The original "Cabin Zero" was a darkly funny, bloody horror film about a flesh-eating virus from horror master and occasional actor Eli Roth (director of "Hostel", actor most memorable in "Inglourious Basterds") that made it's debut 11 years ago. Though flawed, it became a modest box-office hit and a cult favorite, inspiring a sequel in 2009 and now this prequel, which tells how the virus started. If you're a fan of this film series or gory films in particular, this might be for you as there's a handful of decent gory moments, but otherwise it's bland, uninspired and takes itself far too seriously. When four friends (Ryan Donowho, Jillian Murray, Brando Eaton and Mitch Ryan) on a bachelor party boat ride step foot on the island, two of them are infected by swimming in the contaminated water. Searching for help, they make their way to the science lab but find everyone inside infected or dead, except for Porter (Sean Astin), on whom some deadly experiments were being conducted. The surviving friends and Porter try to find their way back to safety before the virus gets to them. Directed by Canadian comic book artist Kaare Andrews, "Cabin Fever: Patient Zero" has a few serviceable bloody moments (there's one particularly gory sex scene) at the hands of the flesh-eating virus, but like many horror films the original film tried to not be like, it's too reliant on the gore and not enough on genuine thrills or dark humor to make it a serviceable entry in the genre. It's also hard to believe that the one actor of note here, Astin of "Lord of the Rings" fame, has been relegated to acting in junk such as this; he seems to be slumming it for a paycheck, even if it's nice seeing him (albeit mostly covered in a lot of blood). The gore may be enough for some, but a halfway believable story and characters not filled with holes and other contrivances would've been nice too, but "Patient Zero" is sorely lacking in them - not to mention decent lighting and photography - though the makeup crew certainly appears to have had a blast. Not tremendously horrible, but it could've used a better filmmaker like Roth at the helm, who likely (and understandably, if he's seen the final product) didn't want much to do with this.
Wes's Grade: C-
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