The 2002 film Cabin Fever was not only Eli Roth’s directorial debut, but provided a shot in the arm for the genre in the same way Scream and later The Cabin in the Woods did. Although not as overly knowing as those films, it played with the tropes of horror films and was highly entertaining. It was so successful, a string of sequels followed. Originally, there was going to be a movie shot back-to-back with the third in the series, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero, with the virus breaking out on a cruise ship. This wasn’t to be, however, and the decision was made to go back to the source and remake the original. With Roth on board as executive producer, director Travis Zariwny (billed as the more exciting Travis Z) would undertake the daunting and seemingly redundant task of updating a movie that was just over fifteen years old.

The 2016 film follows the original almost beat-for-beat. From the opening moments of the hermit hillbilly finding his beloved dog, Pancakes, dead and being sprayed with infected viscera, everything feels familiar. Fortunately, the cinematography by Gavin Kelly makes the most of the luscious location and increased budget to allow for some impressive aerial work.

Five college friends are off to celebrate spring break by renting a cottage in the middle of the woods. Yes, we know it’s such an original premise, right? There’s a harbinger of things to come when they stop at a gas station and one of them is bitten by a creepy kid in a handmade bunny mask. Once they get to the cabin – which is much swisher than the one in Roth’s version, and is more of a lake house – they make themselves at home and Bert (Dustin Ingram) decides to go shooting in the woods. Being a video game addict, he’s already voiced his concern about not being able to play online for a whole week, so it’s the nearest he has to Call of Duty. It’s during this macho time that he comes across the hermit, who is already suffering heavily from the flesh-eating virus he picked up from his dog. Promising to get help, he dashes back to the group. He naturally neglects to mention anything about him. This comes back to cause an even bigger problem when the hermit turns up at the cabin demanding help. Recognising Bert, he freaks out and tries to steal their truck. To get rid of him, they set him on fire. A perfectly rational reaction.

The following day, the whole crew are wracked with remorse, but are unable to report it or get help as their car has been trashed during the melee. Worst still, one of the girls has started being very ill…

There’s no getting around it, the response to the remake was largely negative. This was possibly caused by the fan’s love of Roth’s original and the growing disapproval of remakes in general. There’s a lot to recommend in Travis Z’s update, however. The changes that are made – particularly in the character of Deputy Sheriff Winston – do improve the film. In Roth’s movie, he’s a goofy young lad who doesn’t appear old enough to grow a moustache, while in the 2016 version, the character is an attractive woman with a scar under her eye who takes a shine to one of the lads. This certainly makes the lines about “coming over to party” seem a bit sexier. The acting in general is of a much higher standard too. The gore effects are quite similar, although there’s certainly an improvement when it comes to the ‘rabid’ dog that terrorises the house, too. The hound is made up to look a lot more threatening and diseased, and the aftermath of one encounter is particularly gruesome.

Speaking several years after the release of the remake, director Travis Z said: “The Internet that killed me, honestly. That’s the real lesson I learned: to never read the Internet. The hardest lesson I learned and I learned it by myself, was to totally trust myself and my art, be happy in the moment, and make movies because I love it and not because of what viewers might think or say.” Obviously something he had to deal with the poor reviews and online badmouthing. “I responded to one YouTuber once who bashed my movie and then apologised and said that he really liked it, but he just did that for likes,” he said. “He completely thrashed the film because that’s what the audience likes.” It was a baptism of fire for the director, who had only made one feature (Scavengers, 2013) and several shorts before tackling Cabin Fever. “Before I became a director, I read all the blogs and all the stuff – as a fan you do that – but to make a film and just have it,” he revealed. “Cabin Fever in particular, have the audiences just jump on this crazy-train of hate was incredible to me. It validated a lot of things for me.”

While the original version was peppered with horror film references (particularly in the incidental music choices, it does miss the use of David Hess’ The Road Leads to Nowhere – Wait for the Rain from The Last House on the Left as a driving tune), the remake plays it much more straight. What it loses in nods to the audience, it makes up in jump scares and a palpable feeling of dread between the characters as they realise the severity of the infection. One thing that definitely isn’t in the remake is humour. This is played dead straight and works better for it. It doesn’t take anything away from Roth’s original, and the outcome for some of the characters is completely different, so there’s still some surprises to be had if you’re a fan of that one.

You can catch the 2016 CABIN FEVER on Horror Channel on February 7th. Tune in via Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 70, Freesat 138.