PaulMarcy

Paul & Marcy

Paul & Marcy is a Het ship between Paul and Marcy in the Cabin Fever series.

Canon
Paul & Marcy refers to a brief, but passionate physical relationship that occurred in the movie Cabin Fever, as well as the 2016 reboot. Fan works may lean on either of these movies as their source material.

Background
Paul (portrayed by Rider Strong) and Marcy (Cerina Vincent) were among a group of 5 college students who went on a vacation to an isolated cabin in the woods. Marcy was Jeff's girlfriend at the beginning of the trip, while Paul was secretly in love with his childhood friend Karen and held hopes that he could begin a relationship with her during the vacation.

A series of disturbing events fueled panic and disunity among the group. First, a vagrant with a Flesh-Eating Virus arrived at the cabin, provoking a fight in which the group accidentally set him on fire, killing him. Then they discovered that a large, aggressive dog was roaming the surrounding woods, making it unsafe for anybody to leave the cabin. Finally, the group discovered that Karen was infected by the vagrant's disease when she developed bloody sores and became gravely ill.

Eventually, the group collapsed when they realized that Karen was too sick for them to drive her to a hospital. Jeff ran off in to the woods alone to avoid being infected by anyone else, effectively ending his relationship with Marcy. Bert, the 5th member of the group, drove off to a general store the group visited at the start of their vacation, where he intended to summon help for Karen.

Getting Together
With Karen unconscious, Paul and Marcy were effectively all alone in the cabin by this point. Marcy began to despair about their chances for survival and Paul comforted her. But Marcy remained convinced that they were both doomed to contract the illness and die. Reasoning that they might as well make the best of a bad situation, she assertively seduced Paul and they had passionate sex.

Unknown to either of them, Marcy was actually infected with the disease by this point, but she had not developed symptoms. Paul expressed concern that they were not using a condom while they were having sex, but Marcy (incorrectly) assured him that she was healthy. As a consequence of this mistake, Marcy passed the disease to Paul.

Aftermath
Paul immediately regretted sleeping with Marcy. Not trusting her previous assurance of being healthy, he attempted to disinfect his genitals with mouthwash as soon as they had finished. Shortly afterward, Marcy discovered red marks on her back (which were the earliest symptoms of the disease), but blamed Paul for causing them by being too rough with her as a lover.

Paul was extremely uncomfortable being around Marcy after sleeping with her and soon left the cabin, claiming that he intended to go find Jeff (though this was later proven to be a lie). Marcy pleaded with him to stay with her in the cabin, but he refused.

She later realized beyond doubt that she was infected with the disease, when she discovered huge sores on her legs. In a panic, she ran out of the cabin where she was quickly cornered by the aggressive dog and mauled to death. Paul heard her screams and raced back to the cabin, but was too late to save her. He discovered her remains and was almost killed by the dog himself, but he was able to shoot it dead before it reached him.

After numerous other misadventures, Paul, now completely riddled with the disease, staggered out of the woods and in to the path of a school bus, which subsequently struck and killed him.

2016 Reboot
Paul and Marcy's roles were recast with Samuel Davis and Nadine Crocker, respectively, for the 2016 reboot of the franchise.

The chronology of their relationship, and even the relevant dialogue related to it differs very little from the original movie.

