Our world has gone into hiding from an untreatable virus. Like a horror movie in the making this disease has spread rapidly. After only one day in isolation, we began to feel the effects of being secluded in our own home. What better way to relieve the boredom blues then by forcing a test subject to watch Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever (2002)? Will this gory virus film provide the cure for our daily doldrums and spring our subject’s heart rate back to life?
What is FearScale?
We’ve all heard the expression ‘Scared to Death’ or something ‘Made My Heart Skip a Beat’, but what does that actually look like? Studies have shown that even when subjected to stimuli that can not present a true threat of danger, our bodies will still produce a physiological response. By analyzing real-time results we are able to give you the most accurate reviews for anything that makes your heart race.
SYNOPSIS:
Five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.
Test Subject: Leah
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Fears: Death / Gore
Resting HR: 62-65bpm
Walking HR: 80-85bpm
ANALYSIS:
After an eerily quiet opening, a graphic animal carcass had our subject shifting in her seat. She then relaxed as the main characters peacefully enjoyed their rural vacation. However, hints of an impending infection began to drop. This anticipation began to gradually build in our subject’s mind causing her pulse to quicken. Her rising heart rate culminated with a jumpscare at 25:00 resulting in an impressive 85bpm spike. At times the film exploded with loud sound effects. These jolts kept our subject on edge and helped maintain her racing heart. The conclusion was littered with stressful moments and cringe worthy gore. We were able to record a peak 89bpm at 1:09 during a razor sharp scene we had to force our subject to watch.
CONCLUSION:
Cabin Fever (2002) is a horror movie infected with tension, jump scares and plenty of gore to get under our subject’s skin. Even though her heart rate did not cross the 90bpm threshold, there were enough intense moments to boost her overall average. At FearScale we’ve learned that longer anxiety inducing scenes, rather than jump scares and gore, create heightened reactions. However, a disgustingly intense film with a short run-time, like this one, can produce similar results. Given the world’s current state, camping alone may be the safest recreational activity you can do, but watching Cabin Fever can also burn away boredom as well as over two hundred calories in under two hours.
Cabin Fever: Burns an average of 210 Calories
How many Fear Calories did you burn watching Cabin Fever? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook