PaulMarcy

PaulMarcy is the het ship between Paul and Marcy from the Cabin Fever fandom.

Cabin Fever (2002)
"It's like being on a plane when you know it's gonna crash. Everyone around you is screaming, yelling, 'We're going down! We're going down!' And all you really wanna do is grab the person next to you and f*** the s*** out of them, because you know you're gonna be dead soon, anyway."

- Marcy

At the beginning of Cabin Fever, Marcy and Paul travelled to the titular cabin, along with their friends, Jeff, Karen, and Bert, as a vacation to celebrate the end of their time in college. Marcy was in a relationship with Jeff (they had sex as soon as they arrived at the cabin), while Paul struggled to find the courage to act upon his obvious crush on Karen. The vacation was thrown into chaos, when a severely ill vagrant appeared on the cabin's doorstep, asking for help. As the group argued about whether or not to help the stranger (with both Marcy and Paul notably sharing the same view that they should help the man), the vagrant attempted to steal the group's car. Although they successfully managed to drive him away, his illness ultimately began to infect the group.

Karen developed symptoms first, and the remaining group members opted to quarantine her in a tool shed near the cabin. During this time, the group was also menaced by a violent dog roaming the woods. At one point, Marcy likely saved Paul's life, by scaring the dog away when it was about to attack Paul, by firing a gunshot into the air.

As the group's problems escalated, tensions arose between them, leading to several arguments. Fearing that other members of the group may be infected, Jeff opted to sleep alone, leaving Marcy to sleep (fully clothed) with Paul.

Eventually, Jeff and Bert both fled the doomed cabin. Despite the obvious risks to their own health, Marcy and Paul willingly stayed behind to tend to the gravely ill Karen. Now effectively alone in the cabin with Paul, Marcy began to despair about their chances for survival and Paul tried to comfort 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, Marcy seduces Paul and has sex with him. Paul expressed concern that they were not using a condom, but Marcy assured him that she was healthy. Unknown to either of them, Marcy was actually infected with the disease by this point, but she had not developed any symptoms. Marcy then ends up passing the disease on to Paul.

Paul immediately regrets sleeping with Marcy, not trusting her previous assurance of being healthy. Shortly afterward, Marcy discovered red marks on her back, but blamed Paul for causing them by being too rough with her. Paul was extremely uncomfortable being around Marcy after sleeping with her and soon left the cabin, claiming that he intended to go find Jeff. Marcy pleaded with him to stay with her in the cabin, but he refused.

She later realizes she's infected with the disease, and runs out of the cabin where she was quickly mauled to death by the dog. Paul hears her scream and races back to the cabin, but is 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.

Cabin Fever (2016)
The 2016 remake of Cabin Fever depicts the development of Marcy and Paul's relationship in near-identical fashion to the original (the remake notoriously used the exact same script). However, although the general events and dialogue pertaining to their relationship went mostly unchanged, there were several noteworthy changes in way certain scenes were portrayed.

Most notably, their sex scene is depicted with a far much more mutual and overtly romantic tone. The original scene began with Marcy aggressively throwing Paul down upon the bed, with Paul seemingly dazed by the rapid escalation of their relationship. Marcy visibly dominates the encounter, to the point where she is forcefully pinning Paul down to the bed, seemingly to deter him from bailing out before they finish. However, the remake's scene begins with slow, tender kissing, and Paul is clearly a willing and engaged partner from the very beginning.

After they've had sex, Paul orders Marcy to join him in fleeing the cabin to safety (although she does not obey). In the original, Paul does not ask Marcy to come with him, in fact, it it heavily hinted that he fled the cabin specifically to get away from Marcy and the awkwardness he felt from just having slept with her. Also, in the remake, it is painfully apparent to both of them that the marks on Marcy's back are clear symptoms of the disease. In the original, Marcy seems to be in denial of her own illness, and genuinely criticizes Paul for hurting her during their rough lovemaking.

One other noteworthy change from the original is that Marcy is not depicted sharing a bed with Paul in the night before they had sex. In this way, their eventual transition to becoming lovers seems more abrupt, as there is less of a gradual growth in their relationship throughout the film.

Fanon
THEORIES AND SPECULATION

Several ambiguous elements surrounding Paul and Marcy’s brief relationship, particularly in the original movie, have led to numerous unverifiable theories amongst Cabin Fever fans.

The original movie is very ambiguous regarding the state of Paul and Marcy’s relationship in the immediate lead-up to them sleeping together. Fans seem to be divided in their opinions. Some believe that the development of their sexual relationship is as rapid as it appears. Others believe that Marcy and Paul had become close friends, especially in the 24 hours immediately prior to them having sex. Some even go so far as to speculate there might have been a budding romance between them.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Cabin Fever: Parting Shot
 * Cabin Fever: Parting Shot

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.