However, the reboot differs substantially in terms of the tone in which their sexual relationship is portrayed in numerous ways:
 * Marcy spends her last night in the cabin with Jeff, while Paul spends it alone. In essence, there is no 'foreshadowing' of their eventual relationship.
 * It is implied that several hours pass between Jeff and Bert fleeing the cabin and Marcy and Paul having sex, as the weather changes significantly between these events. Nothing in the original suggested there was any more than a few minutes between Jeff leaving and Marcy & Paul sleeping together. The longer wait in the reboot makes their relationship seem less like a passive-aggressive attack, on Marcy's part, against Jeff, who had just abandoned her.
 * Their sexual encounter now takes place in the cabin's kitchen, rather than Marcy and Jeff's bedroom. This change in venue makes their sexual encounter seem even more spontaneous, and undermines a fan theory that Marcy had schemed to seduce Paul in the original, explaining why she was sitting on her bed when he found her.
 * While Marcy is still the instigating partner, she is not longer the decisively dominant partner. Paul is just as engaged in their activity as Marcy, right from the beginning. They both seem to mutually choose to have sex, as opposed to the original when Marcy is shown aggressively seducing and bedding Paul, who seems reluctant when they begin.
 * The full course of events from Marcy suggesting they have sex, to them actually having sex is show. They begin by hugging one another tenderly, then kissing with increasing passion, before undressing and having sex. The original simply cut to Marcy throwing Paul (both naked) on to the bed immediately after she brought up the subject of sleeping with him. The reboot reflects a more tender and affectionate vibe between the lovers with its slower progression towards them eventually having sex.
 * Condoms (or the absence thereof) are not mentioned at all in this version. Again, Paul is more engaged in the encounter in the reboot, whereas he was concerned about contracting the disease from Marcy in the original. While Marcy is still infected before they had sex, whereas Paul was not, the reboot downplays any suggestion that Marcy may have been infecting Paul by having unsafe sex with him.
 * The brief breakaway shot that separates Marcy and Paul's sex scene is a shot of Jeff sitting all alone in a shed. The breakaway shot in the original was of Karen laying on a bloody mattress in a shed. This makes for a less disparaging portrayal of Paul and Marcy's relationship in the reboot; the original emphasized how they were leaving their sick friend untended while they slept together, whereas the reboot emphasizes how all their friends have abandoned them, leaving them with nobody but each other to rely on.
 * The reveal of Marcy's sickness during their sexual encounter is more obvious and more gruesome. Though, once again, neither of them notice her sickly scratch marks until some time after they finish having sex.
 * The background music to their sexual encounter reflects the passion/intensity of their relationship, as opposed to the soundtrack of the original scene, which reflected the sinister matter of Marcy passing her illness to Paul. Again, the implications that Marcy was infecting Paul when they had sex are downplayed in the reboot.
 * The follow-up scene where Paul cleanses his genitals with listerine was removed entirely. He doesn't seem to harbor any concerns for his own health as a result of having sex with Marcy, nor does he seem to resent her or regret sleeping with her.
 * Marcy is in no doubt that the marks Paul leaves on her back are symptoms of the disease. Paul now gets a clear look at the obviously infected wounds before he leaves the cabin and thus likewise realizes that Marcy is sick, too. Marcy still tells Paul, "You really did a number on my back!", the remark is clearly made as an expression of her distress, and not an attempt to shift the blame for her injuries from the disease to Paul.
 * Paul leaving the cabin doesn't appear to be driven by resentment towards Marcy or regret over sleeping with her. In fact, discovering Marcy's back wounds is what motivates him to leave. He isn't leaving to escape Marcy, he's leaving because he cares for her and he knows he needs to get her urgent help. He even instructs Marcy to follow him, though Marcy doesn't obey.

Once again, their relationship concludes when Paul leaves the cabin. Marcy dies before they can meet again.

Generally, the reboot conveys a much more favorable depiction of Marcy and Paul's intimate relationship. It conveys an impression of 2 distraught people offering each other comfort and companionship, after they have suffered grave misfortune and been abandoned by all their friends. It emphasizes more the wrongs that have been done to Paul and Marcy, not the wrongs they are doing by sleeping together, and even adds a somewhat victorious connotation to them forging a partnership at this point (before instantly removing this victory by revealing Marcy is sick).

Contrary to the original, the long-term relationship between the two doesn't seem to have been damaged by their impulsive decision to have sex. There are even indications that having sex strengthened their bond.

The reboot's Marcy and Paul seemed to have had a good chance at subsequently become a couple, had they both survived the events of the movie. The same cannot be said of the original's Marcy and Paul.

Trivia

 * Extra scenes in the director's cut (of the original) show the gradual development of a relationship between Paul and Marcy in the lead-up to their ultimate physical encounter. One scene in particular shows Jeff sleeping all alone (presumably because he is unwilling to share a bed with Marcy who might be infected), while Marcy shares a bed with Paul. These scenes are missing in other releases of the film, making their decision to sleep together seem even more random.