outbreak, and that the egocentric Dr Edwards (Currie Graham) in charge is determined to take credit for curing the disease; even if it means that no one gets off the island alive.

Let’s just get this out of the way from the get go, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero isn’t a very good movie in terms of story, characters or acting but it excels as an outrageously over the top bloody mess. There are many standout moments within the film which contain some very impressive looking practical gore effects, unfortunately these moments are few and far between.

Sean Astin does a decent job as Porter but I was quite confused if I was meant to feel sympathetic towards him or not due to certain events that take place later in the movie.

One of the films biggest issues stems from its characters which are barely likeable. Too much of the movie comes down to dull characters wondering around in the dark and doing stupid things that don’t make much sense until they finally die.

Talking of characters and stupidity, there is one moment from the film sticks with me. Porter uses his blood to infect one of the scientists which gives Dr Edwards the opportunity to test a vaccine on the decaying man. As you can imagine, Dr Edwards wears a full body hazard suit to protect him from contracting the disease. He’s struggling to keep the patient stable so he asks a female scientist to assist him, due to the fact that she doesn’t have a suit on she initially is hesitant (duh) but is soon convinced by Edwards to enter the contained room to help him. As you can imagine, the infected man vomits blood all over her which inevitably leads to her becoming infected; what an idiot.

Anyway, it would be all too easy to spend time criticizing Cabin Fever for its problems so instead let’s just not bother and move on to what I enjoyed.

There are some legitimately stomach churning moments as you can expect there to be with a film involving a body dissolving disease but nothing can prepare you for just how over the top it becomes.

Just after returning from snorkeling, Josh and Penny start to make out and things progress from there until Josh decides to go down on Penny….. I won’t even attempt to explain what happens, just look for yourself man.

Had enough yet? Well how about a scene where Dobbs is about to be shot by an infected man only for the backfire of the gun to make his hand snap off, spin around and lodge the gun in his temple; it’s a hilariously awesome sight to see.

That’s all child’s play in comparison to what we get during the climax of the movie. Have you ever wanted to watch two hot, dissolving, decaying women cat fight? Well Cabin Fever: Patient Zero delivers on that, it delivers big time. It’s over the top and simply outrageous but by god it’s entertaining to sit back and watch as they tear each other apart. Some might find the killing blow with the massive black dildo a bit much but I thought it just felt right. Even if you have no interest in sitting through the whole movie, I highly recommend you at least watch that scene.

The ending left me feeling confused once again but it does leave it open for a sequel and when they’re being made this cheaply I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one. It does deserve praise for some high quality looking practical effects which is always very welcome.

As I stated above, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero isn’t particularly good in a whole lot of ways but it’s hard not to enjoy certain moments. It’s a huge shame that these moments are so few and that the majority of time is spent with many ultimately pointless scenes.