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How do you keep a balance between humor and horror? That seems like it must have been a real delicate line you had to walk.
The key is that the characters have to always take the situation seriously. If you go one step beyond - like if you go one joke too many - then you're letting the audience say, “You know what? You don't have to take this movie seriously because we don't either.” That's not what I wanted. There were a number of instances where we had really funny things, but we just cut it because it would have affected the overall tone of the film.

I think that you've got to use humor like a valve. In a horror movie, you're seeing the movie, you're squeezing your girlfriend's hand, you've got your arm around her, but you need those moments where you can shake out your dead arm and wipe off your palm sweat on your jeans. That's what the humor is. You've got to let people feel safe otherwise they can't sit there that tense. You get a headache if you sit there for 90 minutes that tense. So I just wanted to use humor for the first half hour to engage people with the characters. I want people to like these guys before we kill them off and I think that the best way to do that is through humor. Nobody is ever trying to be funny in the movie, they are just kind of being themselves. I think that a lot of the humor comes from the horrificness of the situation. There are definite moments where I want people to laugh.

A lot of reviews of “Cabin Fever” use the word 'campy.' Do you feel that's a derogatory term?
Yes, it's very derogatory. It's not campy. Campy implies that it's making fun of this genre, and it's not. Whatever. People are going to think whatever they are going to think. There's nothing I can do about it. But humor and horror are subjective things. What might terrify me, other people would say, “That's not scary at all.” What you might find hilarious doesn't scare you at all. There was one review that said, “Eli Roth's obvious spoof of horror…” It's like, “No, it's not.” Other people are like, “This is the best, most serious horror movie since 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'” So, you know, people are either going to get it or they're not. As long as they are entertained, they are enjoying it and that's what is important.

So anyone who calls it a spoof of horror movies is totally getting it wrong?
It's funny, it's like is it wrong or right? You know, it's like you do something and you have intentions and it's something to you, and other people see it as something else. Someone may have made another movie as a joke or made it serious, and my brothers and I will watch it over and over and over and f**king make fun of it to death because it's the worst movie ever. You know what I mean? They didn't intend for that to happen but that's what happened to it. There's no getting it right or getting it wrong.

People need to know what they are getting into. If people expect a serious horror movie like a “28 Days Later” or like a “Mulholland Dr:... If people expect “Mulholland Dr.” they are going to hate it. If they expect a full-on disgusting roller coaster ride where they are going to be scared but they are going to laugh - they are going to have fun - then they are going to enjoy it. As long as people are properly [informed]. It's not “Scary Movie.” I think that people who call it a spoof clearly don't understand what a spoof is. “Scary Movie” is a spoof. But those same people call “Scary Movie 3” a horror film. It's not, it's a comedy. There's a difference, so don't call it a horror film just because it has the subject matter. I don't even think “Freddy vs. Jason” is a horror film, it's a 'versus' film. There's a difference. I wasn't scared in that movie but I had a fun time with it. So I think it's all about setting up the proper expectations. But no, I mean look, at the end of the day what are you going to do? It's like you do the best that you can and you hope people enjoy it.

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