Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favourites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, a mind blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out.
I had expected more because this was from director/producer Joss Whedon, but was sadly disappointed. The effects are the latest thing true enough, there is a little bit of creepy tension-building, and from then the action is fast and furious. However this film has nothing that all those surprise-reveal "surely that cant be true?" twist in the tale horror movies were doing in the 70s and 80s. Except in this film, the weird surprise that would have been novel or unsettling and revealed near the end of a movie in 1970, seems a bit lame, and is explicitly revealed almost from the outset here. Its your time, but I felt mine had been wasted.
Five American teenagers take a trip to a remote forest cabin for a weekend of sex, drugs and general bad behaviour. But they get more than they bargained for when, one-by-one, they start getting picked off by mysterious and deadly monsters who are driven by a dark power beyond their wildest imaginings.
Sounds like the setup for any number of tired old slasher B-movies you could name, right? But whilst 'Cabin in the Woods' takes this broad outline as its starting point, its final destination is very different to anything you've ever seen in a horror movie before.
Beginning with some scenes that briskly introduce you to the film's key players, there's immediately a sense of things feeling a little bit unusual when the sequences involving the party-hungry teenagers are interspersed with glimpses of an enigmatic industrial facility in which two shirt-and-tie-wearing employees chat casually about a mysterious task that they've got to complete. And as the movie progresses, you begin to realise that their banal banter is linked with the journey being undertaken by the kids - but not in a way that's immediately obvious.
It's the gradual peeling-back of this mystery that forms the heart of the movie's first act, giving you subtle little pointers as to what's going on before making it clear that the attacks on the kids are slightly more contrived and controlled than they first appeared. But whilst some movies might choose to leave things there - making that twist the climax of the movie - 'Cabin in the Woods' instead uses its high-concept as a mere starting point for a different kind of adventure that's as concerned with subverting the horror genre and poking fun at its rules and conventions as it is with scaring the pants off you.
That's not to say that there aren't some genuine scares here: there are a few 'shock' moments and a fair share of blood and gore that should satisfy slasher fans, and the entire first act of the movie does well to create a genuine sense of suspense and foreboding. But whilst there's a certain amount of enjoyment to be gleaned from the movie's more conventional elements, it's the quirky, unpredictable and subversive nature of the story that proves to be its greatest strength.
Because without giving too much away, this is a movie about horror movies as much as anything else. That it accomplishes this dissection of the genre whilst also being a horror movie itself is no mean feat - even if it's not the first time such a thing has been attempted. In fact, the vibe of the film is not unlike the combination of real horror and parody that 'Scream' and its sequels pulled off so well, all those years ago. But 'Cabin in the Woods' goes a step further by adopting a slightly smarter and more sophisticated plot that manages to provide a framework within which all other horror movies could feasibly co-exist, tying all of the stories of the genre into a single idea that could conceivably underpin them all.
But like I say, 'Cabin in the Woods' manages to do this whilst being pretty scary in its own right, mixing a whole host of fantastical horror-movie creatures with a more removed and pseudo-intellectual tone - but, crucially, in a manner that doesn't invalidate either of those two approaches. Admittedly, there's occasionally a sense that the movie is trying to have its cake and eat it - for example, a commentary on gratuitous nudity in horror movies involves a topless scene that itself feels, frankly, gratuitous - but for the most part the smart, funny stuff sits alongside the bloody, scary stuff surprisingly well.
That's probably due in no small part to the presence of writer Joss Whedon (of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' fame) and his frequent collaborator, director Drew Goddard, who never insult the audience's intelligence but always manage to stay a couple of steps ahead of us, enabling them to pull off some fun shocks and scares. It's also worth noting the decent performances from the film's strong cast, which includes heart-throb-of-the-moment Chris Hemsworth (it was on the strength of his performance here that Whedon recommended him to be cast as Kenneth Branagh's 'Thor' - and he cropped up as the same character in Whedon's own 'Avengers Assemble') as well as Fran Kranz from Whedon's Dollhouse, who plays a similarly jittery and nervy character here. And I'd love to let you in on the film's late surprise cameo, but it'd only spoil the surprise.
Talking of which, hopefully I've managed to give you a flavour of this film without really spilling any of its secrets - because so much of the movie's power lies in its ability to spring unexpected twists and turns on you. All I'll say in my conclusion is that this is a smart, funny and intelligent film that plays fair by the rules of horror movies whilst also subverting them beautifully. For fans of horror, this is a love-letter of sorts to your favourite films - and for those who aren't quite so keen on scary movies, you'll likely revel in seeing how much fun 'Cabin in the Woods' has in deconstructing the genre.
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CLOVERFIELD writer Drew Goddard takes a seat in the director's chair for the first time with this secretive Joss Whedon-produced film. Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford head up the ensemble cast, which also includes Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, and Jesse Williams.
Writer/director team Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard join forces once again for this teen horror flick. When five college friends arrive at a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend of partying, they soon discover that things are not quite as they seem. As a series of terrifying events unfolds, the friends realise that they have become the pawns in someone's very sick idea of a game.
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